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.
I’m beyond ecstatic to be featuring Shelter Press in hopes of avoiding a sophomore-column slump. Their balance between print publications (books, zines, etc.) and vinyl records presents an interesting dichotomy for today’s listener, and the experimental thrust of their audio offerings has quickly established SP as a force to be feared in the record game.
I first came into “contact” (i.e., I ordered a record) with Shelter Press through its Ensemble Economique release, but, as I’ve found during my research of the organization, everyone seems to have a different entry point. Maybe it was the Rene Hell/Pete Swanson LP, one of SP’s first releases; maybe it was the Ben Vida poetry book; maybe it was the Alex Cobb record (Marigold & Cable) everyone seemed to be talking about for awhile. Whichever one it was, if you read Tiny Mix Tapes, you probably know of Shelter Press. The chance to have one of its co-founders (with Félicia Atkinson), Bartolomé Sanson, tell us about the arc of the label was a golden opportunity I wasn’t about to pass up.
I wanted to ask about the Terence Hannum release because a solo album from Hannum, and Locrian for that matter, could go in so many directions… I guess I’m wondering if there was a discussion with him beforehand on what form the record was going to take?
It’s great you mention this record and it’s a great starting point to talk about Shelter Press since this one is in many ways very representative of how a project can show up in our hands. As you may know we are two people operating at Shelter Press, and Felicia (Atkinson — half of the venture) used to live in Chicago back in 2008 while she was doing a scholarship exchange with Les Beaux Arts de Paris, where she did her studies… And Terence Hannum was one of her teachers at Columbia College. At that time Locrian wasn’t in existence but Felicia was already a good friend of Steven Hess (Locrian’s de facto drummer).
When we started Shelter Press in 2011, we did a list of the people we would like to work with for the first releases, and Terence’s name showed up very quickly, and for many reasons: because Felicia loved his class, because in had one foot in the music world and another one in the art world, and more importantly because he never did a solo LP
Then — and I guess we’ll go deeper on this point later — the process of working on that record was pretty simple.
You know before doing Shelter Press, I ran a zine publishing house called Kaugummi Books (2005-2011), and it was mostly based on the idea of asking artist to do a “carte-blanche” publication in a strict size (20 pages A5 zine). And I still love this idea of working with artist you like and trust in their creative process. So with Terence it was all like, “OK, please send us 2 sides of music for a single LP and let’s make a zine to go along with the record!”
It’s funny because a lot of label owners are really serious about the idea of being super-present in the recording process, while I work on the totally opposite direction. As soon as we offer to someone a space to make a record with us, they are almost totally free to send whatever they want, and that’s extremely important to me, to trust the artist in his artistic creativity. Of course we are really open to discussion of the artist wants to, but most of the time we offer a publishing space and the artist fills it by himself.
The only field where we can be (and become more and more) picky is the artwork, which is really important to us and is a big part of the label. The good thing about this “carte blanche” idea is the more Shelter Press is getting “bigger” (in term of number of projects) and the more the artists are working in the same directions… As if there is a general aesthetics growing with the label and in which the artist we want to work with find a good space to create.
I believe you’ve also put out printed publications of Hannum’s. Were you initially drawn to working with him by his music or his printed works?
Definitely first because of the music, but even if it’s not our main motto it turns out that we mostly work with musicians with a foot in the art world… Or visual artists involved in the music world… So Terence Hannum is one [of the] many artists we worked with who is wearing both caps.
One of the best example of this crossover between music and art is the Ben Vida LP we released earlier this year, which is a record as well as an exhibition catalog. [Also] our first book was a monograph by Julien Langendorff, and he plays music, too. He does a lot of art covers for records, including one for our Ensemble Economique release in 2012.
Same for the photographer Estelle Hanania, who is working closely with Gisèle Vienne and Stephen O’Malley. She just did the art for Oren Ambarchi’s new [Editions] Mego LP, and so on… She also did a zine of pictures of Atilla Czar for the special edition of her book we did last year Glacial Jubilé.
