Label Focus – Cosmocities
Eclecticism and aestheticism from the French label
WHAT’S THE NAME OF YOUR LABEL, AND WHO RUNS IT?
My Name is Matt Soulié, and I run Cosmocities Records.
WHEN & WHY DID THE LABEL START?
I started the label in 2019 after 20 years of digging and passion for music.
GIVE US A BRIEF SUMMARY OF WHAT YOU’VE RELEASED SINCE THEN….
First project was a VA vinyl compilation with artists from five continents. After that, several productions, between hip-hop, broken beat and nusoul from Australian producer Inkswel (including first label album Chasing Infinity which featured one of the last appearances of Lee Scratch Perry), some deep house from Detroit (Billy Lo) and Napoli (Fabrizio Fattore), two UK prog/trance repress (Prism and Tiny Elvis). Finally, some releases from the Japanese electronic music (Inner Science, Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku compilations).
WHAT QUALITIES ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN THE MUSIC YOU RELEASE?
Melodicity, musicality, deepness and groove to create a special atmosphere.
WHAT KIND OF VISUAL IDENTITY DOES THE LABEL HAVE (ARTWORK, VIDEOS ETC) ?
I’m very interested in contemporary painting so try to choose an artist who correspond to the music. For instance street artist Tokio Aoyama for Inkswel and Billy Lo; Mr FJD for Fabrizio Fattore or Parade Studio for Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku. So artwork is always different.
WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST SELLING RELEASE TO DATE? TELL US A BIT ABOUT IT AND WHY YOU THINK IT WAS SO POPULAR.
It was the Billy Lo ep. I had the original on UFM. I contacted Bill Beaver, the singer, on Facebook. Bill gave me Darren Abrams contact. Darren produced the track with Darryl Tiggs, but he stopped releasing music since ‘Loose Piano’ on Detroit Beatdown (Third Ear ,2002). I proposed Kai Alce to remix the original track. They trusted me and Darren composed two new tracks. Very happy of this collaboration as Darren is releasing new tracks, especially for Upstairs Asylum , and we are preparing an album for Billy Lo.
NAME ONE RELEASE THAT YOU THINK DESERVED TO GET MORE ATTENTION THAN IT DID
I would say Fabrizio Fattore’s ‘Lyle’ EP; Vince Watson did a fantastic remix. It could be a future classic.
But I could also talk about Joe Goddard and Map.ache remixes for Inner Science. This EP is totally under the radar although there was very good DJ feedback.
IF YOU COULD SIGN ANY ARTIST, ALIVE OR DEAD, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
Laurent Garnier is a huge inspiration for me. He was resident in my city, Dijon, at the defunct club l’An-fer (closed in 2002) , and I discovered many tracks thanks his radioshow on Pbb.
I’d like propose, one day, a remix to Moodymann, Kuniyuki or Bicep.
WHICH OTHER LABELS DO YOU ADMIRE AND WHY?
In France ; F-Communications was a founding label and Nova Records, the best underground radio which help me to discover so many tracks.
Ninja Tune and Warp, for their longevity and eclecticism.
Running Back is an example to follow.
WHAT CAN WE LOOK TO FROM YOUR LABEL NEXT?
Erik Rico EP ; a talented LA singer and multi-instrumentalist , close enough to Peven Everett.
Brisa EP; including a collaboration with Turbojazz and remixes from Jon Dixon and Byron The Aquarius . Hi-tech jazz!
Prism EP; repress of Vapour Trails EP (my first vinyl!) with Bliss Inc. remix
Manabu Nagayama & Soichi Terada ‘Low Tension’ (Jimpster remixes) first time on vinyl
Billy Lo album …