squarepusher can Warp Records be saved?

there have been threads leading to this for quite a while now, and maybe it's time for an intervention (at least psychologically). i know most of us caught onto Warp in the 90s, so we feel like it's "our" label, at least our age group's. i understand that there is a younger generation now for whom that isn't true. they are into the "now" and what's hip just like all young people.

what i'm worried about is the seemingly loss of direction; are they indie? post IDM? just another generic record label, or perhaps dying a slow death. i'd hate to see them get bought up by a major corporate label and gentrified into banality. this recent wave of new signings really has me worried, it's like they take the most out-there demos they get and think it will spark street cred or sales and make them look like they're still hip.

then there's the money. apart from the 4 flagship artists; Autechre, Squarepusher, BOC and Aphex (if he indeed does return) i can only imagine them scraping by with maybe the likes of Maximo Park scoring some substantial sales. it's like watching someone floundering in the water trying not to drown, and you're dying to throw them a rope but you don't know what to do. i'm thinking the Warp 20 box is a definite cash grab that happened to come along at the right time.

don't get me wrong here (rambling), i hope this label goes on to see another 20 years, and maybe a merger with another crop of people (Planet µ? or someone along that line) would be beneficial in the end, and help the scene stay alive.

Warp is still doing fine for the most part. The new Prefuse 73 was great, new Clark is album of the year for me, last Autechre was impressive, as was Squarepushers latest Solo Electric Bass/Number's Lucent/JAS, then you got last years Flying Lotus's Los Angeles which was great, and a new album by him early 2010.

If we get a new BoC and Aphex release within the next year, I would say Warp is back to form honestly. I see the 10's as a new 90's for electronic music. At least it looks like a brighter future.

Also the new Broadcast release is awesome. and shit I totally forgot about Bibio's impressive release this year too! AA is up there in album of the year also.

i hope maybe it's just been an off decade for em, although there have been some killer releases in the 00s. i'd bet the death of Rob Mitchell affected them on several levels, and until that documentary on television, i never realized what a small group of people are responsible for the entire label.

i'm pretty sure steve beckett doesn't lose sleep about being 'saved' as he lies on his bed, made entirely of money, cocaine, and ground-up copies of hangable autobulb.

warp are fine, and people who whinge about this need to spend more time listening to music and less time listening to labels.

i like a lot of artists on warp, so for me it doesn't need saving

  On 9/29/2009 at 12:50 AM, Rubin Farr said:

i understand that there is a younger generation now for whom that isn't true. they are into the "now" and what's hip just like all young people.

 

not everyone from the younger generation is like that though, I hate all that most recent Warp 'MTV interlude'-sounding stuff

What an immensely dull thread. 1/10, F-, would not read again

It's pretty easy gents. We all know that there's AE/AFX/SQ/BOC, and then there's the... rest. Once the "big 4" became established artists that didn't need to release a record each 2 years (with an EP in between), they accepted their lazyness. That happened around 2002.

Since they were basically most of the WARP sales, they had to change their marketing approach and go towards indie-rock/more mainstream electro to survive. They had no choice, especially with the democratisation of making electronic music that happened right around that corner.

We're talking music labels in the 21th Century. It's not easy.

i think at one point they got more interested in money than in good music. actually, that happened when rob mitchell died.

The Harmonic 313 release is in my top five for the year, so far. They're still releasing good stuff, but some of it is pure guano.

parp

nearly everyone hated that vincent gallo stuff a few years back

before that everyone hated jimi tenor

does anyone remember the something j vs dj maxximus release?

no - because it was crap.

and so it goes

i think rabid warp fans kind of automatically hate anyone that isn't ae, pusher, afx, boc, and possibly the second-division IDM allstars

i think the main difference in the electronic acts they sign thsese days is now they are reactive instead of proactive. don't follow the lamest new trend, i.e. unquantized hip hop, maybe hire some more A&R people to field demos, look to net labels for some fresh signings, or other similar record labels and poach some business talent if need be.

