From abenn Sent Mon, Oct 26th 1998, 22:26
From abenn Sent Mon, Oct 26th 1998, 22:26
Right, here it is, finally had some time to type it up for all you good
folks ... Record Collector's article, "Dial SKAM for Electronica" Tiny
Label, Big Idea enthuses David Hemingway. (mag. issue 230, Oct. 98.)
'Skam is probably the most intriguing small electonica label of the moment.
It has released stunning records by the likes of Jega, Gescom and recent
Warp stars Boards of Canada, as well as running a club night, Schism,that
has hosted low-key shows by the likes of Autechre and Squarepusher.
In addition to sounding incredible,most Skam releases are also hugely
collector-friendly. For starters, most of the sleeves are hand-stamped and
all feature artist titles in braille. Some of the releases have also
appeared in perversely small runs: just 100 copies were pressed of a
Funkstorung/Freeform/Jega/Boards of Canada split 12".
The idiosyncratic label is run by Andy Maddocks and "a few friends".
Maddocks used to share a flat with Autechre ("No, they never did the
hoovering") and it's a common misconception that Skam is actually the Warp
duo's label" "They're very, very close friends," says Maddocks, "but
they're not involved financially. They help out and people give them demo
tapes."
Skam pressed its first release in 1991, an untitled EP by Lego Feet. "They
were some guys we didn't know very well. It sounded like very old techno,
all chopped-up; two very long tracks with loads of little snippets." The
label didn't even bother to put the record in the shops.
"We just gave it to friends," admits Maddocks, "We were young, naive and
didn't know what were doing. We didn't really think of starting a label."
So what's he trying to achieve now?
I haven't got this ambition to make this great label. We want to do a
label in our own way, not the normal route of "proper" release dates,
review-copies-to-the-press-four-weeks-in advance and so on. The people who
are interested will pick up on it."
Why do you use braille stickers on your sleeves?
"They're actually artist titles and catalogue numbers. It was something a
bit different, though not wholly original. You can't do any thing original
in this day and age"
How important is it to do interesting things with the sleeves?
"It's really important. Buying a record is special. If it's been stamped
or looks like its been handled individually, it makes everything more
important. I like to feel like I've connected with the person who buys the
record."
Collaborating with the German Musik Aus Strom label (run by Michael Fakesch
and Chris de Luca, alias recent Bjork remixers Funkstorung), Skam recently
started on a batch of singles under the anagramatic 'Mask' moniker. These
are released in 100 multiples of the catalogue number (i.e. there were 100
copies of MASK001, there will be 400 copies of MASK004), though Maddocks
suggests the series will probably end at MASK005. These releases contain
no track-listings and no running-orders.
"That makes it more interesting", Maddocks says. "If there are tracks by,
say, Autechre and Joe Bloggs -nobody's heard of, people don't know which is
which. They judge the music for what the music is. Whether it's a new or
established artist doesn't really matter.
"I get loads of demo tapes and there's a lot of unreleased music. I wanted
something that could be put together very easily, with no contracts and no
money involved. It's there to get the music out quickly and get artists
known.
Skam's most acclaimed releases have been the quartet of Gescom 12"'s.
Gescom is an alter-ego for Autechre's Sean Booth and Rob Brown, often
collaborating with friends. Booth and Brown combine the aesthetics, of
hip-hop,an unusaul ear for melody and a wayward sense of malfunction to
create some of electronica's most compelling releases. Their brilliant
(and rare) "Key Nell", with its bubblewrap sleeve, should be bought on
sight.
Gescom further remodelled "Keynell" (sic) for a wider release via the Warp
label. Continuing the bubblewrap theme in its artwork, and apparently
'Conceived and secreted by Gescom" Additional nurturing and care from
Autechre', even this essential EP is now difficult to get hold of. A
version of "Keynell" also appears on the project's most recent Skam 12"
alongside versions of other tracks remixed by Autechre and Velocity
Kendall. (Gescom's latest release, "Minidisc: (on the OR label) is the
first independent record to be issued solely on MiniDisc.)
Skam's vague Warp connection continued with the joint release of its first
single-artist album, Boards of Canada's delightful "Music Has The Right to
Children". This duo reportedly derive their moniker from the Education
Board of Canada, whose nature films they watched as infants. Such
programmes appear to influence the mood of their nicely-titled debut LP,
much of which could accompany natural history documentaries.
With their crunchy percussion and lovely melodies, Boards Of Canada
certainly draw inspiration from other Warp luminaries (Autechre, Plaid),
yet imbue their music with a curious sense of nostalgia and childlike
wonderment. On more than one track, a treated child's voice seems to be
declaring: "I love you". The results are sometimes cute and always
endearing - descriptions not normally applied to techno - but it's the
wayward approach that makes Skam's releases worth tracking down.
A Boards Of Canada record launched Skam's KMS 7" only imprint. "Do you
remember the old K-Tel singles?" asks Maddocks, " I wanted to do something
like that. The tracks on KMS remind me of 'single-type-music', a cool 90s
version of the 7" pop tune."
Skam has also been involved in two compilation CDs, "Skampler" and "0161".
The former was released on the US label Silent/Pulse Soniq (but is
available on import) and collates Skam releases plus exclusive tracks from
Gescom and Bola. It's probably the best introducton to Skam.
The dialing code-inspired "0161" is a collaboration with V/vM and Public
and comes packaged in images of a decimated Manchester city-centre.
Bringing together a collection of that city's weirds/noise terrorists -
including Skam luminaries Gescom and jega - much of the music is a sonic
equivalent of the bomb that blasted the city around the time the album was
being compiled. Jack Fear bizarrely juxtaposes deranged electronica with
quirky eary listening; V/vM do perverse things with extrme
noise/distortion; the Fall seem to namecheck Radiohead; and Autechre
completists wil covet the set's final hidden and un-named track.
"0161" also features a track from Jega. A pseudonym for Dylan Nathan, Jega
has just released his debut LP, "Spectrum" on Mike Paradinas' Planet u
label. Nathan - whose first two EPs were release on Skam - has directly
compared the intensity of his anti-ambient music to that of contemporary
computer games. "Older people just can't keep up," he recently raved to
Jockey Slut magazine, "People who are used to playing Pacman and Space
Invaders can't play Wipe Out. It's just too fast." Jega is at this most
thrilling when creating a kind of dysfunctional drum'n'bass, as on the
brilliant, "Card Hore" EP.
If you have any interest whatsoever in electronica, you should be getting
hold of these records."
(ohhhh my poor knackered fingers, they've gone all numb now! Anyways, hope
this helps for all da non UKers who can't get hold of Record Collector.)
Aless