29jun2007
by indie judas
Disko B
Featured Label of the Month
by indie judas
Disko B
Featured Label of the Month
The Munich-based electronic music label "Disko Bombs" was founded in 1991 by Peter Wacha aka Upstart as a "dance-department" of his independent label Sub-Up-Records. After the fifth release the label was renamed to "Disko B".
Here are the questions for Featured Label of the Month at indiejudas.com answered by Upstart:
1- Tell us the reason behind the choice of the name "Disko Bombs" for the label.
in the late 80s i started subup-records (die goldenen zitronen, fsk, merricks, ...), first, disko bombs was created as dance sublabel of it and - as the name simply says - we had in mind to bomb the - in these days - mostly horrible discotheques and clubs with different, tasty electronic music.
2- Who operates it on a daily basis, and how many employees are involved?
nathalie and jutta at the promo front. juergen is taking care of digital distribution and publishing, gero does all grafics, watching the manufacturing and does the statements for our artists. and me, peter "upstart" - i m doing all the rest....
3- Moving on to the Disko B birth, I guess first we have to talk about what happened with the techno thing. What was it like dealing with this still fresh genre that followed in the mid 90s?
first we were totally blown away by this absolutely not compromising, absolutely new and revolutionary sound we heard in the no man’s land in berlin after the wall felt down, clubs like tresor or planet. i heard jeff mills, blake baxter or dr motte spinning and it was totally futuristic and anarchistic, too. i will never forget the moment when we left berlin and on the homeway to munich dorothea and me decided to start a similar club night in munich, too. the birth of the "ultraworld" parties at a autonomic youth centre (later became "ultraschall" club). i mean the music in these days was very, very exciting and new genres were born, one after one, the people in this scene were very open minded. in the mid 90s major (record) companies jumped on the wagon, as love parade became bigger and bigger, the sellout started and mainstream techno conquered private radio and fashion stores. drug dealers infiltrated the scene which splitted into several smaller scenes. more and more record labels were founded and techno "made in germany" became big. golden years for disko b, too. the sales were good and our artist rooster grew and grew international.
PETER WACHA aka UPSTART
4- What was the lowest point for Disko B and what was the point where things started changing?
definitely when our main distributor efa medien went bankrupt. we left efa around 3/4 months before it sank but we still lost 50000 euros on both labels, disko b and chicks on speed records. the worse sales and killing feedbacks on our sublabel "seperator" where hans platzgumer and myself wanted to build a plattform for more excentric music like japanese drum+bass (shinto) or electronic kraut rock (cube&sphere) were also a bad experience.
what else: yes the division from hell´s gigolo was a harsh private disappointment. and of course the copycats in techno and electronic music made us change our musical direction, as we signed bands like dakar + grinser, electronicat, stereo total and console. without these bands and their album sales we wouldn´t be able to survive in the more rougher sea today.
5- What is Disko B and Sub Up Records musical philosophy overall as an organisation? If you can, name five essential Disko B releases that define the general direction of the label, both past and present.
i rather love to release different kind of music; music with attitude, unheard and original, anarchistic, as to follow one style. i love to work in a team, without hierarchy, with people with responsibility.
die goldenen zitronen - economy class
silicon soul - who needs sleep tonight
patrick pulsinger - porno
the parallax corporation - cocadisco
stereo total - paris berlin
6- It’s a cliché question, but how does Disko B feel about downloading? Do you feel the effects?
the possibility to download music is revolutionary, unstoppable and i like it. its a great opportunity for unknown artists becoming more popular. it’s really bad for all the classical record shops (and distributors) where less people spent their money to buy records. it’s a nightmare for mainstream music what is not so bad.... i love good sleeve design and all what is around a record, i miss that when downloading mp3s, its little like a bubblegum, music loses worth. of course we feel the effect as all labels, we cannot pay advances anymore, we have to discuss every single ad we wanna do for our releases .... on the other side its great to have our releases featured on emusic or itunes, in direct touch with the fan, nerd, consumer and that’s true, too, our digital sales are growing fast.
