Music with personality and individualism from Hive Mind
WHAT’S THE NAME OF YOUR LABEL, AND WHO RUNS IT?
The name of the label is Hive Mind Records and its run by me, Marc Teare.
WHEN & WHY DID THE LABEL START?
I’ve been running the label since 2017. Initially the aim was to release music by Maalem Mahmoud Gania on record and to try and bring it to a wider public, then things just got out of hand.
GIVE US A BRIEF SUMMARY OF WHAT YOU’VE RELEASED SINCE THEN….
I’ve deliberately tried to keep things varied and avoid the label being too easily defined. Like many people, I have quite eclectic tastes and as things developed I decided it’s no bad thing that the label reflects that.
The first release was Maalem Mahmoud Gania’s classic gnawa trance music from Morocco and since then I’ve released instrumental music from Brazil (Rodrigo Tavares), uncategorizable experimental electronics from Italy (Nicolas Gaunin), psychedelic guitar Chaabi from the Atlas Mountains (Moulay Ahmed El Hassani), did the first ever vinyl issue of Sonny Sharrock’s classic free-jazz album Ask the Ages. More recently I’ve released cosmic American music by Vermont psychedelic outsiders Wet Tuna, dubby fourth world excursions from Siberia’s Misha Sultan, Obay Alsharani’s beautiful ambient songs, heavy shamanic psych from Acid Mothers Reynols.
I could go on but looking at this makes me realise how busy things have been.
WHAT QUALITIES ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN THE MUSIC YOU RELEASE?
Well, Hive Mind is an album label with a focus on home listening. I like artists who are out there doing their own thing. I’m not looking for a particular style or sound, I just like music with some depth of feeling and some personality and people who aren’t afraid to do something a bit out of the ordinary and express themselves.
I think a lot of our releases take a little time to sink in, they’re not necessarily immediate and although that might seem a bit dangerous in these times of media saturation and instant access to everything, I do think its helped us stand out a bit. I also think that those albums that demand a bit of work from the listener tend to have more longevity – they’re the records you’ll come back to.
WHAT KIND OF VISUAL IDENTITY DOES THE LABEL HAVE (ARTWORK, VIDEOS ETC)?
Again, this is quite a difficult question because I try as far as possible to fit the artwork with the music, and also to enable the artists to have as much or little input into the look and feel of the release as they want to have. Misha Sultan had artwork in mind for his recent cassette release so I was happy for him to deliver the artwork to me.
I designed the Wet Tuna album cover myself with an ugly punk-psych aesthetic in mind, because that’s the kind of imagery the music conjures for me. I’ve also been very lucky to work with a talented designer/illustrator, Theo Payne, who’s done a great job on our logo and created all our best looking covers (Maalem Mahmoud Gania, Nicolas Gaunin, Hassan Wargui, Md After Hussain & PAQ), so huge thanks to him for that, and for his patience when trying to deal with some of my more outlandish requests.
WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST SELLING RELEASE TO DATE? TELL US A BIT ABOUT IT AND WHY YOU THINK IT WAS SO POPULAR.
That would have to be Sonny Sharrock‘s Ask the Ages. Its a classic album and I’d always felt it deserved a vinyl release, but I did not anticipate it selling so quickly – just couldn’t get them pressed quick enough! I think that it sold so well for a couple of reasons; firstly the album – which was originally released on CD in 1991 – had quite a big existing fan-base of people who were waiting for a vinyl release, and then I also think we kind of hit at the right moment in terms of the renewed appetite for jazz music. It’s a big and bold album that also features Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones in the line-up so it came with some pedigree.
I think the next best seller after that has been our reissue of Maalem Mahmoud Gania’s Aicha, which was our 10th release. I think that sold so well because it is just beautiful, deep, timeless music and people tend to recognise that when they hear it.
NAME ONE RELEASE THAT YOU THINK DESERVED TO GET MORE ATTENTION THAN IT DID
We’ve been really lucky in that most of our releases have received really good reviews and radio airplay etc, for which I’m very grateful. It’s felt like people out there recognise and understand what I’ve been trying to do, which is really heartening and has encouraged me to take further risks.
Having said all that, I released an album of Jaipongan music from Indonesia by Idjah Hadidjah & Jugala Jaipongan right at the beginning of the COVID lockdowns. It was a collaborative release with Kai Reidl from the Javasounds project and it also featured an album of remixes/reworks by some real bleeding-edge contemporary artists such as Bana Haffar, Bergsonist, Sarah Belle Reid and Ultrabillions.
It’s an incredible album but I think the timing of the release was unfortunate and it kind of went under the radar in all the panic.
There’s still time to remedy that though, check it out because its really wonderful and quite unique as a release.
IF YOU COULD SIGN ANY ARTIST, ALIVE OR DEAD, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
Sun Ra. I mean he probably wouldn’t want to be signed but its a fantasy question so…I think he is the single most important artist of the 20th and 21st Centuries. If he gave me a flat “no” because he wants to stay independent then I would go with Archach who are a group from Southern Morocco who have been releasing albums of incredibly deep Amazigh (or Berber) folk music with the banjo as lead instrument since the late ’70s.
WHICH OTHER LABELS DO YOU ADMIRE AND WHY?
Strut Records have been faultless of late and I can’t thank them enough for their string of incredible Sun Ra reissues. Sublime Frequencies, Bongo Joe, Nashazphone, Discrepent – these labels all have an ear for the unusual and have a global outlook that I really appreciate. Analog Africa and Planet Ilunga are out there doing the good work. Where To Now? are consistently wonderful and who could forget International Anthem?
WHAT CAN WE LOOK TO FROM YOUR LABEL NEXT?
Hopefully before the year ends you’ll see a compilation of incredible music by Moroccan DIY internet sensation, CHEB, the debut album by Beirut based experimental artist and puppeteer, Yara Asmar, and a new album by Brazilian artist Ricardo Dias Gomes. Exciting times!
Noah Sparkes
