Episode 28 was put together by Sprechen records founder and Manchester club regular Chris Massey. Chris has spent the past fours years building Sprechen records into the label it is today and he has used this two hour mix to tell the Sprechen story through its releases and influences. You can catch our interview with Chris below:
Hi Chris, thanks so much for coming on the blog, Sprechens had a world-wind 4 years with 21 releases under your belt (all of which can be found on your bandcamp page). What was the catalyst that made you decide to form the label and what has your journey looked like from beginning until now?
Many thanks! I actually had to check then to see how long it had been and man I can’t believe its been 4 years already!
I started Sprechen up as I had just come off the back of working on El Diablos Social Club Recordings (as well as still working on Paper Recordings) so I had gotten a feel for the whole structuring of a label and felt I wanted to do something that was both exciting & challenging as well as having something of my own that I could (hopefully!) shape & mould into my lookout on music & tastes that I favour.
Not much has changed really since starting it though I do feel that definitely in the last 18 months it has really started to get firmly established within peoples psyche that the musical output is varied from release to release whilst always maintaining a firm view for the dance floor.
What have been the main challenges for you as a label owner and how did you overcome them?
I think the toughest is getting your music to a wide audience of listeners and being able to get it in the hands of someone say at the radio or to a certain ‘high profile’ DJ. Years ago you would turn up to a club with an armful of white label vinyl and give them to the DJ’s who would probably end up playing it that same night…same goes for a few years later with CDs, but nowadays? As amazing as the digital format is it also does come with the problem of not being a physical product which makes distribution a tough game!
Is there any advice you could give to other budding label bosses who are looking to start releasing their own records?
I think you need to be sure of your vision and game plan, or more to the point just don’t copy what other labels are doing. There are a million ‘disco edits’ labels out there so why try to do what is already being covered successfully by other labels? I think the label needs to be an extension of your own personal musical preferences, with that you will have a unique & original release schedule & catalogue.
Sprechen’s manifesto is to “showcase electronic music designed for the dance floor…with a passion for melody, groove, soul & energy with no limitations of style and a diverse release policy”. What clubs, collectives, artists or individuals have had a hand in shaping this approach to running a record label?
I used to be very much a ‘beat matching perfectly sequenced 4/4 house music’ kind of fan/DJ years back but when I started to work for Electriks/Electric Chair I got opened up to a whole load of DJs where genres would all be thrown together on the same night…BPM’s & styles didn’t really matter and every track was for the party. This would be from DJs like The Unabombers, Chris Duckenfield, Kelvin Andrews, Balearic Mike, Kath McDermott, James Holroyd, Jamie Bull, Neil Diablo (amongst many more)…definitely people like these and associated parties have really influenced me as a DJ, producer/remixer & label boss.
You’ve played up and down the country with Sprechen do you have any standout sets or festivals you look back fondly on?
Last year was really the first year of DJing under the label brand at festivals and we had some incredible parties…the Parish Church stage at Beat Herder is always a fond favourite and playing it with Gina Breeze last year in the early hours of the morning was mega! Closing off Eden Festival with my very good friends at Supernature Disco was such a highlight too (first time of DJing with pyros going off every few mins!).
Heading over to Jakarta in Indonesia for a 2nd time as part of a cultural exchange collaboration project was amazing and proved to be the start of some really great working relationships which are in motion for releases & such this year (Check out the video below).
What have you decided to do with your 2-hour mix? Can you talk us through the set and maybe point out a few highlights for our readers?
I wanted the mix to be a reflection of my views of a good night out as well showcasing the different styles & sounds that I like whilst also being quite representative of the Sprechen ethos! I’d like to think its ‘party’ through & through whilst jumping genres.
There are some brand new unreleased numbers that we have coming up on Sprechen & Paper along with a few previous releases all from the likes of Gina Breeze, Third Attempt, Diskobeistet & DJ Steevo as well as cuts from friends & peers alike!
Looking forward to the rest of 2019, what’s in the pipeline for Sprechen? Is there any releases on the horizon you can tell us about?
The schedule is absolutely crammed full at the moment with some killer releases including a brand new live drop called Night Giants who sound like a cross between Chemical Brothers, Bonobo & Caribou which comes with remixes from Mike Simonetti, Jon Dasilva & myself.
We have a ridiculously amazing E.P. from Gina Breeze (one track appears on this mix!) which has a track she worked on with KimoKal from Jakarta when they were over here (as seen in the vid above).
I’m also just pulling together the tracks from artists & bands from Jakarta who I met whilst over there. This will be a kind of introduction for people into the wealth of amazing musical talent that there is being produced over there!
You can find all of Sprechen’s releases over on their Bandcamp page.
