Ok, lets try this properly & see how it pans out.
As many of you wouldn’t have joined the ride at the very beginning, I thought for the 1st lengthier post, I’ld give a bit of history of the label - aims, ethos, that sort of bollocks
I set up Industrial Coast in November 2018, on something of a whim, alongside some encouragement from Joachim Nordwall of Ideal Recordings. I knew piss all about running a tape label, but was frustrated by the sheer weight of music I liked that was only available digitally - a format I didn’t like at all (and still don’t). So Steve - put the stuff you want to buy onto a tape. Sorted
The in-house label
As a result, I (I’m trying to avoid referring to the label as the royal we…it remains steadfastly just me) had the goal of releasing a bunch of artists who had never had a physical release. That very 1st release was Moscow based noise artist negativemeditation, quickly followed by the likes of Sean Dvln, Leather Parisi, Sara Ohm & BMA…already we were multi generic…noise, lo fi punk, drum and bass, sound collage. Its great to see that all of these acts have goe on to release with other labels, such as Orb Tapes, Nailbat & International Epherema. We (aah shit) continue on that same path with a number of our releases, hoping to give artists a little more exposure - & that important 1st bit of physical - 2021 has seen tapes from Sophie Sparham/Christopher Gregory, Ghotha & Vaporized
The label has, as you’ll know if you’ve shown any interest to date, released a number of more established artists, & I continue to be surprised and delighted when I manage to put out work by the likes of Idealist, God Is War, Crazy Doberman, Zach Rowden & others - not something I ever expected to happen if the truth be told
Distro
Our distro started by accident. It was never part of the plan - if I had a plan that is
I can’t remember the tape, but I know it was from the US, cost $9 and a further $15 to ship. So, I asked if I could take 4 - figuring I could move the other 3 onto good customers of the label & we could spread that shipping. Its spiraled to be honest - & the distro now stocks Deathbed, Breathing Problem, enmossed, Noir Age, Astral Spirits, Chicago Research, American Dreams & many more.
As with the stuff I release, its a simple rule - I’ve got to like it. Other than that, no rules. Relationships are built with the labels (I hope) & the idea is I stock each and everyone one…so, for example, if its on Deathbed, you know I’ll be getting it in (& for theirs, you should know it probably won’t last long either)
New ones shortly, which I’m very excited about - Garde Portal & Moon Glyph. Watch this space
Social Work
After something of a cash haemorrhage in the 1st year, I had a better idea of what the hell I was doing in 2020. In 2021, small profits were being seen! As the financial plan was to simply stay solvent, I decided to donate to various causes. We dropped around £4k in 2021 - mostly driven by the tapes sales on the Mike IX Williams Tribute, & a great Tee by J Collins design. Those 2 probably account for around 2 grand - spread between BLM & various associated bail funds, plus Trystero, a Harm Reduction Centre on NOLA. The big one for 2022 was a £2k donation to Cancer Research, following the Earl Brutus/Nick Sanderson tribute (who would have thought I would ever release Saint Ettiene, or indeed Jim Reid). Other much smaller donations have seen their way to the likes of Shelter, Doctors Without Borders, The Trussel Trust (Food Banks), My Sisters Place (support for victims of domestic violence) &, most recently, World Central Kitchen
Some may be considered ‘political’. And I certainly consider myself a Socialist. However, I’ld like to think that where we donate are genuine areas of need…a very small helping hand towards a more equitable, kinder place. Or at the very least, for a short period of time, we’ve helped someone in dire need. Piss all to do with politics really, more human decency…I can help, so I should help, so I do help (however small)
New Stuff
Very exciting things happening (I’m now on a sales pitch - future posts will all look like this!)
Girls invented noise, not Industrial Coast
This all female compilation is coming along nicely - Chelsea Bridge/Fetter, Bacon Grease, T I N A, Tears/Ov, Havadine Stone, Sara Ohm, Evicshen, Dim Garden…its clearly going to be the best V/A release of the year. Look out for it sometime in October
The Midwest is weird. Dead, dead weird. A series of releases are coming out late October, into November celebrating free jazz, no wave, psycho jazz & all things related. Not everyone is from the mid west, but thats certainly the inspiration
Its a stellar cast - stay tuned
And that’ll probably do for now.
I aim to pop one of these out every weekend. We shall see. Future posts will mainly focus on new/imminent releases & distro info - but please feel free to engage, suggest, recommend re future content
And, regards distro, if there is a label you really want to grab titles from, that I don’t stock (& it looks like the label ‘fits’ our eclectic taste) do shout - if I can make it work, I’ll see what I can do
Christ, thats enough for now I reckon. If you are still reading, enjoy whats left of your Sunday!
Cheers
Steve
Great post. Nutshell. Tbh even though there are always a few cass labels on bc the ones you end up bringing in are far more interesting. "Gimme librium or gimme meth" in IC we trust:)