New Year’s Label Interview: Clapping Music

LAST BUT NOT LEAST IN OUR 2009>2010 LABEL SERIES: PARIS-BASED CLAPPING MUSIC. NAMED AFTER THE 1972 PIECE BY STEVE REICH, CLAPPING MUSIC HAS ASSEMBLED A NICE CATALOGUE OF FOLK, INDIE ROCK AND LO-FI ELECTRONICS, RANGING FROM THE FINE ARRANGEMENTS OF ENCRE TO THE STRAIGHT-FORWARD MELODIES OF YETI LANE. BEFORE HE CELEBRATES THE LABELS’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY THROUGH A FESTIVAL IN MARCH, LABEL-MANAGER JULIEN ROHEL TELLS US OF THE RECORD THAT BLEW HIS MIND IN 2009, OF HIS FANTASIES, AND OF HIS NEW-YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR CLAPPING MUSIC.

A) Which records released in 2009 do you wish you had released on the label?

There would only be one: “Flame Désastre” by Sister Iodine, which is the most brain-whirling stuff I got to listen to this past year. A ultimate blast of free-psych-noise-rock, just as furiously primitive as ferociously avant-garde. This record came out in vinyl only on the new label Premier Sang, and we considered releasing it as a CD on Clapping Music. I plagued them to do that, and right when I was about to achieve my ends, Editions Mego came in, and as they are better developed internationaly than us in extreme / experimental music networks, they eventually grabbed the deal. This is all the better for Sister Iodine, but it’s been a great disappointment for me as a “label manager”. I would have loved to release this album first and foremost because it’s an absolute killer record; besides it would have been a great opportunity to carry Clapping Music away towards new musical horizons, outside of the indie-rock/folk spheres -to make it short- which we have been known for lately. Better luck next time!

Listen to Sister Iodine’s Flame Désastre on Deezer.

Buy the album on Boomkat (now on sale for £7.95).

B) Which artist(s) you wish you had signed will you keep an ear on in 2010?

I will already get down to following and supporting those we have already signed who will have news in 2010: Clara Clara, Karaocake, Red, My Jazzy Child, King Q4, Yeti Lane… this will be quite nice already! Apart from Sister Iodine, I don’t see any artist I would have liked to sign recently, other than in our biggest fantasies: Animal Collective, Sunroof!/Skullflower, Portishead, Broadcast, Mark Hollis, Converge, Steve Reich, Gargouillax, John Coltrane, Domotic & O.Lamm, Captain Beefheart…

Yeti Lane – “Lonesome George”, directed by Antoine Lepoutre.

C) What are you the most proud of for the label in 2009?

“Proud” might be exaggerated as there is still much to be done, especially regarding international distribution. There is still much work to accomplish before we can boast. But I’m simply happy to have released such good records by Lauter, Centenaire and Yeti Lane and happy to have given them some exposure, even if in this regard too, the margin for progress is still huge. That being said, I think our label’s catalogue is really starting to look nice :)

D) What are the label’s challenges for 2010?

Make it through the winter, release new albums by Clara Clara, Red, Karaocake and My Jazzy Child, put up a nice festival in Paris on March 9 – 10, sell more records despite a more and more disastrous situation in the industry, widen the label’s audience, develop our international distribution network… 2010 promises to be the most important year for the label since it started 10 years ago!

Visit the Clapping Music festival in Paris with Lauter, Karaocake and Reveille at L’International, and Clara Clara, Yeti Lane and Centenaire at Point Ephémère, on Last.fm: March 9 / March 10 and Facebook: March 9 / March 10.

Previously in our new year’s label interview series: Collectif Effervescence, Own Records, Bella Union, and Erased Tapes Records.