Unlabel is an independent record label based in Kent in the south-east of England, which was started in 1996 by the band Joeyfat and is still run by two members today.
The label originally focussed on releasing music for interesting local artists from the Tunbridge Wells area (where there has been a flourishing underground scene for many years) and has gone on to work with bands from all over south-east England, London and beyond, now with a catalogue of over 100 releases.
Unlabel has previously released music for (in alphabetical order): Belt Motel, Charlottefield, Cove, Deadboy Racer, Eiger, Elks, Eric, Headquarters, Hunter's Loaf, Jason and the Astronauts, Joeyfat, Matra, Moth, Nub, October All Over, Planquez, Princess Headbutt, Rebus, SJ (aka Paul Taylor and Kevin Tomkins, formerly Sutcliffe Jugend), Songs of My Lap, Tom Williams and The Boat, Unhome, Ye Wiles.
Unlabel has also released a compilation album at Christmas every year since 2002 and as well as featuring the artists listed above, guests on these releases have included: 30 Day Hex, 100 Pets, Alexander Tucker, Bilge Pump, Billy Mahonie, Black Black, Blue House, Box, Camelion, Chain Street (& 4th), Clearlake, Collides In Arc, Dead Note Songbird, Death of London, Die Munch Machine, The Durells, Econoline, Everything For Miles, Sandy Finlayson, iForward, Russia!, Furniture Sound, Haemostatic Picnic Races, Hey Colossus, Honey Ride Me A Goat, Hood, Hunting Lodge, I Coelacanth, Jet Johnson, Kill Yourself, Klaus Says Buy The Record, Kyote, Lakes, Last of the Real Hardmen, Lefthand, Lords, Method Sent, The Monochromat Fixation, Montana Pete, Noizreverzion, Noon, The Notorious Hi-Fi Killers, Part Chimp, Pellethead, The People's Choir of Berlin, Pipecleaner, Quack Quack, Querelle, Sarandon, Shink, The Ship of the Sun, Ship's A Going Down, Shit and Shine, S*M*A*S*H, Sstres, The Tailors, That Fucking Tank, The Wow, Zettasaur.
During 2006 Unlabel released a special collection of fifty-two CD albums - one every week of the year in a project called 'series52', all by people who weren't connected with the label from all over the world to include all genres from guitar based music - acoustic and alt. country to post-rock / math-rock, hardcore and beyond, piano, electronica / idm through to ambient, glitch, microsound, gabber, industrial / noise, soundscapes and anything else that took their fancy, each in a strictly limited edition of just 100 numbered copies.
The idea was to release work by unknown artists who may not otherwise be recognised at all alongside a handful of carefully selected guests, including a few names which may be familiar due to their other releases elsewhere.
All releases were packaged in distinctive matching artwork with the musical artists' own image on the front and two images from Unlabel on the back - including one of a landscape photographed every week over the 12 months of 2006. These CDs were all sold at a bargain price to simply cover manufacturing costs and some of the time involved in running a massive project like this.
It is still possible to order the complete set of 52 albums now from the label website along with a selection of individual releases from the series.
The 2006 series52 Artists were: Absent Without Leave, Accelera Deck, Accrual, Aerosol, Alkin Engineering, All Systems Ghost, am-boy, Autobam, The Baker Boys, Billy Mahonie, Boc Scadet, Calder, Celer, The Century of Aeroplanes, Cheju, Dirty Husband, Dreams Of Tall Buildings, Drumm Chimp, Eftus Spectun, Egsun, The Evenings, Fieldtriqp, G.Dam, Galena, Gareth Dickson, Gareth Hardwick, Glider, Kimonophonic, Last of the Real Hardmen, Light, Koutaro Fukui, Maps and Diagrams, Maps Of The Heart, Meets Guitar, Melodium, Melt (Kevin Tomkins), Metrotone, Milieu, Modern Bison, Octavcat, October Man, Ojn, Old Apartment Songs, The Prints, Romance of Young Tigers, Soeza, Trampfartyg, Unspeakable Easels, Verbose, Vinaya, Vizier of Damascus, yellow6.
For more information on everything Unlabel does please visit:
Website: http://www.unlabel.net
