A-Z of Bristol record labels

A-Z of Bristol record labels

Image by brizzle born and bred
The city of Bristol, in England, has since the mid 1970’s had a particularly fertile music culture, resulting in not only a great many influential musicians and bands, but also its’ own sound; Bristol Sound or Trip Hop.

Along with the music scene, a number of local record labels also developed, some receiving national and international attention, others had a smaller audience appeal. In the 1970s there was a DIY culture of record production and the independent record label came to prominence, one of the most successful at that time was Virgin Records started in 1972.

Chiswick Records, Stiff Records, Rough Trade Records and Factory Records were to follow. By the later part of the decade Virgin had become a part of the music business establishment, and new independent record labels began appearing in virtually every British town and city, Bristol was no exception.

One of the very first Bristol punk bands The Cortinas released their debut single on Miles Copelands Step Forward Records in 1977, eventually moving on to CBS before disbanding. Miles Copeland also released in 1977 The Pigs Youthanasia EP on his newly formed New Bristol Records.

The explosion in Punk/New Wave bands forming in the area did not attract interest from the major and London based record labels, so local labels sprung up to release recordings from these groups.

Amongst the first, and initially more successful, were: Heartbeat Records, Fried Egg Records, Recreational Records, and Riot City Records (a Heartbeat subsidiary). Others had more modest success Wavelength Records (although its subsidiary Bristol Recorder, did achieve some popularity), Circle Records and Sheep Worrying.

Some bands set up their own labels: Black Roots (Nubian Records) and Essential Bop (Monopause Records). Yet other labels, although not based in Bristol, had a strong representation of bands from the area: Y Records, Rialto Records and Naïve Records.

After the initial burst of activity in the Post-Punk/New Wave Era, most of the labels folded (although Heartbeat, or one of its subsidiaries, is still bringing out the occasional release). Riot City came under the influence of EMI after they signed Vice Squad, and last released a record in 1988.

Meanwhile The Blue Aeroplanes released their first LP on Party Records in 1984, and there was some short lived output from Children of the Revolution Records (COR), until a new generation of record labels were spawned from the Trip Hop movement. Several exceptions to this were: rock label Sugar Shack Records, the Indie pop of Sarah Records and C86 sounds of The Subway Organization.

There are still a number of record labels operating in Bristol, but it is ironic that one of the most prolific is Bristol Archive Records, which specializes in unreleased tracks and re-releasing recordings (mainly for download) from the Punk/New Wave Era of Bristol Record Labels, 1977–1981, and later.

Listed below are a number of Bristol (and surrounding area) Record Labels that due to their short lifespan, few releases or poor distribution, may have received limited national or international attention:

0-9

3D Records: The own label of Bath band Neon. It issued their first single "Making Waves/Me I See You" in October 1980.

A

Amon Ra Records: Started in the 1970s, this is the classical label of parent Saydisc Records, based in Badminton, Gloucestershire.

B

Bicycle Records: Record label formed by Jane Taylor a Bristol-based guitarist, pianist, songwriter and vocalist. It is distributed by Pinnacle. Jane won the UK and International Songwriting Competition in 2003 with her song "Blowing This Candle Out".

Bristol Archive Records: Subsidiary of Sugar Shack Records dedicated to re-releasing music from the Bristol music scene, mainly in downloadable format. It has a large catalogue of material that includes unreleased and live tracks from 1976 onwards.

Bristol Beat: Released a cassette tape of Bristol Bands playing live at the Stonehouse.

Bristol Recorder: Created as a combination magazine/record in 1980 as a spin off of Wavelength Records, it ran for 3 issues. It garnered publicity in NME and was able to showcase local bands like Electric Guitars, The X-Certs and Essential Bop, as well as Robert Fripp, The Thompson Twins and rare live tracks from Peter Gabriel.

C

Circus Records: Commercial label (distributed by Pinnacle) that in it’s short one year life (1981) produced 6 singles and a compilation LP.

Clean Cut Records: See Bronnt Industries Kapital.

Children of the Revolution Records: More often known as COR, was a label specializing in punk, hardcore and thrash.

Cup Of Tea Records: See Monk & Canatella.

D

Disorder Records: The hardcore noise band Disorder launched their own label in 1981 with Heartbeat Records boss Simon Edwards, after Riot City Records declined to sign them. Over a period of 3 years they released three 7" EP’s and one 12" EP, before moving on to local anarchist label Children Of The Revolution Records. A final 12” EP, The Singles Collection, was released in 1984.

F

Float Records: See Bronnt Industries Kapital.

Fried Egg Records: Founded in 1979 by Andy Leighton, administrator of the Bristol based Crystal Theatre. The initial release was a single by the Theatres band Shoes For Industry, and in it’s short lifespan it did produce records by several other notable Bristol groups: Art Objects (later to metamorphose into The Blue Aeroplanes), Electric Guitars (later signed, then dumped, by Stiff Records), The Fans (apparently still gigging in Japan), The Stingrays (now gigging out of Wales) and Various Artists (who were also part of Art Objects).

