No complaints so far

An Epitaph for MoMT Records

2011-03-03T12:29:00.001Z

7 years is a long time in the music industry, most bands last about 2 years. So managing to keep MoMT Records going for 7 Years is an achievement of some kind. Especially in an environment where the value of music is pretty much regarded as worthless both economically and culturally.

It was never easy running the label by myself, yes there were artists involved but they can’t help you with the day in day out paperwork and back office stuff that always needs to be done. The bits of help that I got from my close friends was always a blessing a mixed one at times at it meant I had to step into a position of managing people who we’re never going to be get any money from their time.

So why did I do it and why have I decided to pack it nearly all in now?

Well the main reason for starting a label was that to quote Omni Trio Music is my Life. I’ve loved music since I was a kid and started a record buying habit in my teens that means I still religiously go to a record store on a Monday to pick up the latest releases I’m interested in. My room is a shrine to the records, CDs and tapes I’ve stockpiled over the years. My friends regard me as a musical snob and pedant, badges I proudly wear. The logical step (well to me) was to start up a record label and so it 2003 MoMT Records was born. MoMT stands for Miracle of Modern Technology and is taking from the film Carry on Loving (also the name of a rarities compilation we put out).

Our first release and still are best seller was Replicate 01: A Tribute to Front Line Assembly. It sold moderately well but we never made the money fully back on the release; something that was going to happened toe every CD release we put out from then onwards and there my friends lays the first reason why I began to lose my faith in running a label.

For a while I was running MoMT off the back of my income as an IT contractor, so the money I was losing on CD production and promotion wasn’t much of an issue. There was also always the hope lurking at the back of my mind that the next release was going to be the one that would finally make the label some profit. There were moments when I thought fate had swung our way. Skink getting played on BBC Radio 1, Gusto Extermination Fluid getting played on Radio 6, the universal good reviews the albums we’re getting on-line and the more specialist magazines.

However none of this made any difference to the units we we’re shifting. Part of the problem was getting a distribution deal for the CDs, we had some help from specialist on-line stores, but the distributors you need to really get the product into the mainstream and Independent stores weren’t interested. Our music was too underground or not underground enough. We we’re caught between a rock and a hard place. With a degree of Irony it was quiet sad to see the collapse of most of the physical distributors in the UK towards the end of 00s. Most of them had failed to deal with the incoming flood that was the digital download revolution.

Digital download both legal and illegal has changed the music landscape forever. From my experience I put out 2 digital releases back in 2005 and noticed that with selling on demand CD-Rs these releases were the first too actually make money for the label and the artists involved. Not vast sums of money but at least some money. I had also done the minimum of promotion with these releases and it dawn on me that this was the future for myself and other small labels.

So for a period I was in parallel releasing CD and download only releases. The CD releases were just mounting up more debt but were the priority for the label as people didn’t seem to take digital only releases seriously. The effect this had was that I now had boxes of CDs that I was never going to shift and more and more loss against the labels.

In late 2009 I decided that I was going to make the move towards just releasing music digitally and supply CD-R to those who wanted it. 2010 was the first year that the label actually made money against the releases it put out. Still this was not enough to make the label a viable concern. The reasons for this are multitude but I’ll discuss a few of them below.

Personally I think that music has been completely disvalued on the last 10 years. The digital revolution has made music incredibly easy to make and obtain. This means we’ve had a glut of music created that has no value, most of it unimaginative nth generation garbage. Most of it has come from the mainstream where the major record labels panicking about the effect of illegal download have just churned out safe music they know will sell to an uncritical, unchallenged and under whelmed public addicted to fast food culture.

On the flipside we’ve had various underground scenes full of chancers willing to jump on the latest bandwagon alongside a lot of people who believe just that you have some music software you should broadcast your bilge to the world. The double edged sword of technology strikes again. Both outcomes have produced music that really doesn’t mean anything outside of its self constructed ghettos.

These factors are part of the reason that I think music has become worthless the other is the shear weight and abundance of music out there. Recorded music it all its variety of genres is now over 100 years old. Re-issue culture and it’s often necrophiliac hands has made this all available again in the digital age. Want to listen to 1920’s Jazz you can, want to listen to obscure 1980s post punk 7”s there’s a blog for it. This historical juggernaut of music has made it harder for new music to be heard. Why listen to something that sounds like the past when you have the past it your finger tips. I’m as guilty as the next man of buying music from the past or downloading obscure out of print releases illegally.