I noticed that for Glacial Jubilé you guys offered an elaborate special-edition package, with signed pieces and other extras, and I noticed there aren’t many other Shelter Press deluxe releases. Is there a reason for that? What are the advantages/disadvantages of special editions?
Ahah, nice transition right?! Actually we did others, and they are always different and closely connected to the project. For the music releases we mostly do simple zines (also to continue the work started with Kaugummi Books, as we did for Alex Cobb with a chapbook of poetry by Peter Gizzi, or for Terence Hannum with a zine [he did on his] own). We also did a clamshell box for Anne Laure Sacriste’s new book Orion Aveugle (online soon!). The main idea is not to produce non-affordable objects or highly collectible items, but more to enlighten as much as possible each object, and find a way to — money wise — be self-sufficient (Shelter Press is a nonprofit organization and we are not helped by any kind of public or private money.)
Back in the days when almost all labels were pressing big runs, the first 1000 copies pressed were going directly to the garbage. This first batch wasn’t supposed to be good enough to be sold…But since nowadays we do 500 copies only it wouldn’t make any sense to throw away 1000 copies, so plants are actually pressing commercial copies with unstable machines.
How about colored vinyl? I ordered the blue Ensemble Economique record from you guys and that looked great on a personal note, but was wondering about how you feel about going that direction and also if you’ve considered pressing limited vinyl variants like a lot of other labels are doing these days?
I’m not into colored vinyl, I don’t know why but it’s not something important to me.
I love the work we can do on the sleeve, the paper, the font, the balance of weight between the sleeve and the inner sleeve, all those small details. But speaking of the wax, I’m a bit old school I guess, I like it black! Some people say black wax = better quality… I don’t know if it’s true but for now I’m good with the idea of that simple and regular edition… Even if the Ensemble Economique design might be my fave in the early Shelter Press releases!
You know it can be a bit tricky to find the good balance between something “too easy and cheap” and some kind of goodies which are not about the music anymore… The more we do records the more I want a find a subtle but sharp common graphical umbrella for all the releases.
Did you start Shelter Press as a home for printed products at first, like i thought, with records coming later on, or did you always have in mind that you’d put both formats out?
As I said i used to publish zine for many years before starting Shelter Press, but the bottom line from the beginning was to publish music, art, and writings. Our first two releases were Pete Swanson/Rene Hell split LP and Julien Langendorff’s first monograph. Both came out at the same moment so I guess the signal was pretty obvious from the beginning. That said, it’s of course way easier, cheaper, and faster to publish a zine than a vinyl so the balance is not really even in the course of 50 releases.
Where the printed projects are concerned, I noticed you’re doing zines, and you also do books. How do you decide which format fits which author?
Finding the best form for each project is the main goal of Shelter Press and we are really working to push this on step further at the moment. As a publisher I feel like it’s a real nonsense to try to make different kind of projects to fit in the same pattern. That’s why we can publish a “high quality” (and expensive) photo book/monograph for Estelle Hanania’s work; because that’s the way it has to be published, it’s the best way to enlighten the work.
Meanwhile, a poetry book [might not] necessarily require a hardcover, and so on… We just did a big-size zine with french artist Laurent Le Deunff, who makes sculpture in the shape of cat tree. The publication is extremely simple and straight to the point, but as surprising as it sounds it’s, for me, one of our most accomplished and precise publications.
I don’t work with a pre-determinate publishing pattern [that] would stick me in a very specific range of artwork [and] would be only able to fit that pattern (I mean a restricted graphical guideline or book collection). The content guides the form of the book, and not the opposite. We like to work in a very close relationship with each artist, and for each project, which means nothing can be determined before the discussion.
Audio-wise, you put out vinyl-only, right? Can you explain that choice from an aesthetic/business/etc. perspective?
