Label Focus – Soundway Records
Soundway boss Miles Cleret talks us through their global goldmine
Ever since Soundway Record’s 2002 debut release, Ghana Soundz: Afrobeat, Funk & Fusion in ’70s Ghana, the London-based label has been a reliable go-to for music from across the globe. Whether it’s classic Indonesian pop music (their Padang Moonrise compilation) or their terrific collection of Nigerian rock and psychedelia (The World Ends: Afro-Rock & Psychedelia in 1970s Nigeria), Soundway’s catalogue is a goldmine. We talk to their founder, DJ and record collector Miles Cleret.
WHAT’S THE NAME OF YOUR LABEL, AND WHO RUNS IT?
Soundway Records. It was run by me (with the help of lots of other people) from 2002 until 2021 when I went into business with Jeff Waye and Patrick Curley who were formerly involved with Ninja Tune North America and also run the publishing company Third Side Music.
WHEN & WHY DID THE LABEL START?
Our first release was in 2002 but really I began it in 2001. It was purely a vehicle to release our first compilation Ghana Soundz: Afro-Beat, Funk & Fusion in 1970s Ghana. After lots of enquiries I couldn’t find a label that would agree to release the collection in the way I wanted to do it, so I started my own label after multiple trips to Ghana to license the material. Luckily it got a great response and spurred me on to do the same thing in other places.
GIVE US A BRIEF SUMMARY OF WHAT YOU’VE RELEASED SINCE THEN….
For about eight years we released compilations and re-issues of music from the 1960s and 70s from places like Ghana, Nigeria, Colombia, Panama, Benin, Ethiopia and The Caribbean. Then we started to add contemporary music to the roster that had a similar vibe – funk, psych, electronic with a ‘tropical’ influence. Acts like Ondatropica, Ibibio Sound Machine, Fumaça Preta, Family Atlantica, Batida, Chico Mann, The Meridian Brothers, The Mauskovic Dance Band, Dexter Story & The Flamingods amongst others. We then started opening the remit up a bit on the compilation and re-issue side by putting out compilations and re-issues from Kenya, Thailand, Brazil, Spain, Argentina & Indonesia ranging from the 1950s up until the 1990s and have put out releases by contemporary acts that open the genre boundaries a little further like Vanishing Twin, The Heliocentrics, Lord Echo, Felbm, Julien Dyne, Reuben Vaun Smith, Pigeon, Gabriele Poso and more.
WHAT QUALITIES ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN THE MUSIC YOU RELEASE?
Most importantly I have to like the music and the people who make or curate it. I suppose that’s one of the great things about running a label – you get to choose what direction you want to go. I personally like to keep putting out stuff that people don’t expect us to put out – the minute we start getting pigeonholed it’s time to
move into a new direction and open it up further and further. I have very broad music tastes so the sky’s the limit, I wouldn’t want to paint the label into a corner stylistically or we’d start to run out of ideas.
WHAT KIND OF VISUAL IDENTITY DOES THE LABEL HAVE (ARTWORK, VIDEOS,
ETC)?
It’s always been quite colourful, and dynamic and has had a huge Influence from artist and designer Lewis Heriz who I’ve worked closely with over the years to come up with a style that’s very much his own but often a little more angular and less free hand than some of his work for other labels. He hasn’t been involved on every release but his work over the years has been a big part of our brand designing some of our most iconic covers. As time goes on artwork has become more and more release specific and some contemporary acts have their own ideas about how they want releases to look – I’m generally not a great fan of identikit release aesthetics on some labels wherein every release is set out on the same template as all the others or uses exactly the same fonts etc etc. I’d get bored by that after a while, I think.
WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST SELLING RELEASE TO DATE? TELL US A BIT
ABOUT IT AND WHY YOU THINK IT WAS SO POPULAR.
Ondatropica was a huge one. It just snuck in at the end of the CD era which helped, as we did two versions (one regular and one case-bound deluxe version with a big booklet). The recording itself was partially funded by The British Council as it was part of the cultural funding budget for the 2012 Olympic games held in London. That allowed Will and Mario, who recorded, conceived and produced it, to be able to properly pay 44 musicians (aged between 18 and 82) over the space of three weeks in the Fuentes studios in Medellin (Colombia’s Abbey Road, which has since
sadly closed).
It also allowed them to have photographer Brian Cross (B+) on hand to document it all so well, and all this pushed us to put a lot of hours, money and effort into getting it looking and sounding timeless. Our compilations Doing It In
Lagos, Ghana Special, Nigeria Special and the Kiki Gyan: 24 Hours In A Disco retrospective are all up there as well.
NAME ONE RELEASE THAT YOU THINK DESERVED TO GET MORE ATTENTION
THAN IT DID.
The album by Thaba that we released in November 2020 (sleeve above). It’s a heartbreaking story – Khusi Seremane the South African singer and songwriter of the album, died at the age of 41 from health complications as we were preparing the record in July 2020 – in the thick of the first lockdown period.
The record, whilst mostly a deep soul-pop album, is a mixture of styles and references that he and producer Gabriel Cyr slowly moulded together over a period of time. It’s got a slightly nostalgic, at times sad and instrospectic feel to it which I suppose in hindsight, in the winter of 2020 was just not what people wanted to hear then.
IF YOU COULD SIGN ANY ARTIST, ALIVE OR DEAD, WHO WOULD YOU
CHOOSE AND WHY?
Bibio. His sound is unique and always fresh, touching and surprising. A true UK original.
WHICH OTHER LABELS DO YOU ADMIRE AND WHY?
Now: Warp Records, Radio Martiko, Backatcha, PPU, Yoruba Soul, Bongo Joe,
Growing Bin, Trunk, Finders Keepers, Flightless, Philophon, Sacred Rhythm.
Then: Ice, Savoy, Gherkin, Underground Resistance, early-era Island Records, Cook
Records, Studio 1, Amha, Irama, Ondina.
WHAT CAN WE LOOK TO FROM YOUR LABEL NEXT?
We have a lot coming up. Amongst others we have re-issues from US early 80s ambient/synth group Circus Underwater, Serbian duo Nenad Jelić and Laza Ristovski. Guyana’s Yoruba Singers, Ex Motown artist and Spinners frontman G.C. Cameron, Ghanaian early artist Rex Omar & Cameroonian visionary producer and keyboard player Nkono Teles. A new 45 series kicked off with releases from Trinidad and Indonesia. Contemporary releases by Felbm, Pigeon, Pedro Ricardo, NZ spiritual jazz outfit The Circling Sun & a collection of unreleased tracks and alternative versions by Lord Echo. Volume 3 of Nigeria Special & Volume 2 of Ghana Special – both focusing on music from the 1980s this time, a compilation of 1970s SE Asian music compiled by our general manager Alice, aka Norsicaa…..and more.
Noah Sparkes