So I come to the bony issue of illegal downloading. Did it affect our sales? Probably? Did it make you want to stop running the label? Not really, it just became a minor annoyance in having to ask hosting sites remove the material. Which most of them kindly did. Has it changed the nature of the music industry? Most certainly. Gone are the days of easy money for labels both major and independent. The smart ones will survive the ones not willing to change will be extinct. The reality is that both artists and labels are going to have to work harder to make money out of music. I don’t buy into the whole merchandise will save you argument. The future of music is about making contact with your fan base, being open with them and building your success from there. Having 100 different T-shirt designs is all well and good if you have someone who actually wants them.

Neither is music about selling in or selling out to achieve success, the best bands are those who stick to their vision and don’t compromise just to achieve moderate success and then piss off their original fans with a diluted sound. The future also lies with the artist taking control of their product. This means for some artists learning the dark arts of promotion. Things are becoming easier and easier for this to happen with the arrival of fantastic tools such as Bandcamp and this is perhaps the final reason I gave up running MoMT Records, it’s become unnecessary for a label to exist in the digital age. Some may say that a label acts as quality control and gives the band access to a wider range of promotion and industry knowledge. I say most bands can do it on their own if they put their mind to it. All the contacts and knowledge I’ve gained through the music industry are readily available. It’s just how you apply your knowledge and the time you spend on doing the often tedious but necessary legwork to achieve it. Some artists may need the stabiliser wheels to be removed to really be able to achieve their potential.

People talk about music revolutions and here it is, the digital age finally allows the artist to have complete control over their creations. Just don’t expect it to be an easy journey.

Various Artists - Replicate 02

2011-01-04T11:39:00.003Z

To close a circle one must go back to the beginning. Thus MoMT records terminates its 7 Years of existence with Replicate 02 the sequel to its first release Replicate 01.

The premise of the compilation is the same to allow a group of underground electronic and industrial artists to deliver cover versions of the work of the venerable Bill Leeb & Rhys Fulber and particular his highly influential project Front Line Assembly.

This time around the covers are from a diverse range of artists from the returning K-Nitrate and C8K with their powerful EBM influenced techno to the Coldwave and Electro fusions of Idiot State, UCNX and Gross National Produkt.

Other acts such as Closer Contact and Noir Magnetik tackle the more dark ambient material that has become the forgotten side of Front Line Assembly’s history

Again once again Replicate 02 highlights the influence that FLA have had over a generation of bands from a different genres and nationalities.

Are you ready to believe!

Tracklisting:

01. Closer Contact - Surface System
02. Idiot Stare - Mindphaser
03. K-Nitrate - Final Impact (featuring UCNX)
04. Gross National Produkt - Vigilante
05. Masoschizm - Digital Tension Dementia
06. UCNX - Immobilized
07. C8K - Hydrogen
08. Sys-Hex - Teardown
09. Semi0n - The Blade
10. Shogo - Plasticity
11. Raquo - Threshold
12. Typozorg - Silence
13. Noir Magnetik - On The Cross

Download MP3 (£4.99)

Cauterised - Trifler Comes Clean

2010-09-28T09:56:00.004+01:00

The Trifler has come clean.

Following 2 EPs of noisy static filled soundtracks and a radical re-working of ethno-dance pop band Delerium, The Trifler has decided to do something different and pushed the sound of Cauterised into new territories.

The noise levels have dropped but the cut-up experimentation and soundtrack noir feel has been pushed to the front.

This has created a new sound that pieces together old time jazz, broken funk, exotica and easy listening voodoo. By sampling and manipulating half remembered and rare source material, The Trifler has begun a journey into an imaginary film soundtrack world, where everything seems familiar and alien at the same time and where dread and humour lurk in the same dark shadows pulling at each other in a never ending battle neither of them will ever win.

Tracklisting:

01. Satanus Naked
02. An Education
03. Linda Finds Joy
04. Voodoo Magic

Buy CD-R (£3)

Buy MP3 (£1.99)

Preview on Bandcamp

Quartersized - Bingowings

2010-09-02T11:05:00.004+01:00

Why do women of a certain age fear the onset of bingowings, the dreaded flap of fatty skin that hangs from the arm like a curtain?

