It was predicted record labels would become a thing of the past, but they’ve arguably become more important than ever to the dissemination of audio. Read The Label aims to uncover and document the circumstances of these prime movers, big and small.
Stepping into the realm of electronic audio powerhouse Opal Tapes was akin to opening a small, secret door under my house and crawling in. It was dark, dank, and within minutes of entering the purple-black space, I found myself hypnotized by unknown figures moving to muffled beats and misty crossfades. Or, to put it differently, after profiling labels I’m practically intimately familiar with for Read The Label #1 & #2, I decided to step into the shadows and feature an entity I have less personal experience with for #3.
And I’m glad I did. Stephen Bishop is a quirky guy (to wit, he returned my first batch of email questions in one night, which is unheard of, then clammed up permanently when I sent a few follow-ups) who has shown intense dedication to his craft, and he’s corralled a group of electronic musicians who apparently feel the same way. A few of my tongue-in-cheek questions seemed to create a bit of a kerfuffle, but he reacted to my relative ignorance with insight and candor… and more than a little reverence for his shiny Opal enterprise, which is how we like it here at Read The Label HQ.
The elephant in the room here is that your label is one of the many that has progressed from releasing mostly cassettes (correct me if i’m wrong!) to pressing a lot of your releases on vinyl. This seems to be what a lot of tape labels are working toward; how did it happen for you?
There have been over 50 releases on Opal Tapes, Mirror & Gate, and Black Opal so far. Tapes make up the vast majority of releases, with some tapes later being issued on vinyl. There [also] are digital-only compilations and vinyl-only releases. Is the elephant here that the label is called Opal Tapes? Tapes will continue to be released, with it being the perfect format for some work.
Did you start the label with an eye to releasing vinyl all along or did demand/other considerations dictate you take that step?
I released vinyl issues of Wanda Group and MCMXCI early on with Opal Tapes. It was never intended as a tape-only label, just one [that] was looking out at music and working to accommodate the wants of the people I work with. I love records, and when I was first able to release something on vinyl it was special for me. It’s great to extend that to others. There’s something memorial about your music being cast that way. As the label has grown and other issues become apparent regarding that growth it is sensible to react with more vinyl, as quite simply more people are willing to buy it than they are cassette tapes. All formats, vinyl, tape, and digital have allowed the label to move forward and present people’s music appropriately. You’ll be seeing CDs soon too…
Have you found artists prefer to press their releases on vinyl? (I’ve heard from some labels that there are artists who actually prefer cassettes.) Have you had conflicts with bands when trying to figure out which format to go with on a particular release?
There are some people for whom vinyl is the only acceptable medium. For others a tape allows for 60+ minutes of their music to exist as a unit. I know some people who have released [a] tape with me would of preferred vinyl, but the point is never forced. There are no contracts or deep-seated agreements with OT. Nor have their been any conflicts; far from it. The people who I have worked with so far are some of the friendliest I’ve encountered within music.
Once you started releasing vinyl, did you notice a reaction from customers/the public?
More people take notice and you receive validation from others who see no worth in a cassette tape. Being able to get records into record shops is a fundamental aspect of running a label; word of mouth, peer to peer, all these things help to promote and share information. It would be great if I could proffer tapes in this way but there are only a few spots that are interested in taking tapes for their stores.
It’s music made by people who understand what’s happened previously and using their tools are able to fragment and reassemble past sounds.
Do you consider Opal Tapes to be part of a new generation of electronic music/artists?
Taken literally, yes. There is some music on Opal Tapes which sounds to me very new and forward-facing: Lumisokea’s funky desolation and Traag’s dystopic dodgem themes. It’s music made by people who understand what’s happened previously and, using their tools, are able to fragment and reassemble past sounds. There isn’t a manifesto at work here though. Opal Tapes is part of a long story of independent labels who want to issue music that interests them, them being me here, and to try to put smiles and/or frowns on listeners’ faces.
I’ve had this battle going on in my head for a long time now because there’s a lot of electronic stuff out there and people still seem to think the idea behind a lot of it is to get large numbers of people to dance, whereas I personally don’t see how anyone could dance to about 80 percent of the limited amount stuff I’ve had the opportunity to hear. Then again, I feel like I could get down to that Masks record (Food Plus Drug)… Can you expand/offer your thoughts on this subject?
I really like dancing to music. I’ve swayed around to wall noise and sweated my face off to Derrick May. It’s no big deal if you want to or not, but it does feel real good and your heart will thank you for it. Getting down to the Masks record ain’t hard, as it’s melodic bumpy techno, and I do hope that some DJs somewhere are playing that record to large numbers of prancing folk. But in the end it just doesn’t matter. When I’m in the club and I see people just eyes closed, still, dancing their brains apart or just dipping their lobes in the pool; it’s great. We got limited time so find your zone and enjoy it.