FSA Records: Set up in 1992 by Heartbeat Productions for the recently formed Bristol band Flying Saucer Attack. Their first single in 1992 had several limited editions, each with part home made sleeves of differing designs. The first album in 1993 was self-titled, but is sometimes referred to as "Rural Psychedelia". After their third single in 1994 the band joined Domino Records, however, in 1999 they returned to FSA Records issuing the LP "Mirror", before finally disbanding.

Full Cycle Recordings: Set up in 1993 and run by Daniel Kausman (DJ Die), Paul Southey (DJ Suv), Keith Thompson (DJ Krust) and Ryan Williams (Roni Size) since 1993, they specialize in drum and bass.

G

Glasstone Records: See Evita.

Green Goat Productions: Taking its name from the Green Goat Café (an old family business) the label currently produces material by Steve Bush (ex-Essential Bop) and Fran Fey.

H

Heartbeat Productions: Is the parent of Heartbeat Records, Riot City Records, Disorder Records, FSA Records and Trash City Records. Initially Simon Edwards set up Heartbeat Records in 1978, however over time subsidiary labels were added to cater for different musical styles and bands, all the labels are now grouped under Heartbeat Productions.

Heartbeat Records: Started in 1978 as a partnership of local musician Simon Edwards and Tony Dodd of Tony’s Record Shop. Simon Edwards recorded and produced the first single, “I don’t want my heart to rule my head” by Social Security, after which Tony Dodd decided to concentrate on his shop and Simon Edwards took over sole control. The labels’ third release was the 12” EP, “This Is Your Life”, from the influential Glaxo Babies.

A number of other singles were released, however in order to accommodate the large number of bands around at the time they brought out the seminal "Avon Calling" - The Bristol Compilation LP. Four further LPs were released: 2 by the Glaxo Babies, The Transmitters and Art Objects (later to form the nucleus of the The Blue Aeroplanes) before the label became inactive in 1984.

It was revived with the 1997 album release of a 1967 radio recording by American 60's psych band The Electric Prunes. Cherry Red in recent years has repackaged tracks and albums from the Heartbeat back catalogue, including previously unreleased songs from the Glaxo Babies, Art Objects and The X-Certs.

Hope Recordings: Started in 1998 by Leon Alexander and Steve Satterthwaite, the label is run by Leon Alexander, with DJ and record producer Nick Warren head of A&R. Its’ progressive house and breaks artists include: Starecase, Jaytech, Matt Rowan, and Parallel Sound.

Household Records: Own label of The Chesterfields on which they released 3 singles and an album, before the band split in 1989.

L

Label7: An Electronic Music label that has released tracks from live breaks & techno dance act Bosch Stacey.

M

Monopause Records: This was Essential Bops own record label. There were two releases, both in resealable plastic bags, with folded picture sleeves and lyrics printed inside: Eloquent Sounds (Moan 1001, 1980, 7” EP) and Croaked/Butler (Moan 1002, 1981, 7” single). Distributed by Bristols’ Revolver Records.

More Rockers: Label set up by Smith & Mighty, which released their 1995 album Bass Is Maternal.

N

New Bristol Records: In 1977 Miles Copeland helped set up a number of labels to ride the current Punk/New Wave. Bristols’ The Cortinas had already signed to his Step Forward Records and New Bristol was another of the labels he set up. The label appears to have had only 2 releases, by The Pigs in 1977 and Gardez Darkx in 1978.

Not Very Nice Records: Initially a subsidiary of Riot City Records, the first release was the 1985 spoof NOW! album, "NOW! That’s What I Call A Fuckin' Racket (Vol 1)" (GRR 1), by Chaotic Dischord. Chaotic Dischord went on to release 2 other albums on the label.

NP Records: Independent family run label that has released a 4 track EP by Manchester quartet, Coraline.

Nubian Records: See Black Roots.

P

Party Records: Released The Blue Aeroplanes first album Bop Art in 1984, distributed by the Cartel.

R

Recreational Records: The label was started in 1981 by the Bristol record shop and distributor Revolver Records, with its’ own distribution as part of the Cartel. Amongst their artists were, Talisman a multi-racial Reggae Band who provided the labels second single and first UK Indie Chart hit (#17). Dole Age also became Single of the Week and the 1981 Record Sleeve of the Year in the NME. Nine singles were released in total, including "Work/Don’t Wake The Baby" by Electric Guitars.

Resurrection Records: Short-lived label that released the first single by punk band Lunatic Fringe in 1981.