Quartersized doesn’t know why but does have a solution to the problem. Create a dark break beat track that will destroy the fat cells with its sonic blast. Whilst not concerning himself with the medical problems of middle age women, Quartersized finds time to record a song based on the Throbbing Gristle live classic ‘Discipline’.

He also mashes up the vocal chants of the Abelam of Papua Niugini with hip-hop beats on the track ‘Getto’ and recover the voices of an unknown preacher for the wax cylinder on the retro-electronic of ‘This Earthly Frame’.

All of which can be found on the 5th Quartersized EP; Bingowings.

Tracklisting:

1. Bingowings
2. Discipline
3. Getto
4. This Earthly Frame

Buy CD-R (£3)

Buy MP3 (£1.99)

Preview on Bandcamp

Semi0n - Nuclear Attack

2010-08-02T16:07:00.008+01:00

"Now, I am become death, the destroyer of worlds"

Robert Oppenheimer, Trinity 1945

The Atomic age was meant to be the first steps of mankind into the future. Instead the threat of nuclear annihilation hung over the head of everyone living in the post World War II years.

The Cold War blazed with icy fury as the nuclear stockpiles of East and West grew ever larger and more destructive.

The policy of MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) seemed like the inevitable outcome in an age of paranoia and fear.

With Nuclear Attack, Semi0n have tried to sonically recreate the feeling of dread, horror and devastation that a Nuclear strike would have on a country.

Musically brutal in places the track is divided into 7 movements each covering different phases of a Nuclear Strike and its aftermath.

Tracklisting

1. You Cannot Win
2. Nuclear Attack
3. The Blast
4. All The Remains Is…
5. The Unquiet Peace
6. The Reawakening
7. The Shape Of Things To Come

Buy Ltd CD-R & Tape Set (£7)

Download from Bandcamp (£3)

Listen to at Soundcloud

Cauterised - Trifler's Goes Delerious

2010-07-19T10:47:00.008+01:00

The Trifler is back and this time he has taken his musical revenge on the work of popular new age dance pop act Delerium.

The 4 track EP strips away the commercial sheen of a thousand trance remixes and replaces it with a darker angular experimental sound. One that will unsettle the average top 40 radio listener, but will appeal to those who liked the original darkness of Delerium.

Tracklisting:

1. Just A Shadow
2. Silenced
3. Drowning
4. Disaster Area

Available for free on Bandcamp now!

http://cauterised.bandcamp.com/album/trifler-goes-delerious

Lone Wolves - Skeleton Tracks

2010-05-24T13:17:00.008+01:00

There are wolves outside your door. The Lone Wolves, to be precise. They are tearing the flesh from the dead body of alternative rock and feasting on the internal organs of electronica.

The 'Skeleton Tracks' EP consists of 5 tracks formed from experimental jam sessions featuring members of UCNX, Amorphite, and the lovely MC2 amongst various unnamed others.

These sessions were then mixed down to form perfectly formed songs that show the influence of industrial, ambient, experimental jamming, and post punk twisted into something excitingly invigorating and original.

The tracks cover many moods including dark, melodic, sombre, and poetic with glimpses of humour, sometimes all at the same time. It is the sound of unbridled creativity and expression, freeform and yet supremely structured experiments that were entirely stream-of-consciousness, mixing everything from female spoken word, to harsh industrial noise, to organic elements such as piano & acoustic guitar.

The Lone Wolves are now waiting for you. Fall under their aural spell as it slowly and methodically picks at your bones.

Tracklisting:

i. No Failing
ii. Noname
iii. Patience & Stillness
iv. My Name Is Betrayal
v. Lowlit

ORDER CD-R (£3)

DOWNLOAD MP3 (£2.99)

Quartersized - Party Politcs EP

2010-04-26T16:23:00.007+01:00

The fourth EP from Quartersized arrives in timely fashion to coincide with the UK General Elections.

The EP has two themes the first Politics the second the joys and pains of Partying.

The Political inspired tracks are Known Unknowns which takes a sample of from Donald Rumsfold’s famous "War on Terror" speech and sets into a twitching brew of mutant drum & bass and tribal rhythms.

The second track is Dub Nation which is a social commentary on the UK and the banking crisis with added vocal samples from renowned food critic and film maker Michael Winner.

The Party tracks are the joyous electro funk of Kinder Funk that harks back to the wonders of children’s parties when everything was simpler.