7- What does Disko B look for when considering whether to sign a band or artist?
great and kicking, original music, sympathy, team spirit.
DISKO B staff
8- In 2007 the current wave of Disko B artists includes industrial electro rock bands like Electronicat and Good Enough For You while artists like Patrick Pulsinger and Acid Pauli have been with the label for some time. How do you think Disko B has evolved musically since its inception?
probably we are releasing now records on disko b which would usually have been released on sub-up-records before, acts like stereo total or electronicat. i like diversity and i like to open people’s (musical) horizon. i like labels which are able to surprise me as a listener.
9- Tell us about your flagship release at the moment Patrick Pulsinger 'Dogmatic Sequences'. What do you hope to showcase with this record?
his first 12"s were releases in 1994 - this tracks you find on this single-compilation - they show how futuristic and timeless his productions are. we will re-release his porno album, too and if you are still hungry check out his cheap records outprint!
10- Finally, many German electronic labels seem quite cautious of becoming associated with 'the next big thing'. What are your thoughts on this?
probably no one really believes or cannot image that "a next big thing" will show up, like it was after punk/new wave in the 80s. i love a lot of this dubstep music, digital mystics, shakelton, skream and so on. a great experience to hear that on a good club sound system. it’s too underground to become a next big thing if you mean a musical style to become a people’s movement. and english press still features the old-fashioned rock cliché.
!!! NEW & UPCOMING RELEASES !!!
PATRICK PULSINGER - DOGMATIC SEQUENCES CD
ELECTRONICAT - CHEZ TOI CD
KIDS ON TV - MIXING BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE LP/CD
GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU/ACID PAULI - BLACKSEAT 12"
GEBRÜDER TEICHMANN - YESTERNIGHT 12"
STEREO TOTAL - PARIS BERLIN LP/CD
JAY DENHAM - THE TRUTH 2x12"/CD
GEBRÜDER TEICHMANN - DEBUT ALBUM
disko b - sub-up-records
chicksonspeedrecords gmbh
editon söder&wacha - rote sonne
kolosseumstr. 6 - d 80469 münchen - germany
tel: +49-89-5438230/2
fax +49-89-5438441
Here are the questions for Featured Label of the Month at indiejudas.com answered by Upstart:
1- Tell us the reason behind the choice of the name "Disko Bombs" for the label.
in the late 80s i started subup-records (die goldenen zitronen, fsk, merricks, ...), first, disko bombs was created as dance sublabel of it and - as the name simply says - we had in mind to bomb the - in these days - mostly horrible discotheques and clubs with different, tasty electronic music.
2- Who operates it on a daily basis, and how many employees are involved?
nathalie and jutta at the promo front. juergen is taking care of digital distribution and publishing, gero does all grafics, watching the manufacturing and does the statements for our artists. and me, peter "upstart" - i m doing all the rest....
3- Moving on to the Disko B birth, I guess first we have to talk about what happened with the techno thing. What was it like dealing with this still fresh genre that followed in the mid 90s?
first we were totally blown away by this absolutely not compromising, absolutely new and revolutionary sound we heard in the no man’s land in berlin after the wall felt down, clubs like tresor or planet. i heard jeff mills, blake baxter or dr motte spinning and it was totally futuristic and anarchistic, too. i will never forget the moment when we left berlin and on the homeway to munich dorothea and me decided to start a similar club night in munich, too. the birth of the "ultraworld" parties at a autonomic youth centre (later became "ultraschall" club). i mean the music in these days was very, very exciting and new genres were born, one after one, the people in this scene were very open minded. in the mid 90s major (record) companies jumped on the wagon, as love parade became bigger and bigger, the sellout started and mainstream techno conquered private radio and fashion stores. drug dealers infiltrated the scene which splitted into several smaller scenes. more and more record labels were founded and techno "made in germany" became big. golden years for disko b, too. the sales were good and our artist rooster grew and grew international.