Riot City Records: Set up in 1980 by Simon Edwards of Heartbeat Productions along with Dave Bateman and Shane Baldwin from the band Vice Squad, and distributed by the Cartel. Vice Squad's Last Rockers EP was Riot City's first release and Indie Hit, selling 22,000 copies. In its’ relative short lifespan the label had over 40 releases, selling nearly 250,000 records and was one of the prominent exponents of British punk music, regularly having hits in the UK Indie Chart.

Riot State Records: Subsidiary of Riot City Records that in 1982 released an American punk compilation album, "Hell comes to your House" (Reagan 1), licensed from Bemisbrain Records USA.

S

Sarah Records: Formed by Clare Wadd and Matt Haynes and active between 1987 and 1995, it is best known for its recordings of twee pop. Haynes subsequently established Shinkansen Recordings in London, where many Sarah artists went on to record.

Saydisc Records: Parent label of Amon Ra Records and The Village Thing. Founded in 1965, and based in Badminton, Gloucestershire, it has diverse releases; from Traditional, World, Period, Exotic and Unusual recordings, through to Dialect, Folk and Meditative.

Sheep Worrying: Bridgewater based magazine and record label.
Shoc Wave Records: Based in Easton, Bristol, and run by Gene Walsh. It specialized in Dominican music and Jamaican reggae bands such as Joshua Moses and Buggs Durrant, but also released records from a variety of other genres including Dub, Disco and Ska. In 1980 they released the single “I Was Wrong / Stuck in a Boat” (SRP0007) by The Rimshots, five middle class white kids from Bristols’ northern suburbs playing 2-Tone styled ska.

Silent Age Records: See Gravenhurst.

Sink and Stove Records: Set up by Benjamin Shillabeer and Stuart Bell in 1998 to release their own conceptual album ‘The Fall Project’ followed by a compilation of tracks by bands/musicians they knew. A number of the bands who originally released albums on S&S later re-released material on other labels, including: Chikinki and Gravenhurst.

smallPRINT Records: Label set up by Tim Kirby that specializes in edgy hip hop, folk, electronica, musique concrete, leftfield, and avant rock.

The Subway Organization: Founded in 1985 by Martin Whitehead of The Flatmates. The label was associated with the Indie Pop movement and the seminal NME cassette tape C86, that included the track It's Up To You by the Shop Assistants, from the labels first release.

Other artists included: The Chesterfields, Pop Will Eat Itself, Razorcuts and The Soup Dragons.
Sugar Shack Records: Set up in 1985 by Mike Darby, a veteran of the Bristol Music Scene. Rock influenced label with releases by Redefine, Left Side Brain and Midasuno, Its’ subsidiary label Bristol Archive Records is dedicated to re-releasing music and unreleased material from the Bristol area, mainly in downloadable format.

Swarf Finger Records: Bristol based label that has released recordings by Crescent, Experimental Pop Band and The Blue Aeroplanes.

T

Three Stripe Records: Released the ‘Stepper's Delight’ (1992) and ‘Remember Me’ EPs by Smith & Mighty.

Trash City Records: Trash City was primarily set up by Heartbeat Productions in 1994 to issue 7" singles by US garage bands. It only released one record in its’ first year and in wasn’t until 1996 and the signing of UK band Headcase, that the label issued another record. Three more singles and two albums were to eventually follow.

Tribe Recordings: See Danny Byrd.

V

The Village Thing: Folk music subsidiary of Saydisc that operated between 1970 and 1973. Records were pressed in relatively small numbers, although “The Folker” by Fred Wedlock did go onto sell around 20,000 copies.

Volatile Records: Own label of Post Punk/Goth band The Escape, releasing one single in 1982 "NoGo/I'll Pretend To Kill You", before signing with Phonogram/ Mercury Records.

W

Wavelength Records: Released four singles by The Spics, Gardez Darkx, Joe Public and Colortapes before reinventing itself in 1980 as a combination magazine/record called the Bristol Recorder, which ran for 3 issues.

The Western Star Recording Company: Specialising in Rockabilly, Psychobilly and 50's/60's Britpop-styled music, it has been owned and run by record producer and musician Alan Wilson since 2003.

Y

Y Records: Set up in 1980 by Dick O’Dell and distributed by Rough Trade. Although not a Bristol based label, it did release a significant number of records by bands from the Bristol area, including: The Pop Group, Glaxo Babies, Maximum Joy and Pigbag.