Whilst Two Fear Parties deals with the isolation and loneliness that lurks at the heart of parties when you’re meant to be having fun and enjoying the tedious monotony of other people's uninteresting conversations.

Tracklist:

1. Known Unknowns
2. Kinder Funk
3. Dub Nation
4. Two Fear Parties

Order CD-R (£3)

Download MP3 (£1.99)

Savier - Seranade My Enemy

2010-04-06T13:02:00.006+01:00

From the crawling chaos an electronic beast emerges from the dark underbelly of Edinburgh, its name is Savier.

Having released two EPs on the Noise-Joy label, Savier has signed to MoMT Records to release Serenade My Enemy.

This is the sound of urban decay, inner city nightmares and the meltdown of society set to a heavyweight slab of electronica, which crackles with brooding ambience and is anchored with heavy breaks and gut churning bass.

The four tracks on Serenade My Enemy for a compulsive listening experience and clearly show that Savier is one of the new breed of electronic artists pushing sounds into uncharted areas.

However should you need them are here are a few artists that Savier has been compared to:

Techno Animal, Scorn, Aphex Twin, Gridlock, Autechre and Witchman.

Tracklist:

1. Lapse
2. Lost It
3. Serenade My Enemy
4. The Beginning

Order CD (£4)

Download MP3 (£2.99)

Cauterised - Trifler's Revenge

2010-03-24T09:28:00.004Z

The Trifler is back and is continuing his journey into the realm of uneasy listening soundtrack music and hauntology.

Taking apart sound sources from forgotten and lost films of the exotic and underground, the Trifler sets about his job of creating a dark psychedelic journey into the realms of tape loops, static, hums and sculptured noise.

But what does it all mean? Where did the sounds come from? Only the Trifler knows and he has vowed to maintain his silence until he has wrecked his revenge on the world of soft furnishing, woodchip, pattern designs and fondue sets.

The EP is released as a download and a limited run of 15 CD-R in hand made 70’s Wallpaper sleeves.

Tracklist:

1. Paris 666
2. 21st Century Perfection
3. Bloodsuckers
4. Durkish Twilight

Order Ltd CD-R (£4)

Download MP3 (£1.99)

Quartersized - Industrial Cliché

2010-03-02T15:53:00.003Z

The third EP from Quartersized tackles head on some of the clichéd topics that have dominated Industrial music since the year dot.

The tracks God Answers takes a satirical look at US TV evangelists and their world of money and redemption.

Age of Technology takes its influences from the industrial funk of early Tackhead and inspired by the military industrial complex and its influence on consumer technology.

Religion of hate deals with the outlandish beliefs and hate of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Final track Stepping Over delves into the world of religious cults. Strapping to a sonic assault of breaks and grinding guitar.

Tracklist:

01. God Answers
02. Age Of Technology
03. Religion Of Hate
04. Stepping Over

Order CD-R (£3)

Download MP3 (£1.99)

Video for the song God Answers:

Semi0n - Sex, Death & Repetition EP

2010-03-02T15:47:00.004Z

After years struggling to come to grips with technology and the basic concept of music, the three members of Semi0n , Limp Sidney, Wilhelm Stroker and the mysterious Captain Shitébeard have finally delivered their first EP to MoMT Records.

Is it electronic? Is it Punk? Does it rock? Does it do the fandango?

All we really know is that it deals with all the important issues in life via the medium of aggressive guitars, pounding bass and more programming that the Apollo moon missions. Semi0n believe the answer to these questions lies in the following bold statements.

Death - Mass Cult Suicides & Space cakes

Sex - The importance of cosmetic surgery

Repetition - Isn't life just so interesting?

Tracklist:

1. Die With Dignity
2. Lips
3. The 3Rs
4. I Think We're Dead

Order Limited CD (£4)

Download MP3 (£1.99)

Cauterised - Trifler Gimmes Ox

2010-01-05T10:57:00.003Z

Cauterised –verb (used with object), -ised, -is⋅ing. to burn with a hot iron, electric current, fire, or a caustic, esp. for curative purposes; treat with a cauter.

Cauterised is the work of the enigmatic Trifler. Who is locked into the world of soundtrack ambience, tape loops, found sound, static, lock grooves and glitches.

Trifler Gimmes Ox is the first of a series of releases and is available as a free download and a Limited edition of 16 CD-R in numbered home made sleeves with individual artwork.