just cause I am sure this will make the warp execs happy, the hudson mohawke album leaked for the few that might care... I haven't listened yet but I dig Heralds of Change, so we will see.

possibly the best warp sign of the last few years imo is battles - they combine the best of both worlds

awesome music made with real instruments as well as laptops and synths and all that IDM shit

  On 9/29/2009 at 3:02 AM, kaini said:

possibly the best warp sign of the last few years imo is battles - they combine the best of both worlds

awesome music made with real instruments as well as laptops and synths and all that IDM shit

if only they were more instrumental and less chip munk vocals. Maybe I should give Atlas another chance, but that one really popular song on that album, I can't stand. So I just assumed I wouldn't care much all around for it.

  On 9/29/2009 at 3:02 AM, kaini said:

possibly the best warp sign of the last few years imo is battles - they combine the best of both worlds

awesome music made with real instruments as well as laptops and synths and all that IDM shit

thank god... i would have gone on a rampage if no one mentioned battles. if you want to talk about freshening up a label (and the international music scene) then battles should be spoken of. in my opinion, they're in a league of their own (especially for music based around the live band aspect). i can see why they wouldn't receive much mention in an IDM forum but they have taken music to the next level for me. they were the clear highlight of the warp20 shows in nyc for me. i urge anyone to give 'mirrored' or 'ep c/b' a listen and tell me they're not gifted. it's the most organic yet overly mechanical sounding music i've ever heard. and its a band filled with immense physical talent (you know, like picking up instruments and playing them) which is incredibly refreshing.

no, i don't think warp is dying -- i think/hope they're getting ready to continue moving towards the future of music (flylo/hudmo come to mind). just because the exact sound you're into is fading doesn't mean warp is dying! support (some of the only remaining) good music!

EDIT: might i mention they put on an AMAZING live show as well!

  On 9/29/2009 at 2:59 AM, Rubin Farr said:

...maybe hire some more A&R people to field demos, look to net labels for some fresh signings, or other similar record labels..

maybe steve beckett could have a show on telly where each week he fires 1 of 12 plucky young fresh netlabel heads, all competing for an A&R position at warp, through a series of challenges to test their business acumen and idm credibility.

one week they will make and sell jam at a farmers market.

  On 9/29/2009 at 3:05 AM, karmakramer said:

  On 9/29/2009 at 3:02 AM, kaini said:

possibly the best warp sign of the last few years imo is battles - they combine the best of both worlds

awesome music made with real instruments as well as laptops and synths and all that IDM shit

 

if only they were more instrumental and less chip munk vocals. Maybe I should give Atlas another chance, but that one really popular song on that album, I can't stand. So I just assumed I wouldn't care much all around for it.

if you don't dig the vocals, have you heard the EP B/C EP or whatever it's called?

  On 9/29/2009 at 3:17 AM, LUDD said:

maybe steve beckett could have a show on telly where each week he fires 1 of 12 plucky young fresh netlabel heads, all competing for an A&R position at warp, through a series of challenges to test their business acumen and idm credibility.

i'm sorry $AMATEUR_MUSICIAN... your beats are plugin glitchy, not sequenced glitchy, and the confield influence sounds dated. you're fired.

well... the new hudson mohawke album is pretty shit

  On 9/29/2009 at 1:03 AM, kaini said:

warp are fine, and people who whinge about this need to spend more time listening to music and less time listening to labels.

Pretty much this.

BTW Kaini, loving the new avatar...was it by any chance inspired by Prawn Song?

Can't find a bigger image...but it's the best label name ever.

who's a what now? it was inspired by the fact that PRAWN is N plus WARP backwards

Warp keeps themselves as one of the best labels out there, with some of the most popular acts in cutting edge/new popular music.

  On 9/29/2009 at 4:25 AM, kaini said:

who's a what now? it was inspired by the fact that PRAWN is N plus WARP backwards

Ahh. Prawn Song is les claypool's record label parodying (obviously) swan song...

yours is verah nice though. just not often one hears the word "prawn" associated with music labels is all...