Can anyone add more to the list?

jørn utzon, jeddah stadium, saudi arabia 1967

Image by seier+seier
stadium and sports complex, jeddah, saudi arabia, 1967 (unbuilt).
architect: jørn utzon, 1918-2008.
engineer: max walt, zürich

"we are not really interested in how things will be in 25 years, whatever we build. actually, what we are interested in is that if in 2000 years some people dig down, they will find something from a period with a certain strength and purity belonging to that period", (utzon 1978).

one of the strangest and most beautiful post-sydney projects by utzon is this stadium and sports complex in saudi arabia, a commission he won by way of kenzo tange and which sadly remained unbuilt. it may well be that "it's been done before" is one of the sillier games of architectural history, but when it comes to folded construction and system thinking of which we see plenty these days, jeddah deserves to be remembered.

for lack of physical evidence, I have built a digital model based on the drawings published by utzon in Danish magazine "arkitektur", #1 1970, an issue devoted entirely to utzon's concept of additive architecture which proposed open-ended building systems of almost organic growth, yet consisting of a limited number of prefabricated units.

this rendering shows four such modules for the stadium grandstand. we know few details, hence the high level of abstraction, but in his later works utzon increasingly eschewed details for the naked presence of his monumental concrete structures.

a comparable competition, the parliament in kuwait, was won 5 years later. there, the prefab elements were produced locally in stainless steel formwork using local sand to achieve a brilliant white finish without painting the concrete. that building was later painted, by the way, after it had been looted and torched by iraqi troops.

in his own 1970 text on the jeddah stadium, utzon stresses the rationality of prefabrication and how the additive architecture supports the natural flow of people through the complex. no doubt these things are beautifully resolved, indeed the aspect of flow is central to the project as the site model shows so well, but reading the text, I couldn't help feeling that I was in the presence of some conjurer trying to divert my attention from his magic tricks: imagine standing next to such haunting shapes in the thinnest possible folded concrete, would your thoughts be on rational production and patterns of movement?

the folded plate construction in concrete is not in itself unusual for the late sixties. what is exceptional is utzon's ability to invest it with layers of meaning without adding physically to the minimal structure. in the context of the arabian peninsula, the facetted concrete resembles the islamic muqarnas vaulting, utzon had witnessed in isfahan and the many prismatic derivatives found in that most beautiful of cities. but it is no mere allusion to one of islamic architecture's most iconic elements. utzon lifts it from role as ornament into modern construction, returning it to the constructive purity of its origin, the squinch.

that cultural continuity was possible within modernism and the conditions of the 20th century is one of the salient points of utzon's work regarded as a whole. one can only hope that the people responsible for the ongoing embarrassment which is historicist islamic architecture today will look to him for guidance.

to the Danish eye, the relationship to the cross-pleated paper lamps of the klint family is the most immediately intriguing. former employees testify to utzon's admiration for p.v. jensen-klint's ruskinian monument, the grundtvig church, and for his son, kaare klint, the uncompromising father figure of Danish furniture design. in effect, they were the true royalty of the copenhagen scene.

the le klint lamps were put into production by his sons some forty years after p.v. jensen-klint invented the first version for his own home. still developed and reinterpreted by new generations of architects, it remains one of the true classics of danish design - but why did it turn up, violently out of scale, in utzon's oeuvre?

in my brother's bookshop, I chanced upon the memoirs of le klint, jensen-klint's grand-daughter after whom the company was named. of her stay in neutral sweden in 1944 she writes,

"...jørn utzon...lived under the roof in one of gamla stan's beautiful flats. his wife received me...jørn arrived home from work and was wildly enthusiastic about the lamps - especially kaare's lamps which he hung all across the little flat.".

and later,

"jørn immediately set about planning the exhibition. in the evening we would sit all three of us making new lamp shades until long into the night. the exhibition room was large and several hundred lamps were needed."

you can only imagine how he must have stored the idea for using folded construction on a larger scale. the first place it turned up in his production was an early idea for the inner acoustic shells of the sydney opera house - a beautiful, triangulated surface but less repetitive and more complex than the saudi project.

for all his universalist aspirations, maybe this autobiographical trait in utzon's works as each project seems to draw up world maps of his encounters and personal experiences is the most moving to me. it is the very opposite of the architecture coming out of the major offices that undertake projects on this scale today.

some of the design ideas behind the jeddah stadium were later recycled by renzo piano in bari, others by santiago calatrava just about everywhere.

this image was uploaded with a CC license and may be used free of charge and in any way you see fit.
if possible, please name photographer "SEIER+SEIER". if not, don't.

more utzon here and here - and a few more renderings coming.

gallery of related projects: www.flickr.com/photos/seier/galleries/72157623050016581

Kagugu student's imaginary house

Image by bcjordan
"Draw any house of your own design" was the assignment (but in Kinyarwandan). This house is 3D!

Kigali, Rwanda

Kagugu student's imaginary house

Image by bcjordan
"Draw any house of your own design" was the assignment (but in Kinyarwandan). This house is 3D!

My new Facebook banner

Image by mimitalks, married w/children
They stick your profile photo on there, so that's why I left a blank. Last time I featured Patrick on it - this time I featured Erin and more of my graphics. That's our rose in front of our house a couple of weeks ago.