WE DO TAPES TOO! Not sure why but no one knows that! But you’re right we mostly do vinyl, and to be honest it’s because of a mix off all you mentioned in your question. We love vinyl of course, and as a publisher, a graphic designer, and a listener it’s the best object to produce. And I guess it was the best way to start putting out records… That being said we will do a CD version of our main releases next year, starting with Gabriel Saloman “Movement Building” Vol. 1 & 2 (the volume will be out next month on wax, and Volume 2 will be out next spring, along [with] the cd compiling both). As I said earlier, it’s not because we do small edition that we don’t want to spread as much as possible the work of the artist we are working with, so if the CD can help, let’s try the CD!
We also already did three tapes, and a fourth one is on the way for this winter… The next tape will compile some songs by McCloud Zicmuse, composed and recorded with homemade instruments.
Have you had problems with pressing vinyl like other labels I’ve talked to (due to overwhelming demand) or are things steadier where you’re located?
We press all our records in Germany and we used to be pretty lucky until last winter, when we did this record with Alex Cobb, which was really difficult one. We had to reject three test pressings, and then move to another German plant to ask for a new one… So the record has been six-months delayed. I guess all the plants are so overwhelmed with orders at the moment they can’t be as careful and precise as they used to be… Not sure if it’s 100 percent true but you know back in the days when almost all labels were pressing big runs, the first 1,000 copies pressed were going directly to the garbage. This first batch wasn’t supposed to be good enough to be sold… As printers still do when they print a book, throwing away thousands of printed sheets just to give some time to the press to reach the good speed and the good heat. But since nowadays we do 500 copies only it wouldn’t make any sense to throw away 1000 copies, so plants actually are pressing commercial copies with unstable machines.
Our new release, Gabriel Saloman’s Movement Building Vol 1, was supposed to come out Oct. 18 but will be five weeks delayed too, this time simply because of a large overload of orders at the plant.
Do you have any thoughts on that? What would you do if you literally couldn’t press the records you wanted to press when you wanted to press them?
Honestly the situation is really tricky at the moment because since we — as most of the small labels — do not have a lot of cash reserve, all those delays oblige us to work at a very SLOW rhythm. It’s nowadays almost impossible to follow the day-to-day internet trade, so I guess people are now downloading/streaming new music… And then wait a few months to get the physical archive on wax. I’m sure there will be a solution at some point to find a new way of producing, but for now we just have to be patient and accept the idea of fucking up all our press schedules.
I’m pretty sure it was way more ALIVE when every city (even in France!) had five or six record stores in town. Then of course it’s crazy to think about the way we dispatch our pressings nowadays… You know we sell 95 percent of our release outside of France, and more than half go to the U.S. and Japan.
In general, would there ever be a situation wherein you would reject the audio someone turns in for a record? I read an interview with one of your artists, Alex Cobb, about this very subject (regarding his Students of Decay label), and he said he thinks too many labels accept exactly what they’re given. Considering that you guys put out one of his records I figured this would be a particularly interesting/pertinent question!
[laughs] It’s funny you mentioned this Cobb interview; I think I read it too. OK, as I said earlier we mostly work with artists on a “carte blanche” basis, so this is how we worked with him, but I think his record is the only one we made [that] was a submission. And that one was pretty easy since he came to us with the music and art cover already done. I only had to design the back cover and it was ready to be sent.
To be honest it’s not exactly the way we usually work, and at first I wasn’t sure if it made sense for us to do it that way… But this work was so good — as a Taiga Remains fan it was impossible for me to turn it down. For me Cobb is the guy doing the best ambient/drone music at the moment, so if we had to do one record from this music field it has to be with him.
How do you decide how many copies of a release you’re going to print/press?
It’s easy : as much as we can sell, and we can afford. For now it’s easy : 1,000 books/500 vinyls/150 zines/150 tapes… And then some variations depending on the project… Sometimes it’s hard to adjust, for example we did 500 copies of the Keith Fullerton Whitman/Floris Vanhoof split LP and it sold out on preorder… Same for Estelle Hanania’s book, we did 700 and it sold out in a few months… So maybe we should have done more, but then I’m not sure [how] the sales would have been if the run of 1,500.
Ideally I would love to be able to keep all titles always in print and available, but I guess it’s a bit too early for that.
