email |  info [at] machine [dash] records [dot] com Last updated - March 2006 machine.records is an independent label based in Cardiff, Wales. With a growing catalogue of releases from a local and international roster of artists, our 30+ releases to date have focused on glitchy, leftfield, and experimental electronica. We were recently nominated in, and won, the 2004 Welsh Music Awards category for 'Best Label', and our music has been played on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru, BBC Radio 3's 'Mixing It', Resonance FM, and on the British Council's syndicated 'The Selector' show. The label was founded by friends and former bandmates Dan Haines (STEREO MINUS ONE) and Alex Collins (of ERIN) back in 2001, on the basis of a love of electronic (and other) music and an admiration for the experimental ethic of labels like Warp, Mille Plateaux and Rephlex. For the first few years it remained little more than an idea: early releases by STEREO MINUS ONE were only available online and no attempt was made to connect to a wider audience through live shows or sending out review copies. The main reason for this, apart from the lack of any obvious scene that the particular style of music being made seemed to connect with, was that to start a record label seemed to require financial resources that we didn't have. As time passed and Dan Haines began to link up with other like-minded musicians - first THE INSTRUMENT PANEL (a sign asking if anyone was 'interested in electronic/experimental music?' was found on a noticeboard at Chapter Arts Centre...) and CAPE CANAVERAL (encountered playing bass with Sonic Youth-influenced band TOMSK, in Sam's Bar on St Mary Street). A few more artists appeared when ANATOMIST and FUMEZOMBIE returned to Cardiff and when tracks from SUPERIMPOZER, BEN KOLB, and WILL SODERBERG found their way to us. At some point, machine.records began to seem like it could be a real label - shared approaches to making music, shared influences, and a common desire to make something more happen led to bigger plans being discussed - except there was still no way to fund it. In September 2003, on the advice of DJ OWAIN K, we approached local promoter DJ DAVE 'GROOVESLAVE' MORRIS, who was running a weekly Thursday night called SOUNDBYTES, at Journeys Bar in Cardiff. The idea was to try and get a first live performance, but we ended up with a monthly showcase, later named Terminal, hosted by Dave's SOUNDBYTES event. After three years barely escaping the bedroom, machine.records artists played two shows that October and three in November, and it seemed clear that the label needed to start releasing something! Rather than convince ourselves it couldn't be done due to lack of money, we started using CD-R's and a good quality printer to produce saleable CD-R's at home. Local record shop, SPILLERS, agreed to stock them and on December 8th 2003 the first 'proper' machine.records CD-R release, metal.machine music, went on sale. Since then we've been playing out regularly in Cardiff - we've done shows at Journeys, The Toucan Club, Cafe Europa, Compass Point Festival, BSB, The Social, Callaghan's, Chapter Arts Centre, and in September 2005 we moved our Terminal night to Cardiff's legendary Clwb Ifor Bach. We've also seen our roster grow from five to over twenty artists, and we're currently organising our many more new releases. The last year has seen a distribution deal with Shellshock, airplay on various stations - Radio 1, Resonance FM, Radio Wales, Radio Cymru, Radio 3 - a nomination for and then winning 'Best Label' at the Welsh Music Awards, and shows in London (at The Spitz, The Foundry, and Corsica Studios), Sheffield and Edinburgh - but, all the same, we're still a very small label and, given the current state of the record industry/musical taste, we have few illusions about our chances of making much money; but then machine.records has never been about making money, so whatever happens we'll just carry on doing it anyway. We're always looking for new talent to build our roster and welcome demo submissions from artists working in similar styles. Please read our Demo Guidelines before getting in touch as WE ARE ONLY INTERESTED IN CERTAIN KINDS OF ELECTRONIC music and WE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN ANY NON-ELECTRONIC MUSIC DEMOS. Sorry for the block capitals but believe me they are necessary! Top