Tracklist:

1. What Gets Me?
2. 3 To 1 Odds
3. My Sun
4. Le AM

Order LTD CD-R (£4)

Free Download

Quartersized - Samhain EP Out Now!

2009-10-26T13:06:00.002Z

Ministry once sang “Halloween is Everyday”, and that is something that Quartersized can only nod his head in agreement with.

Thus to celebrate the only interesting festivities of the year, MoMT Records releases “Samhain” the second E.P. from Quartersized.

The 4 tracks all linked by an exploration of the dark and esoteric and generally more interesting things in life.

From the John Carpenter inspired “This Fog” to the Noisy electro of “Sad Titan Way”, through the EVP sampling “Phone calls from the Dead” to the experimental William Blake tribute of “Thine Angel Sings”.

Tracklist:

1. This Fog
2. Sad Titan Way
3. Phonecalls From The Dead
4. Thine Angel Sings

Order CD-R (£3)

Download MP3 (£1.99)

Quartersized - Robotic Funk

2009-08-28T14:02:00.005+01:00

Do Androids dream of electronic funk?

Début 4 track EP from Quartersized. Breakbeat led electronica with old school dance influences and experimental touches. Quartersized is the solo project of Ian Proudfoot, owner of MoMT Records For fans of Meat Beat Manifesto, Renegade Soundwave, Gridlock and Scorn.

Tracklist:

1. Robotic Funk
2. Tribal Flux
3. Subliminal
4. Clockwerk Noise Crash

Order CD-R (£3)

Download MP3 (£1.99)

Indigo Virus - Headspace

2009-04-21T07:36:00.005+01:00

Detroit. Berlin. Jamaica. London. Bristol. Thatcham?

Best known as the small town with the youngest ever drink driver comes something to really put the town on the map! Indigo Virus! A stunning new techno act that will shake the foundations of small town England!

The duo announces its arrival with the debut single “Head Space. A Heady mix of the classic sounds of Detroit techno with the production styles of the pioneering dub producers.

"Head Space” is the perfect marriage between the old the now and the future, the minimal and the massive. The single is taken from the forthcoming album "Biomechanical” and features the exclusive non album track “Grain”.

If your looking for points of reference then Indigo Virus have been compared to
DeepChord, Pole, Bandulu and the output of the Basic Channel Label.

Tracklisting:

1. Head Space
2. Grain

Order CD-R (£2.50)

Download MP3 (£1.49)

Skink - Live at Bar Cuba

2009-02-03T10:43:00.004Z

A low price live album recorded at the Global Cafe, Reading on the 6th December 2008.

Features 43 minutes of live Skink loveliness and features some improv guitar work amongst some of Skink's finer tunes.

This was recorded live onto a mixing desk and then mixed down with some overhead recordings captured on a video camera. Its a high quality recording and expertly engineered by Skink.

Tracklisting:

1. Politely Refused
2. You Know That Place Well
3. Who Are We?
4. 5475 Days Part II
5. 5475 Days Part VI
6. Guitar Improv
7. Dead Receiver

Order CD-R (£3)

Download MP3 (£1.99)

UCNX - Run Your Body

2009-01-15T13:28:00.012Z

What happens when you cross-breed an EBM floor filler with one of the classic heavy metal tracks of the 1980s? Iron Ebb or Nitzer Maiden?

UCNX’s Run Your Body is what happens. A cover of Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills” set to Nitzer Ebb’s “Let Your Body Learn.”

UCNX prove that sometimes the most outlandish of ideas can strike Gold!

“Run Your Body” alongside the B-side “Burning Slowly” Down prove that UCNX can deliver the old school EBM goods with enough new tricks and turns to keep the most jaded of rivethead happy and show the old school metallers that not all electronic covers are sacrilegious.

The single also features a remix from UK techno-act K-Nitrate and a UCNX remix of US industrial rock act Idiot Stare.

This is a single created for the dance floor and if it doesn’t get your arse moving and your legs a stomping then we can only recommend that you check that you still have a pulse.

Tracklist:

1. Run Your Body
2. Burning Slowly Down
3. Run Your Body (K-Nitrate's The Number of the Remix - Instrumental)
4. Idiot Stare - BabyLAon (UCNX G.OD Remix)
5. Run Your Body (K-Nitrate's The Number of the Remix - Vocal) (Download only!)

Order CD (£4)

Download MP3 (£3.49)