As an electronic artist yourself do you ever have to sort of set your artistic thoughts/feelings aside in order to do what’s best for the label? (I ask this because I ran a label, briefly, and found I was trying to unify so many insanely idiosyncratic preferences of mine, for instance black metal and Tonstartssbandht, that there was little chance more than a handful of people would be interested in the direction my heart was telling me to take the label from release to release …)
As a fan of lots of BM and also of Tonstartssbandht (I played with them last year in Newcastle), I’d be interested to hear what you’re doing :) I think that the music I make as Basic House has become a melting pot of the music on Opal Tapes in ways. Initially I was making much bleaker and more desperate music, but as the project has continued I’m making much straighter jams both through influence from what I’m hearing and also because it’s so much fun to make dance-music tracks. There always is going to be an aesthetic unity to the label because I like what I like, and in the off-case something is maybe much brighter and more colorful (there is the tendency with OT for minor key, minimalism, and rough edges) then that derives from what I know about the person making it, where they come from, and their reasoning for working that way. For example Ford Foster/William Watts/Flores Del Vicio are the projects of some mates of mine who come from black metal, noise rock, harsh noise/PE whatever… I can hear the fuck you’s in their music even when they’re not there. I like to hear people doing two things with their music — being serious, controlled, and focused on a sound, or having fun with the template and pressing their attitude into it.
I can usually tell very quickly if something is going to work for me or not. There are signifiers everywhere: artist name, titles, and the sonics of course can very quickly draw my ear or repulse it. There has to be some mystery to it. I want to feel that the other person is in control of their work, and they are only sharing a little of it with me.
I asked this question last column and I’m going to repeat it because I think it’s an important notion: When an artist turns in an album to Opal Tapes, is that the finished product? Do you work with artists on their wares or do you accept as-is, no questions asked? If you have a concern about a product an artist has turned in to you, what’s the process behind figuring that out?
There have been many occasions when on my 20th listen to a forthcoming release some cracks show and I speak with the artist to see about dropping and swapping tracks. I want that control and focus mentioned above to spread through the release. I don’t ever wish to control someone’s vision of their release, but everyone I’ve worked with so far appreciates the critique and direction, as it’s something musicians, myself included, so rarely experience at this level outside of academia or tight-knit collaborators.
For one reason or another, in my mind, everything is right for Opal Tapes right now, from the artists you have on your roster to the ‘buzz’ to even the great moniker you chose for the label. There are quantifiable reasons for me perceiving a label as HOT but also a lot of little reasons I’m not even consciously aware of… What I’m getting at is a ton of labels come and go every year, and it’s almost impossible to tell when or why people will respond to them. Why do you think people have responded so positively to your label?
The hype attributed to OT as a label is bananas. I know what’s going on with this label and it’s very simple: I have a room in my flat, which is full of cardboard boxes or records and tapes [and] more cardboard boxes full of cardboard boxes. The reality of the label is it’s a constant job where I’m answering email, taking, packing and mailing orders, assembling releases, designing stuff, mixing stuff, mastering stuff, and trying to make money to do it all over again. I get emails from people asking for work experience at “Opal HQ”; you’d be sleeping on a little sofa and dealing with my grumpy arse everyday mate. Make us a cuppa please?
Where that aggrandized hype comes from is the music and its consistency. I’m proud of every release that’s come out, and they each speak for themselves. I try my best to stay on top of orders and get things out to people as best I can with limited time and resources, so if my work adds to this hype then good, I’m fucking trying my hardest. One thing that I think gives Opal strength for the future is the mixed musical approach. The label is not one of “outsider house,” it’s just electronic music. There’s nothing lo-fi about Yves De Mey, nor is there anything harrowing and dark about Huerco S. It’s just music that moves me and people I’m interested in.
As a metal fan I’ve been hearing the whole “it all sounds the same” criticism my whole life and what users of that objectionable coupling of words don’t understand is that a TON of nuance goes into that brand of music (if it’s done well) that they’re just not hearing. I’ve heard this accusation leveled at electronic music too and was wondering what it is you look for in an artist as far as signing entities to your label. Is it a simple equation, a feeling you get, a wide range of interlocking impulses?
