Smalltown Supersound
Smalltown Supersound | |
---|---|
Founded | 1993 |
Founder | Joakim Haugland |
Distributor(s) | Secretly Distribution (US) |
Genre | |
Country of origin | Norway |
Location | Oslo/Flekkefjord, Norway |
Official website | www |
Smalltown Supersound is an independent record label, founded in Flekkefjord in 1993 and now based in Oslo, Norway. It is dedicated to new forms of jazz, rock and electronic music.
Their catalog features albums by
History
Smalltown Supersound was founded in 1993 by Joakim Haugland in the small town of
In the mid-90s, Haugland relocated to the Norwegian capital Oslo and began working at Voices of Wonder, continuing to develop Smalltown Supersound as a side operation. At this point, the musical profile label began to drift more towards electronic music, free jazz and experimental music. An early milestone album for the label was the 2000 debut album by Kim Hiorthøy, Hei, followed by Jaga Jazzist's album A Livingroom Hush in 2002. The latter was named the best jazz album of 2002 by BBC.[4]
Over the ensuing years, the label's profile also grew increasingly international, releasing albums by artists such as Neneh Cherry, Bruce Russell, Brian Reitzell, Kelly Lee Owens, DJ Harvey, Mats Gustafsson and Sonic Youth. However, Smalltown Supersound continued to maintain a strong Norwegian presence in its roster, being one of the spearhead labels of the "Oslo disco" scene of the 2000s with artists such as Lindstrøm, Prins Thomas and Todd Terje.
Smalltown Supersound celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2018 with its own stage at the large Norwegian Øya festival, the first label to do so.[5] The anniversary was commemorated by the compilation album The Movement of the Free Spirit, with tracks spanning the label's entire history remixed to a coherent musical piece by label stalwart Prins Thomas.
Sub-labels
In 2004, the label launched the sub-label Smalltown Superjazzz to release "jazz with a punk attitude". The sub-label was cancelled in 2012, but reactivated in 2019 as the label series Actions for Free Jazz (AFJ-Series).[6] In 2020, Smalltown Supersound also founded the label series Le Jazz Non (LJN-Series).[7]
See also
- List of record labels
References
- ^ "SmalltownSupersound".
- ^ "The record label hosting concerts through video".
- ^ "Smalltown Supersound". 7 February 2020.
- ^ "BBC listeners vote Jaga Jazzist's a Livingroom Hush jazz album of the year 2002 - Listen to Norway". Archived from the original on 2012-05-25.
- ^ "Smalltown Supersound feirer 25 år på Øya-lørdagen". 10 April 2018.
- ^ "SmalltownSupersound".
- ^ "SmalltownSupersound".