Hydra Head Records was an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

that specializes in

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

music, founded in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

by Aaron Turner (the frontman of

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

) in 1993. It had another imprint, Hydra Head Noise Industries, which specialized in experimental and

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical ...

. Turner announced he was winding the label down in 2012. In 2020, the label removed its catalog from Spotify and returned its album rights back to several artists.

History

Hydra Head was founded in 1993 as a distribution company while Turner was still in high school. In 1995, he moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

to attend art school. In late 1995, he was handed a demo by local band Vent. That seven-inch single would be the first record released on Hydra Head. The label grew to accommodate local bands such as Roswell, Corrin, Piebald, and Converge, and after Turner graduated from college in 1999, it became a full-time endeavor. In 2011, Hydra Head relocated to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, from its former home in Boston, Massachusetts. Some of the bands signed to the label include Cave In, Xasthur,

Kayo Dot Kayo Dot is an American avant-garde metal group. Formed in 2003 by Toby Driver after the break-up of ''maudlin of the Well'', they released their debut album ''Choirs of the Eye'' on John Zorn's Tzadik Records that same year. Since then, Kayo ...

, Boris, and Jesu. Its discography includes Botch,

Khanate A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire. Mong ...

, and Harkonen, who were active at the time of their signings. On September 11, 2012, Turner announced the "imminent demise of Hydra Head Records", stating that Hydra Head would take its first steps into shutdown "this December, at which point we are cutting off new releases from the label." The label would continue to stay operational, maintaining its back catalogue to pay off its "rather sizeable debts." The label released '' Worship is the Cleansing of the Imagination'', a split album between JK Flesh &

Prurient Ian Dominick Fernow is an American experimental musician, poet and multimedia artist. He is best known for extreme music released under the stage name Prurient, as well as numerous other aliases including Vatican Shadow and Rainforest Spiritual ...

. The Hydra Head office in Los Angeles was closed in May 2013. In 2017, Hydra Head released Oxbow's ''

Thin Black Duke ''Thin Black Duke'' is the seventh studio album by American experimental rock band Oxbow. It was released on May 5, 2017 through Hydra Head Records. Background and composition According to ''Pitchfork'' writer Zoe Camp, the album "envision a world ...

'', a long-germinating album that was slated to come out on Hydra Head and had been unable to find another label since Hydra Head's winding down. Discussing the album, Turner appeared open to releasing more albums "on a case-by-case basis". In a 2018 interview, Turner expressed disinterest in doing Hydra Head as a full time label again, saying that "...it would mean me stopping a lot of other things that I’m currently doing, and I don’t want to do that." The label released ''

Final Transmission ''Final Transmission'' is the sixth studio album by the American rock band Cave In. The album was released on June 7, 2019 through Hydra Head Records. ''Final Transmission'' is Cave In's first studio album in eight years since 2011's ''White Silen ...

'' by Cave In, released on June 7, 2019. In 2020, the label's catalogue was removed from

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, and the album rights to several of the label's bands were given back to the artists. Several artists such as Cave In,

Discordance Axis Discordance Axis was an American grindcore band from East Brunswick, New Jersey. Biography Frontman Jon Chang stated on the history of the band: "Discordance Axis was a three piece grindcore band that started in NJ around 1992. The band st ...

and Botch signed to other record labels such as Relapse, Willowtip and

Sargent House Sargent House is an American management company and record label based in Los Angeles. It was founded in June 2006 by Cathy Pellow, who is a music video commissioner for Atlantic Records and also owns a music video production company called Ref ...

, respectively, to help reissue their back catalogue. A press release on Botch's signing to Sargent House stated that Hydra Head had folded in 2020. As of April 2022, the label continued to sell its remaining stock via Bigcartel.com.

Current roster

* 27 * Agoraphobic Nosebleed * The Austerity Program *

Big Business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly kn ...

* Black Face * Boris * Cable * Cave In *

Cavity Cavity may refer to: Biology and healthcare *Body cavity, a fluid-filled space in many animals where organs typically develop **Gastrovascular cavity, the primary organ of digestion and circulation in cnidarians and flatworms *Dental cavity or too ...