PETER WACHA aka UPSTART
4- What was the lowest point for Disko B and what was the point where things started changing?
definitely when our main distributor efa medien went bankrupt. we left efa around 3/4 months before it sank but we still lost 50000 euros on both labels, disko b and chicks on speed records. the worse sales and killing feedbacks on our sublabel "seperator" where hans platzgumer and myself wanted to build a plattform for more excentric music like japanese drum+bass (shinto) or electronic kraut rock (cube&sphere) were also a bad experience.
what else: yes the division from hell´s gigolo was a harsh private disappointment. and of course the copycats in techno and electronic music made us change our musical direction, as we signed bands like dakar + grinser, electronicat, stereo total and console. without these bands and their album sales we wouldn´t be able to survive in the more rougher sea today.
5- What is Disko B and Sub Up Records musical philosophy overall as an organisation? If you can, name five essential Disko B releases that define the general direction of the label, both past and present.
i rather love to release different kind of music; music with attitude, unheard and original, anarchistic, as to follow one style. i love to work in a team, without hierarchy, with people with responsibility.
die goldenen zitronen - economy class
silicon soul - who needs sleep tonight
patrick pulsinger - porno
the parallax corporation - cocadisco
stereo total - paris berlin
6- It’s a cliché question, but how does Disko B feel about downloading? Do you feel the effects?
the possibility to download music is revolutionary, unstoppable and i like it. its a great opportunity for unknown artists becoming more popular. it’s really bad for all the classical record shops (and distributors) where less people spent their money to buy records. it’s a nightmare for mainstream music what is not so bad.... i love good sleeve design and all what is around a record, i miss that when downloading mp3s, its little like a bubblegum, music loses worth. of course we feel the effect as all labels, we cannot pay advances anymore, we have to discuss every single ad we wanna do for our releases .... on the other side its great to have our releases featured on emusic or itunes, in direct touch with the fan, nerd, consumer and that’s true, too, our digital sales are growing fast.
7- What does Disko B look for when considering whether to sign a band or artist?
great and kicking, original music, sympathy, team spirit.
DISKO B staff
8- In 2007 the current wave of Disko B artists includes industrial electro rock bands like Electronicat and Good Enough For You while artists like Patrick Pulsinger and Acid Pauli have been with the label for some time. How do you think Disko B has evolved musically since its inception?
probably we are releasing now records on disko b which would usually have been released on sub-up-records before, acts like stereo total or electronicat. i like diversity and i like to open people’s (musical) horizon. i like labels which are able to surprise me as a listener.
9- Tell us about your flagship release at the moment Patrick Pulsinger 'Dogmatic Sequences'. What do you hope to showcase with this record?
his first 12"s were releases in 1994 - this tracks you find on this single-compilation - they show how futuristic and timeless his productions are. we will re-release his porno album, too and if you are still hungry check out his cheap records outprint!
10- Finally, many German electronic labels seem quite cautious of becoming associated with 'the next big thing'. What are your thoughts on this?
probably no one really believes or cannot image that "a next big thing" will show up, like it was after punk/new wave in the 80s. i love a lot of this dubstep music, digital mystics, shakelton, skream and so on. a great experience to hear that on a good club sound system. it’s too underground to become a next big thing if you mean a musical style to become a people’s movement. and english press still features the old-fashioned rock cliché.
!!! NEW & UPCOMING RELEASES !!!
PATRICK PULSINGER - DOGMATIC SEQUENCES CD
ELECTRONICAT - CHEZ TOI CD
KIDS ON TV - MIXING BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE LP/CD
GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU/ACID PAULI - BLACKSEAT 12"
GEBRÜDER TEICHMANN - YESTERNIGHT 12"
STEREO TOTAL - PARIS BERLIN LP/CD
JAY DENHAM - THE TRUTH 2x12"/CD
GEBRÜDER TEICHMANN - DEBUT ALBUM
disko b - sub-up-records
chicksonspeedrecords gmbh
editon söder&wacha - rote sonne
kolosseumstr. 6 - d 80469 münchen - germany
tel: +49-89-5438230/2
fax +49-89-5438441