To be a patron to the arts. To put your money where your mouth is. Because other labels aren’t releasing what you want to hear. Because you want to change the sound and shape of now.
When and how did it start?
We started it last year. We had been self-releasing CDRs of our own (Metal Rouge) music and wanted to start putting out other peoples music. This co-incided with Metal Rouge starting to play with a drummer, so we decided the right way to launch the label was to start with the first full-length by the trio formation of Metal Rouge. So we scrapped the old CDR label and started anew: new approach, new medium, new label.
What labels inspire you?
PSF, Matchless Recordings, VHF, Corpus Hermeticum, Xpressway (when they existed). Audible Hiss and Majora. Also ESP, but maybe not their business practices….
What is the goal and purpose of your label?
To put out records that will be artistically viable in 100 years. To put out records that are timeless.
How do you find new artists?
Everyone we have released so far on Emerald Cocoon has been a friend or someone that we’ve played shows with ourselves. Theoretically we accept demos, but realistically just between our own projects, projects of friends and projects of artists that we’d like to work with but haven’t yet approached we’ve got more than enough to keep us busy. We’d like to release a lot more than we do, but it’s just not economically feasible at this point.
Why vinyl?
I think me and Helga would have two different answers for this. I went with vinyl because it’s selling right now and CDs aren’t. Simple as that. I have no problem with CDs at all. Helga on the other hand loves vinyl, so for her it was an actual love of the medium.
How important is packaging to you?
At the end of the day my main concern is that the packaging helps communicate the vision of the artist we’re releasing (obviously the Alone Together series falls a little outside of this since there is a series template). I want the packaging to be in sync with the overall concepts the release is dealing with. I’d like all the covers/inserts etc to be as high of a quality as possible, without it becoming fetish item that detracts from the music.
What are your future plans?
The next two releases are 7”s by Pete Swanson and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, which will be the end of the our ‘Alone Together’ series of 7”s by solo artists (for the moment anyway - we’ll probably revisit it in the future). After that we have a new LPs by Metal Rouge and Yek Koo and an LP re-issue of some CDRs by Nest with MHFS and Tim Coster. We have some more re-issue plans after that, but that’s still being ironed out.
Do you collect vinyl?
I collect music. Whatever format necessary.
How big is your collection?
Not huge really, most of my records are still in New Zealand, so all I have over here are what I’ve managed to pick up since I’ve been here. Helga had her whole record collection stolen years ago, so she had to start from scratch also, so I think when people come to our house they’re often surprised at how few records we have….
What are some of your go to records over the years?
Not all vinyl, but:
1. Surface Of The Earth - Interference
2. Lee Ranaldo - East Jesus
3. John Coltrane - pretty much anything he did for Impulse
4. Thurston Moore/Tom Surgal/William Winant - Piece For Jetsun Dolma
5. Various - Le Jazz Non
6. Anthony Braxton - New York, Fall 1974
Many others. The catalogs of the labels I mentioned earlier….