Craw Craw may refer to: *Craw (band), a math rock band from Cleveland, Ohio * Craw (surname), a surname (includes list) *Crop (anatomy), or craw, an anatomical structure *CRA-W The Computing Research Association's Committee on Widening Participation i ...

* Dälek * Daughters *

* Drawing Voices *

Everlovely Lightningheart Faith Coloccia is an American artist and musician. She is most known as being the founding member and primary songwriter for the post-rock band Mamiffer. Coloccia has also been a member of Everlovely Lightningheart, Pyramids, House of Low Culture ...

Greymachine Greymachine is an experimental music project founded in 2006. It is led by Godflesh and Jesu (band), Jesu frontman Justin Broadrick. The act also features Isis (band), Isis frontman and guitarist Aaron Turner, Jesu bassist Diarmuid Dalton and He ...

Gridlink Gridlink is an American grindcore band, founded in 2004 in Hoboken, New Jersey. The band's song "Orphan", from their album also titled ''Orphan'', was played sporadically as an interrogation technique during the questioning of a terror suspect ...

* Harkonen * Harvey Milk * Helms Alee * Heresi * Jesu *

* Keelhaul *

Khlyst The Khlysts or Khlysty ( rus, Хлысты, p=xlɨˈstɨ, "whips") were an underground Spiritual Christian sect, which split from the Russian Orthodox Church and existed from the 1600s until the late 20th century. The New Israel sect that desc ...

* Knut * Logh * Lotus Eaters * Lustmord * Mamiffer * Merzbow * Nihill *

The Octave Museum ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

* Oxbow * Pet Genius *

Phantomsmasher Phantomsmasher is an experimental grindcore/electronic band led by musician James Plotkin, previously known as Atomsmasher. The band signed to Ipecac Recordings in 2002, and is reportedly currently working on a third album. Members *James Plotk ...

* Pyramids * Torche * Xasthur * Zozobra

Tortuga

* The Gersch *

Old Man Gloom Old Man Gloom is an extreme metal band originally formed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but now based in Massachusetts. The group, formed by Aaron Turner of Isis and Santos Montano, expanded to become a sort of supergroup in the Boston hardcore and ...

* Scissorfight *5ive *Tusk

Past artists

*The Abandoned Hearts Club *Age of Reason *Barbaro * Botch *Boxer Rebellion *

Buzzov*en Buzzoven (typeset Buzzov•en) is an American heavy metal band from Salisbury, North Carolina, formed in 1990. The band was known for being one of the founders of the sludge genre along with NOLA's Eyehategod and Acid Bath, and also for their ...

* Cattlepress * Coalesce * Converge *Corrin * Cult of Luna * The Dillinger Escape Plan *

Drowningman Drowningman is an American hardcore punk band from Burlington, Vermont, which was active from 1995 to 2005. Formed in the fall of 1995 by Simon Brody, Denny Donovan, Javin Leonard, Dave Barnett and Todd Tomlinson, the band was heavily influenced ...

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

Kid Kilowatt Kid Kilowatt was an American rock supergroup formed in 1996 and dissolved in 1997, including members of Cave In, Converge and Piebald. They wrote only one album, '' Guitar Method'', first released by Second Nature Recordings in 2003. Stephen Bro ...

* Mare *

Miltown Meprobamate—marketed as Miltown by Wallace Laboratories and Equanil by Wyeth, among others—is a carbamate derivative used as an anxiolytic drug. It was the best-selling minor tranquilizer for a time, but has largely been replaced by the benz ...

* Neurosis *

Pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before s ...

* Piebald *Roswell * Seven Day Curse *Six Going on Seven *SOHNS *

Soilent Green Soilent Green is an American extreme metal band formed in 1988 in Chalmette/ Metairie on the suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana. Described as a sludge metal and grindcore band, the group blends elements of death metal, black metal, hardcor ...

Sunn O))) Sunn O))) (pronounced "sun") is an American experimental metal band formed in 1998 in Seattle, Washington. The band is known for their distinctive visual style and slow, heavy sound, which blends diverse genres including doom metal, drone, bla ...

*The Hollomen *The Never Never * These Arms Are Snakes * Today Is the Day *Unionsuit *Vent

References

External links