Which label had a great year?
I’ll kick off with two:
Principe
Phenomenal year for the Portuguese label with brilliant records from DJ N**** Fox, DJ Lycox, and the recent one from Niagara.
Music from Memory
I really enjoyed the Total Blue and H.A.N.K. albums, and the Virtual Memory II compilation is an absolute masterpiece.
Ilian Tape. Absurdly great.
Kranky
Clinic Stars, Adam Wiltzie and Belong. Plus the Roy Montgomery reissue of Temple IV.
Sub Pop
Loma, Corridor, La Luz and SLIFT.
City Slang
Jessica Pratt, Vera Sola and King Hannah
Fuzz Club
MAQUINA, Melts, Jesus & Mary Chain plus a great festival in Eindhoven.
Can’t really argue with all those so far but I’ll add:
Industrial Coast for its insanely good gig programs, wide ranging sounds, being an distro for great stuff and community spirit. I’ve loved a load of their releases from Richie Culver, Iceman Junglist Kru, Simon Fisher Turner & David Padbury, Ekstasis, Stalingrad. Loads of great charity compilations for things like Palestine and community centres that got smashed up by far right thugs in the summer.
Deathbed Tapes for Quiet Husband, Autopsy Experiment, Vomir with and without Iggor Cavalera, The Vomit Arsonist.
Brachliegen Tapes for 孙 一舟 (Sun Yizhou), Like Weeds, Dhangsha.
Hyperdub have had a pretty great year with some Burial & Kode9, Tim Reaper & Kloke, Heavee, Iceboy Violet & Nueen.
So whassup, man?
Coolin’, man
Chillin’ chilin’? Yo, you know I had to call, you know why right?
Why?
Because, yo, I never ever call and ask you to nominate label of the year, right?
Yeah
You know who I wanna win, right?
Who you wanna win?
I wanna hear that Disintegration State joint win
Disintegration State again?
Ah, yeah, again and again
Wrong speed, innit
Love it when labels have a consistent and instantly recognisable design style.
Bloody love that Bartosz Krucyznski album. Haven’t heard any of the others - gotta change that in case I bloody love them too.
It’s a beauty
Panoram is great too.
Gonna put in a shout for The Flenser as they’ve led me to a lot of good stuff this year. Released albums from Chat Pile, Midwife, Mamaleek and a great Agriculture EP and a couple of weeks ago a good wee ambient compilation.
Good year for Drag City, as always:
Ty Segall
Wand
Bill Callahan (live album)
Bill MacKay
Papa M
Dirty Three
Six Organs of Admittance
Nathan Bowles Trio
Tashi Dorji
Slumberland for me. 34th year and a real banner one - second album by The Umbrellas is absolute magic, a solid if not peak Reds Pinks & Purples, great records from Torrey, Humdrum, Chime School, Neutrals, Lightheaded, Pains of Being Pure at Heart reissues, and singles from The Cords and Autocamper to point to some 2025 releases.
