Label focus: Speedy Wunderground
Inspired, impatient and very much in fashion… it’s Speedy Wunderground
Speedy Wunderground has earned itself a reputation for being the place to hear the indie stars of tomorrow well ahead of everyone else. They put out black midi’s debut single, brought Squid to the attention of the world and gave a home to releases from newcomers and seasoned pros like Warmduscher, Jane Weaver and Steve Mason.
Much in demand producer Dan Carey – who has also been busy making great music as Mr Dan for a couple of decades – set up the label with Alexis Smith and Pierre Hall and takes on production duties on SW releases too. Hall, meanwhile, takes the time to answer our questions here…
WHEN & WHY DID THE LABEL START?
It started in February 2013. Dan (Carey) who started it was getting tired of how long it would take for records to come out after making them – and how many ‘cooks’ would be involved – so the idea was to create something spontaneous, authentic and most importantly – quick.
GIVE US A BRIEF SUMMARY OF WHAT YOU’VE RELEASED SINCE THEN….
Post-punk. Punk. Indie. Rock. Hip-hop. Krautrock. Singer-songwriter stuff. Electronic. Disco. Instrumental.
And everything in between.
WHAT QUALITIES ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN THE MUSIC YOU RELEASE?
Authenticity. Truth. Power.
WHAT KIND OF VISUAL IDENTITY DOES THE LABEL HAVE (ARTWORK, VIDEOS ETC) ?
For the singles series – everything comes in a standard Speedy design/format. The only thing we change is the colours.
We like the uniformity of it – and were heavily inspired by labels like Factory.
For videos and EP/album artwork we leave it up to the artists as it’s more of an extension of their world and that release unlike the singles which are done very quickly. EPs/albums are more laboured over – the creative process is different on each and thus the artwork reflects that. It’s equally as important.
WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST SELLING RELEASE TO DATE? TELL US A BIT ABOUT IT AND WHY YOU THINK IT WAS SO POPULAR.
Hard to tell as the 7” single series are all limited. But the fastest selling one for a very long time was black midi’s ‘bmbmbm’. IIt was their debut single – and there was a lot of talk about them – but nothing to hear. And then suddenly there was, and it was jaw-dropping. Like a lot of things – timing is everything.
NAME ONE RELEASE THAT YOU THINK DESERVED TO GET MORE ATTENTION THAN IT DID
JW Ridley – ‘Everything (Deathless)’ Still my favourite thing we’ve ever put out. Like all my favourite bands all rolled into one. And as mysteriously as he arrived, he was gone. The full 8 minute version is a thing of sheer beauty.
IF YOU COULD SIGN ANY ARTIST, ALIVE OR DEAD, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
Julian Cope. It would never get boring.
WHICH OTHER LABELS DO YOU ADMIRE AND WHY?
Heavenly are the best – and helped us a lot when we were first starting out. Amazing music, amazing people. It’s more than a label, it’s a whole community. We’re happy to count them as friends.
WHAT CAN WE LOOK TO FROM YOUR LABEL NEXT?
We have our very first box set – a collection of some selected dub remixes coming out in August to celebrate the 10th anniversary. It’s like an anti-greatest hits. Then a big party at Village Underground in September. Tickets on sale now.
Speedy Wunderground release the ‘Lock Eyes & Collide’ EP this week