So why set up your own record label, anyway?
It costs an arm and a leg, and quite possibly an elbow as well, if you excuse the inane pun; you're constantly trying to prove why your own material and artists are the exception rather than the norm to an established media that can't see quality material if it's shoved up its own arse, and then some.
And then you run up against the biggest foe: indifferent people who just can't be bothered tuning-in, let alone spend some of their party money on local kids' heart-and-soul art.
Sound like fun?
Then here's what you do - think up a funky name, hack together a dodgy logo, approach someone who makes music who you really believe in (and who hopefully is consistent and can be trusted to support you back), work like hell in a day-job or three, save money, rustle up a graphic artist who'll do cover artwork for free, find someone to master up the beast... and, va va voom... you're on the way to your first CD or vinyl.
That's basically the origin of IF? RECORDS in a nutshell.
The expanded, yawn-inspiring version? ...read on...IF? (the label) was dreamed up at one of the now-legendary Every Picture Tells A Story warehouse rave parties in Footscray, Melbourne, on NYE 1994/95, by Andrez Bergen (a.k.a. LITTLE NOBODY) and and his erstwhile beer-drinking mate Brian Huber (MILKCRATE MAN), with a helluva lot of manic assistance from our crazy friend Mateusz Sikora.
The name of the label came from Andrez's floundering attempt at film-making (he had no money, no equipment, and a poor range of friends-turned-reluctant-actors as his repertoire).
The pseudo production-house was called Industrial Films, or "IF" for short, just to be silly; for the record label they just added a question mark because they were being very completely self-indulgent.
At the time Andrez had his own radio program called CYBERDADA on Melbourne station 3PBS-FM and was getting in a helluvalot of talented local electronic musicians like VOITECK Anderson, Dave Beattie (Q-KONTROL), Peter Harren (Tedium/TDM), and Derek Shiel and Dan Woodman from TR-STORM. He'd also just interviewed Steve Law, a.k.a. ZEN PARADOX, who turned out to be one of the nicest, most humble producers he's ever met.
Their common problem? Lack of an ability to get their music released through quality avenues in Australia, let alone the rest of the world.
We're talking 1994, when the only decent Melbourne labels were Dorobo and Psy-Harmonics.
Brian and Andrez had also started bouncing around the traps catching live electronic artists, and their frustration at the lack of appreciation peaked at a gig at the Tote in Collingwood where Zen Paradox played a scintillating set to what was basically an empty, underappreciative room.
Rather than complain profusely, the two got tanked-up that N.Y.E. and decided to do something about it.
A few months later we released IF001 - "Zeitgeist" - a compilation of the people they thought were at the cutting edge of the Melbourne electronic muzak scene.
Boy, did that set back their wallets.And so it went on...IF? has since worked with other Aussie artists like DIGITAL PRIMATE, 8-BIT, FRONTSIDE, HONEYSMACK, TD5, ISNOD, SON OF ZEV, GUYVER 3, SCHLOCK TACTILE, the LN ELEKTRONISCHE ENSEMBLE, BLIMP, MARCELLA BRASSETT, ARTIFICIAL, 5000 FINGERS OF DR T, SUB BASS SNARL, TEE-ART, CINNAMAN, ZOG, BEAM UP, POCKET, US, Nick Littlemore (PNAU), and Adam Raisbeck (SOULENOID/SENSE) and Japanese producers FUNKARMOR, YAMAOKA, MAGNET TOY, CAPTAIN FUNK and YAGI DES - along with internationals SI BEGG, TOBIAS SCHMIDT, BIOCHIP C, JAMMIN' UNIT, KHAN ORAL, TAL, VOCO DERMAN, BRIXTON, JASON LEACH (SUBHEAD), etc.The label has since moved shop to TOKYO, JAPAN (in 2001) and has run a plethora of live-electronica gigs here, as well as unleashing several limited edition vinyl releases from its ongoing Australian roster.In 2007, the label returned (briefly) to its roots in Melbourne for a live showcase gig at Horse Bazaar back in February, before returning to Tokyo for the long haul and releasing a new album from Kandyman ("For Lease", available for just A$15, through his website, with FREE shipping anywhere in the world - http://www.kandyman.org), plus the debut Slam-dunk Ninja EP "Ninja Daddy" here in Japan in April, a new Little Nobody/Slam-dunk Ninja split-vinyl EP in September. Next year, in 2008, look out for a new Little Nobody album album, plus that remix compilation (see BLOG entry above)...
In 2008, we're negotiating to get IF? Records and its extensive 13 year back-catalogue out there via digital download - most likely now via Sydney DJ Hi-Shock's Elektrax outlet on Beatport (big thanks indeed to Simon).Think Melbourne's best from the '90s on: Steve Law (Zen Paradox), Voiteck, TR-Storm, Artificial, Isnod, Sonic Voyagers, FSOM, Q-Kontrol, etc., along with Sydney ring-ins Sub Bass Snarl, some way cool Japanese mates, and a bunch of other internationals to be confirmed.This involves tracking down some artists and getting clearance and what-not, but we'll also be doing some new mixes of older IF? stuff, plus some new tracks, so stay tuned.First up, though, will be a Little Nobody so-called "tech classics" EP, of more waywardly punchy electronic stuff he hacked together between 1998-2001.More news soon.....
