Ochre Records

OCHRE RECORDS: THE HISTORY SO FAR…When Ochre began life, back in 1994,there was a healthy amount of regionally based-record labels in many parts of the country that provided an outlet for local bands and musicians. So in the tradition of the great independent labels of the 1970's and 80's Talbot, the elusive proprietor and founder of the fledgling label, decided that this would become one of his main priorities. Already having some years of involvement in the music industry, and inspired by northern labels such as Zoo and Factory, Talbot turned his attentions to the lively music scene of his adopted home town, Cheltenham. Following some impressive gigs and a great sounding Demo decided upon Reverb as a fine introduction to launch his own label.The 'Pedal' 7" received catalogue number OCH001, a Bardot and Bicycle cover, the 7” encouragingly sold like hot cakes! The next release, the first of the 'Voyage To The Cosmic Underworld' 12"s, continued to showcase Gloucestershire based music. The 12” EP’s contained the early works of several musicians who would become almost the 'house bands' at Ochre. The Land of Nod made their debut here, Positive Boredom members Mike Ward and Mike Cross would later become Longstone and after a brief hibernation, Penguin Happy evolved into 90° South.It was in 1995 that Ochre began to spread it's wings, and look further afield for interesting sounds. Echo and the Bunnymen's Will Sergeant, an old friend of Talbot's, had been deeply immersed in his Psychedelic Tripscape project Glide since the Bunnymen Mk 2 had come to an end. A plan was hatched for a series of 7'' coloured vinyl singles from Will’s 'Live at the Bubblebath' set. Working with Will opened up a whole new world of contacts for the label. Resulting in releases from from fellow ex-Bunnymen Jake Brockman and Damon Reece with the BOM 'Dubmarine' 12'' and Liverpool DJ Joe Mckecknie's 'Mindwinder' 12''. Both had an Ambient / Dance feel to them that marked the beginning of Ochre's interest in new musical territories.By 1996, the steady growth of the label, word of mouth plus the emerging Krautrock/ Post-rock scene that had started to open still more doors to potential Ochre artists. At Will Sergeant’s suggestion Talbot contacted Teardrop Explodes founder member and Wild Swans front man Paul Simpson. Paul, a great and knowledgeable Krautrock fan, had been working on the material that would become the basis for his project Skyray. A plan was hatched for the clear vinyl 10'' titled 'Invisible'. The gorgeous transparent packaging of this, the first 10” in the Ochre 10 x 10” series really set the tone for many of the next generation of vinyl releases. The quality of design and presentation, which have become a hallmark of Ochre has its beginnings right here. The Longstone / Stylus split 10” that followed moved into more new waters, with Longstone's electronica a great counterpoint to Stylus's 'Kinski' tribute. This also marked another major link in the Ochre chain, 'Kinski' being the first release of Welsh artist Dafydd Morgan, who's breathtaking, almost geographical, soundscapes would further broaden the scope of future recordings.1997 saw the label make it's first full-length releases, with the BOM and Glide albums and the profile of Ochre was rising too. Both releases had some great reviews and have proved to be timeless classics, to boot! Another of Will's suggested contacts, Kansas based band Shallow, hatched plans with Talbot for a 7'' red vinyl EP which included a remix by Spaceman 3 and Spectrum founder member Sonic Boom. When Talbot met up with Sonic at that years CMJ Festival in New York (where Reverb and Longstone were also performing) the seeds of future collaborations were sown. A second Skyray 10'','Neptune Variations' and the 'Coming Round at Calum's' compilation continued a much more ambitious schedule of releases for this year, which ended with the sublime 'A Dream of Blue' 10'' by Windy & Carl. The blue vinyl and 1000 sleeves hand painted by the band made sure it was a standout release in a big year for Ochre.In 1998 Ochre was really establishing itself as a label to be reckoned with. The several important album releases of the year kicked off with the Family of God double CD. Housed in a fantastic psychedelic box and raved about by many on the DJ scene, F.O.G was the project of New York based duo Adam Peters (best know for his awesome string arrangements for the Bunnymen and the Triffids) and Chris Brick. The release was described as a sort of Lounge / Mystic Disco hybrid! Also picking up a good deal of attention were the Longstone and Skyray debut with Longstone also contributing to the 10" series with their 'Live in New York' CMJ set. The Land of Nod had their debut release with the 'Masaki' 10", a tribute to the legendary 'Ghost' leader whilst Sonic Boom's Experimental Audio Research made their first contribution to the Ochre catalogue with the stunning 'Death of a Robot' 9". This disc was dedicated to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.'98 also saw the first of the 'Infrasonic Waves' compilations, Volume 1 including Avrocar's 'Themes These Three', a great favourite with BBC DJ's John Peel and Mary Anne Hobbs.The 5th year of Ochre, 1999, saw a dramatic increase in the amount of albums the label would release which for the first time matched the number of single and EP releases and what a vintage year it was too! The debuts from The Land of Nod, Stylus and 90° South were all well received and the E.A.R. 'Pestrepeller' sounded and looked stunning in a mirror board CD sleeve. The vinyl version was on clear vinyl version with red, silver and green glitter housed within! Maybe the two major releases were the second Skyray album, 'Mind Lagoons' and the legendary The Serpents CD. 