Technically, books AND records are dead or dying formats, yet you specialize in both, as do many others despite all the dire predictions going around. How do you feel about that?
Honestly I feel like IT IS DEAD. Or I guess it’s still alive but in another way or reality. I mean, we are living in a world where we are happy to sell 500 copies of a record or a book… I don’t know how things were back in the days, but I’m pretty sure it was way more ALIVE when every city (even in France) had five or six record stores in town. Then of course it’s crazy to think about the way we dispatch our pressings nowadays… You know we sell 95 percent of our release outside of France, and more than half go to the U.S. and Japan?
I’m not sure small-run artbooks and noise records have never been that popular, and I feel pretty comfortable being underground… It gives you a true freedom and that’s what I love about doing Shelter Press. We can reboot/start new things all the time. At the moment we are publishing a lot of texts, our first theoretical book will come out next February, while we also are working on our biggest music release to date. I guess sometimes the people who follow the imprint can [find themselves] a bit lost (not too much I hope), but I really love the fact we are small enough to do [what we do].
Felicia and I both have day jobs, which is really tiring but pretty handy since it allows us to make risky choice and to make records with unknown artists. Or now I guess it’s the best way of working… Not trying to make any money and move on to new project in a not-too-slow rotation.
Just glancing at your online shop, and looking at what has sold out and what hasn’t, it seems like Shelter Press records sell better than the books. Is that a correct assessment or am I way off? If so, it would seem to make sense for you guys to focus on the format that sells best, but I also suspect money isn’t the prime objective of SP. Can you talk a little bit about this subject?
That’s a very great question, but your assessment is not exactly true. The reason why is have more leftovers for the book than the records is mainly because we produce more copies [of] the books than the records. Our regular pressing for a record is 500, while we commonly do 700 to 1,000 copies of a book, because it’s easy to repress a second run for a record but it’s super expensive to print a second run of a book.
Then of course making money is definitely not a goal, and actually we are not making any, since all the money from a project pays [for] the next one… Felicia and I both have day jobs, which is tiring but pretty handy since it allows us to make risky choices and make records with unknown artists. Or now I guess it’s the best way of working… Not trying to make any money and move on to new project in a not-too-slow rotation.
It’s funny you mention this duality [between] book/record because when we decided to start Shelter Press it was obvious for us that people will order both books and records at the same time, but then after almost three years I think we [get] a small range of people buying both, and we sell in one hand records to a specific audience and books to another.
I work at a newspaper and I think it’s interesting the way people react to the idea of a media format going extinct. With records, for example, people have responded to its extinction in different ways depending on the era, but over the last 10 years they’ve been rushing to resuscitate the format and a lot of people are realizing how awesome vinyl is or can be. Where newspapers are concerned, however, no one, anywhere, seems to want to save them, and while I understand gripes people have about the format, I also think it would be an absolute shame if print newspapers went under, and not just because it’s my livelihood; I genuinely feel like a lot of the things I cherished growing up (record stores, magazines/newspapers, the availability of cassette tapes in K-Mart, radio that played music I wanted to hear, etc.) are now just short of obsolete. Do you think people are enjoying vinyl these days because it’s a quality format that never should have disappeared in the first place, or do you think it’s been more of a trend people are glomming onto that will eventually fade?
I think it’s less rational. Collecting things, buying non-essential things is about desire. How you project yourself in your tastes, how you pursue a certain cultural quest. Then, therefore, you need to hold an object in your hand. You can’t dream of an mp3; I don’t think so. You can’t give it as a gift, either.
Trend or not, I don’t think it matters. As I said before, we are not sellers or product-makers. We are publishers. Felicia also is an artist and a musician, and myself a graphic designer. I think it s important to understand that Shelter Press is more a curatorial project that an business. The way we see and drive Shelter Press is way closer to an artist-run space than a company. Sometimes we also organize art shows as well, in the same way we would do a book or a record… At the end of the day all we need is a platform to show art, a physical channel to spread music, but maybe not a very specific object.