At the beginning of the year I had the obsession to go professional with my label Eyeless, that would be an aim with ideas about pressing ‘official’ formats such as vinyl and cds. I started to think about how to condense 10 of my most presentable trx with the purpose of putting them onto an album. I thought about compilations, fantasised about who I could release, obsessively researched into pricing, paperwork. I wanted to re-live the glory years of my label Process in the late 90’s which was official in that we had a stream networks including distributors, live agents, press agents artists, djs and producers. O.k it went really wrong in so many ways and was generally a BIG MONEY VORTEX, but I was seduced by creating format and have been ever since. However, very soon this fantasy became a nightmare. It was like I was listening to my own music with a new set of ears…in thinking professional, my listening became ‘professionalised’. I came to hate my own work. I came to feel that my roughest most abrasive or lo-fi recordings weren’t acts of vivid and beautiful recording but the sort of music that would instantly clear the ‘cool’ room at a house party..and I so desperately wanted to be in the cool room. By taking the route of picking from pre-existing songs or albums I was effectively attempting to air-brush the original intention of the recordings and re-package them into a commodity that could feed a bigger fantasy. A fantasy I’m just not cut out for anymore. I’ve had to look hard at this obssession. It was time to put it to bed. The label I run has a roister of unbelievable talent, I can put out anything I want, there are no serious overheads, fewer rules (to be a proper label there’s ALOT of rules), more freedom for expression. The label is expanding, yes, but artist led, creativity based. The objects themselves, for example the new Foetus 502 ‘Quadrilogy’ or Process Archives Vol. 1 give me serious joy and pride even though we only ever press 50 max. to sell at shows or through website. In a way it is my fantasy world..o.k. I don’t sell shit, I’m not a relentless self-promoter..The way I work is as an artist would, I love music: creating it, recording it, listening to it and finding a form for it. So this year expect rumblings and noises from Hollow, Interzone Noise, Peace For Old Ghosts, Process Archives, Frogspawn, DKF, The Timekeeper and lots more besides and celebrate the fact that its probably not coming to a record shop near you..
Love David