'Mind Lagoons' was a great exotic rush of Pacific Rim Tropicalia and was given a fantastic reception on the Lounge/DJ scene. Equally exotic, though closer to home, was 'You Have Just Been Poisoned By The Serpents'. Recorded in Bryn Derwen Studios in North Wales, The Serpents album was possible, mainly because of the close links Talbot had been establishing with the Welsh bands involved, such as Ectogram and David Wrench. The bulk of the album was recorded in one crazy 72 hour session, with the usual Cheltenham and Liverpool contingents meeting with all the Welsh musicians and letting the magic vibes take over! The year culminated with the first of the one day Festivals, 'Ochre 5', at the Guildhall in Gloucester, which kicked off with a set by The Serpents and with live performance’s from many of the main Ochre artists, culminating with The Creeping Meatball, a huge collaboration between ex-Spiritualized trio Mike Mooney, Damon Reece and Sean Cook with members of Portishead and Massive Attack.The Millennium saw Ochre concentrate on the album schedule, with a further 10 new releases for the year 2000. Kicking off with the 'Live at the Dream Palace' CD from E.A.R. in a glowing orange jewel case, there were some follow up albums from the previous years Festival. The mighty Glide set was released in it's entirety on the 'Performance' CD and '271199', a compilation of some of the finer moments of the Festival featured tracks from all of the acts that played over the course of the day. A great souvenir! There was the splendid second album from The Land of Nod titled 'Timeless Point' and another from Stylus, with Dafydd providing more awesome sonic paintings on 'Skomargraph'. Richard Walker, from Amp, had his solo A.M.P. Studio album 'Alien Registration Office' released and there were also beautiful CDs from Yellow 6 and Pulsar. 2000 also saw another change of direction for the label with the first album from Applecraft. From Krautrock electronics to Psych / Folk, duo Don Mandarin and Mike Mooney wove a mesmerising tapestry of different sounds around their carefully crafted songs and made 'Shining City on the Hill' a moving and deeply impressive debut.After the hectic activity of the previous few years, 2001 was quieter in terms of releases, though the live events continued unabated. The OCH050 catalogue number was given to a very special release, the soundtrack from the 1966 Dr Who episode 'The Tenth Planet', which marked the first appearance of the Cybermen who featured on the cover. The 'Infrasonic Waves' series of vinyl EP’s was collected together and with a second bonus disc made a great double CD. As well as Ant Walker from The Land Of Nod’s debut Lakescene album, there was also the first release in the Ochre Archive series. These were releases by an artist, which collected together rarities and tracks released not only on Ochre but on other labels as well. The first release ‘Archif:01’ featured Stylus. Another album released was that to tie in with the second of the one day Festivals, 'Ochre 7'. This came in the form of a CD programme for the event, featuring many of the artists who took part. Another great day, 3 stages on the go and a splendid headline performance from guests Lupine Howl ended the year on a high.First CD of 2002 was 'Plans for Travel', the 2nd album from 90° South, which picked up some cracking reviews and airplay. In fact one of the most encouraging things during all this time was the great support the label was getting and continues to get from Radio DJs, especially BBC Radio One’s John Peel, who has a particular fondness for the Land of Nod and Stylus! Much appreciated. The Avrocar and Yellow 6 sets from 'Ochre 7' made a fine live compilation and the Ochre family became even more global with the first of Makoto Kawabata's releases. The Acid Mothers Temple front man's album, 'Infinite Love', was a classic piece of drifting guitar space rock, followed by a second album, 'I'm In Your Inner Most' which was a lovely slice of electronica. There was the 2nd Archive album, a double CD, covering all The Land of Nod's rarities and included the excellent live set from the Unity Theatre gig the previous year. Longstone also compiled a great double for the Archive series. Their release ‘Archive:03’ included a terrific Sonic Boom remix plus the live CMJ set and whole lot more!So to 2003 and some exciting times for Ochre. 'Inducing The Sleep Sphere' was another great album from The Land of Nod quickly becoming one of the labels most successful releases. In fact 2003 turned out to be a splendid year for the Nod, with mini tours in the States and Italy and their first John Peel Session. There was also the highly acclaimed Charles Atlas album, 'Worsted Weight' which Magnet magazine described as one of the top ten hidden treasures of the year! Talbot has said one of his greatest moments was releasing Will Sergeant's legendary 1978 experimental cassette only album, 'Weird As Fish' on CD for the first time. A true legend in all senses, Will only made 7 copies, all different, and the Ochre release is Paul Simpson's version, backed up with Wills soundtrack for Bill Butt's 'Le Via Luonge' short film. Truly a slice of history! The Japanese connection has continued, with another album from Kawabata, the debut from Migu (Cornelius drummer Yuko Araki) and the sleeve art for the 'Seasons' compilation by Japanese cartoonist Mitsuru 326. Sonic Boom remixed his pick of the Stylus Ochre back catalogue and produced the mesmerising 52-minute piece that became the 'Exposition' CD. The release of the Grace and Delete album moved Ochre into the world of Improvisation and the year ended on great note with ex-Family of God member Adam Peters new project, Neulander, making an appearance at 33 in John Peel's Festive 50 with their Ochre 'Sex, God and Money' debut.2004, ten years on and plenty more exciting future releases surfaced. Albums from Love guitarist Mike Randle, ‘Barstool Blues’ and another from Charles Atlas. The eagerly awaited album from Coil / Spiritualized / Julian Cope collaborator Thighpaulsandra and then the mail order release of 'Persistence of Vision', celebrating the ‘Ten Years Of Ochre’. Ten years of the label was celebrated in style with the Ochre 10 Festival which was held at the Guildhall in Gloucester on October 30th 2004 which was headlined by the Acid Mothers Temple and featured sets from Thighpaulsandra, Will Sergeant's Glide amongst others. A terrific terrific day was had by all and a fitting way to mark the first ten years of Ochre Records!With the label concentrating on selling it's back catalogue over the past couple of years the local acts remain very active with new albums already having been recorded by Longstone, Stylus and Brickwerk. So watch this space on My Space for the a re-surregence in one of the world's legendary experimental & electronic labels.