I can usually tell very quickly if something is going to work for me or not. There are signifiers everywhere: artist name, titles, and the sonics of course can very quickly draw my ear or repulse it. There has to be some mystery to it. I want to feel that the other person is in control of their work, and they are only sharing a little of it with me. I appreciate musicality and composition hugely, but timbral choice is the key to make me listen beyond 30 seconds. That timbre isn’t the same through out of course, but there’s an attention that needs to be shown, be it to acoustic or synthesized sound, field recording or electronic instruments… Which I recognize quickly and which is of utmost importance to me.
The grey youth evangelize a cartoon violence sonified and sold to the hundred thousands. All peoples cross-pollinate flesh, sound, and words into a gel, which is chewed and sniffed and spat out, a nine-month cycle not of meat and bones but of cultural entropy.
What do you look for in an ‘Opal Tapes’ band? Are these all artists you’ve had a personal relationship with or are there strangers whose music you got into?
Over time I’ve got to meet a lot of the people whose music I’ve released. There are others who I doubt I’ll ever meet, and almost all of them began as strangers whose work I admired.
Everyone is talking about the wait times associated with pressing vinyl. Has this affected you in your operations at Opal Tapes? Is it sort of a spirit-crusher to find out you have to wait weeks/months to put out a release?
UK pressing plants are running really slowly currently and claim RSD is the major reason. Once the hangover from RSD has passed, it’s time for the next one, so that’s a bit of a bummer. I search around to find new options and places with good recommendations but try to keep it UK-based as much as possible. Essentially though that wait is all part of the machinations [of] releasing something so you work toward the future, not the immediate.
How much does you being a recording artist yourself factor in to the success/arc of the label, in your mind?
I really don’t know. I think I’m a better merchandiser than I am a musician. I’m committed to the label, as my other work is limited in time and money, so I have always wanted OT to work.
The standard practice these days is for independent artists to jump from label to label … How do you view your stable of artists as far as short-term and long-term considerations? Is this a reality you’ve had to deal with in a situation wherein you were hoping to form a long-term working relationship with an artist?
As mentioned OT does not contract or “sign” people. I want artists to want to release something with me knowing that I care about their work and will do my best to present it correctly. I’ve approached people before who are contractually bound or have strong affiliations elsewhere and want them to know I’m not looking to poach, just to show respect to their music by asking if they’d like to release something with me.
I’m older (mid-thirties) and remember a time (the late 90s) when everyone was predicting electronic music would take over and rock would finally emit its dying breath. That never happened, at all, and now, though few are talking about it that I know of, this whole ‘takeover’ could finally be happening. Any thoughts on the differences between traditional electronic music and what most would call ‘rock’ and where both are going in the future? Is there even a true division between the two at this point?
Western cultural tribalism has been reduced to sub forums on upload sites where[in] all those who view have a moderate knowledge of denim manufacturing. Discussions of boutique pre-amps cross the lips of thousands who will never own one or really want to. The grey youth evangelize a cartoon violence sonified and sold to the hundred thousands. All peoples cross-pollinate flesh, sound, and words into a gel, which is chewed and sniffed and spat out, a nine-month cycle not of meat and bones but of cultural entropy. It’s funky cos it’s got a loaded third, deep throbbing tech stabs, it came from this ghetto not that one, AC/DC are murdering the public… We are entering the true age of the human stew, with all trace of individuality in fact a loaded hashtag and dispassionately criticized by your closest friends. Stand up and know that you are not the snowflake that you want to be, take your heavy boots in hand and crack the head of your enemy. Reintroduce everything.
Writing up these questions from the U.S., I’m going to admit something to you: The electronic-music explosion in the UK feels threatening because it seemed to come out of nowhere (which, as per usual, I’m sure isn’t the case) and now it almost feels like it’s too late to catch up. As someone based in the UK can you tell me what’s wrong or right with my interpretation of this ‘scene’ if it can even be called that?
I’m intrigued to know what can be threatening about any of this? It’s just people working positively toward helping their own mental health and adding to universal decay. The UK does of course have a strong community and legacy of musicians, label, forums of communication and commerciality and critique. I don’t feel anymore so than the U.S., or much of Europe though. A label like mine could of started anywhere in the states much as labels I respect have worked both in cultural hives like NYC (Phaserprone, Tranquility, GEL) or more distanced locations (Cephias Treat, Bleak Environment, Povertech Industries). The same can be said of many European cities. For me personally there are only a few outposts in the UK who’s output I follow, and having met many of the people involved I can clarify there is no threat there. Just good souls who want to be part of this weird world.
I have an idea, maybe, but what does “No Lotion Needed” mean?
That one is just for me a few others mate but it’s to do with English people, an English need. It’ll change again soon…
