Label Focus – Where To Now?

Brighton label comes under the Label Focus spotlight

This one is special. Despite their scarce public correspondence, we’ve somehow blagged a meeting with Where To Now? for their first ever interview. 

WTN are responsible for a slew of formerly-tape, now-vinyl releases. U, Beatrice Dillon, Space Afrika, KETEV, December, Ondness, H.Takahashi, Machine Woman and Bergsonist are regular contributors to this ever-growing behemoth of gritty electronics, forged in the coastal mists of Brighton and stained by the gunk of punk.

A good few months after sending our stock questions to their email – resigned to the possibility that they may never reply – these responses, from CEOs James and Matt, hit our inbox yesterday. We jumped at the chance to publish them. Get ready for a sneak peek at their no-wavey and Merzy influences, Brighton origins, and even some indications at what they’re looking for in their new signings… 

WHAT’S THE NAME OF YOUR LABEL, AND WHO RUNS IT?

Where To Now?, and it’s run by us, James & Matt.

WHEN & WHY DID THE LABEL START?

Around 2008. We had been running a small post-punk / no wave / electronics night and a radio show in Brighton, distributing some homemade CD comps. Brighton was a bit of a hive of activity around that time and as people around us in bands started experimenting with other projects and possibilities. We decided to stick out a few tapes by friends, and momentum quickly grew from there.

GIVE US A BRIEF SUMMARY OF WHAT YOU’VE RELEASED SINCE THEN….

We’ve done something like 90+ releases if you include a handful of digital-only bits too. In the early days of the label we had a thing going with the cassette bundles coming thick and fast. There was just too much good stuff on our radar that needed to be heard – it’s humbling and amazing to see some of those artists we worked with back then going on to do bigger things – Beatrice Dillon, Space Afrika, KETEV, December, Ondness, H.Takahashi, Machine Woman, Bergsonist (I could go on)… 

We truly treasure those early bits. First record we put out into the world was from WANDA GROUP and I dunno, we just rolled from there really being guided by works we believed in. A lot of what we were doing was leaning towards the weirder side of the dancefloor and for a bit we experimented with a club-focused imprint (WHEREIIDANCE), as well as a strictly ambient offshoot (Where To Be?). But it quickly became apparent that with just the two of us we needed some kind of focus to steer the label – it’s all very well being into loads of different stuff, but to think you can ‘do it all’ and maintain an identity and momentum was a bit naive in hindsight – it just felt like a lot. 

Since we moved away from tapes to vinyl, we’ve tried to keep our output varied but also to maintain a Where To Now? sound and aesthetic, which we’re aware sounds proper wanky but it’s hard to explain. We know when something’s a fit for the label, and we think/hope our audience gets it too.

WHAT QUALITIES ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN THE MUSIC YOU RELEASE?

The whole project is really a reflection of our shifting interests, tastes and concerns. Frankly this is still a part-time hobby project so it just ebbs and flows with our constantly moving focus, not just with what we want to hear, but also within our personal and professional lives. I don’t think either of us are out here looking for particular things, but as I said we do know a WTN? release when we hear it. And again that ‘shit, more people need to hear this’ feeling guides most of our decision making.

WHAT KIND OF VISUAL IDENTITY DOES THE LABEL HAVE (ARTWORK, VIDEOS ETC)?

Our visual identity has always been an integral part of the label. Record cover design is an obsession, from naive 60’s psyche cover art, through the 70’s New York punk and no wave primitivism, and the seemingly endless supply of post-punk DIY 7″s and their anything goes DADA/Merz approach to design. It all goes into the mix and gets distilled and put through the WTN? design process. We tend to get quite involved because we’ve both been staring at album cover art for 25 years and we have a fairly clear idea about what we want from a WTN? cover. I love labels that have a continuous line of enquiry when it comes to their design output, so that is something we’re trying to emulate. 

Light and clean is what we’re usually going for whether done in-house or commissioned. I’m not too into the use of superfluous designer-y flairs, and always want to steer clear of design trends. We also do things to a tight budget as we’re entirely self-funded, so simplicity is key. We still try to be bold though. We’ve had a few direction changes over the years, and most recently we’ve fully embraced our DIY status by moving back to a more handmade process which has brought back much more fun to the whole cycle.

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST SELLING RELEASE TO DATE? TELL US A BIT ABOUT IT AND WHY YOU THINK IT WAS SO POPULAR.

We only press in small numbers so we’re never really going to have a ‘big’ selling release but yes, for sure, we’ve had the good fortune of having a good number of very well-received releases that have in turn created a focus to our wider catalogue. But it always still comes as a surprise when a release really does take off… 

And then others definitely don’t, and that’s absolutely fine. We’re aware that a lot of our output doesn’t have a commercial appeal, and often we’ll go in knowing that a record is going to make a loss when the time is right, but again it comes back to that belief that something deserves a light shone onto it. To be honest, after all of these releases we’re still in a position that one record pays for the next, and again, that’s fine.

NAME ONE RELEASE THAT YOU THINK DESERVED TO GET MORE ATTENTION THAN IT DID

Definitely a few records that we felt went under the radar a bit.. The Manta LP, the Assel and CVN 12″s in particular. 

In the early days we produced tapes in small quantities in rapid succession, so I do wonder if a lot of those releases have actually gone unheard by a lot of people, which would be a shame. They’re all mostly still available digitally though, so I would recommend digging through the earlier catalog – Nadia Khan, Tom James Scott, Moon Wheel, FDG, Eugene Ward… this interview is sending me down a nice little WTN? rabbit hole to be honest. Dekalb Works’ LP, which came out at the start of this year, is also 100% worth your time.

IF YOU COULD SIGN ANY ARTIST, ALIVE OR DEAD, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?

We get to put out records by U, so I think we’re good. Although there’s probably lots of old UK DIY, or minimal wave artists that we both would’ve loved to have on the label.

WHICH OTHER LABELS DO YOU ADMIRE AND WHY?

Fast Product played a big part in kicking the whole thing off, not to mention it’s where we got the name from. Really there’s too many to mention for a couple of people who are really into a lot of different music. Xpressway, Siltbreeze, Sublime Frequencies, RVNG, Freedom To Spend, Firecracker, Blackest Ever Black, UR, Stones Throw, Cherry Red, 12th Isle, Load, Recital, Room 40, Numero – instances of identity, care and curation combined with palpable respect for the work and the creator basically.

WHAT CAN WE LOOK TO FROM YOUR LABEL NEXT?

It’s slower days at the moment thanks to life… Recently working with Machinefabriek was a trip, to put out what in his own words is “my favorite album in my discography”. It’s been great to work with Nicola Ratti again, in his foray into submerged trip-hop with Japanese MC MA, and the debut LP from young prodigy Max Winter just dropped…. there’s more exciting bits ahead.

Promise, we will try and get as many U records into the world as we can. Some of the bits that are sat on need to be heard to be believed. We’re also very excited about doing our first double LP this year.