Freedom From is a

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

based in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, which primarily focuses on the international

noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...

underground genre. The label was founded in 1996 with its first official release by a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

three-piece named Job. Up until early 1998, the labels focus was singularly cassettes, with the most well-known being the infamous

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moo ...

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

Tom Surgal Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

cassette. During the course of its primary existence, FF often released either the first or first widely available release by many bands, including Jason Lescalleet, Hair Police, Sightings, No Doctors, Milovan Srdenovic, Violent Ramp, Reynols and many more. Freedom From was also one of the first entities to book and promote shows nationally for experimental/weird bands from 2001-2004, including the first major tours for bands like Wolf Eyes, Sightings, No Doctors, Hair Police, Mammal, Nautical Almanac and more. Freedom From also helped bring to prominence the last years of the infamous Church venue in Minneapolis, bringing bands like Animal Collective, Coachwhips, Wolf Eyes, Numbers, 25 Suaves, Glass Candy, Chromatics and many more for their first ever shows in the Twin Cities area. Finally, Freedom From is also known for the De Stijl/Freedom From and End Times Festivals, bringing in artists like Tony Conrad, The Boredoms, XBXRX, NNCK, Gang Gang Dance, Zip Code Rapists, Borbetomags, Smegma,

Burning Star Core Burning Star Core is the experimental music project of violinist C. Spencer Yeh. Originally conceived 1993 in Cincinnati, the project is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Composing music that's driven by his violin, Yeh's Burning Star Core p ...

, Devendra Banhart, Arthur Doyle and many more. Since 2006, the label has released very few releases, and has booked even fewer shows. However, 2012 has seen a significant increase in FF activities, and a bevy of new releases and shows are due for release in October, 2012. The label is maintained to this day by founder and CEO Matthew St-Germaine.

Artists

External links

Official site

Bandcamp

Tumblr

De Stijl/Freedom From Fest Review - 2003

2001 Interview

2012 News Story
{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 1996 Noise music record labels Companies based in Minneapolis American independent record labels Independent record labels based in Minnesota

Artists

See also

External links