Skam Records is an independent

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

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

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, founded by

Andy Maddocks Andy Maddocks (born 28 November 1967) is an English entrepreneur and musician who founded Skam Records, Skam also runs a smaller sub-label called 33.

History

Skam's first

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

is rumored to have never been officially released, only distributed as a promo. This was a self-titled debut from

Lego Feet ''Lego Feet'' (also referred to as ''SKA001CD'' or simply ''Ska001'') is the sole self-titled studio album by Lego Feet (a predecessor to British electronic music duo Autechre), released in 1991 by Skam Records Skam Records is an independent ...

(Sean Booth and Rob Brown, now known to be the duo

Autechre Autechre () is an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are among the best known acts signed to UK electronic label Warp Records, through which all of Au ...

); approximately 100 to 150 copies are believed to exist. The label followed with two 12" records from a project known as

Gescom Gescom is an electronic music project based in the UK with close ties to the electronic duo Autechre. Stylistically, the music of Gescom is closer to electronic dance music, acid techno, and industrial music than Autechre's, with the excepti ...

, whose members vary between each release. It is "an open secret that they're somehow associated with" Autechre. Other early Skam releases came from Freeform, Bola, Jega, Team Doyobi, E.Stonji, and

Boards of Canada Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin, formed initially as a group in 1986 before becoming a duo in the 1990s.Hoffmann, Heiko.Pitchfork: Interviews: Boards of Canada (Septemb ...

. Boards of Canada's ''

Hi Scores ''Hi Scores'' is an EP by Scottish electronic music duo Boards of Canada. It was released by Skam Records in 1996. It peaked at number 34 on the UK Dance Albums Chart in 2006. "Turquoise Hexagon Sun" would later appear on the duo's 1998 debut stu ...

'' EP, and Gescom's ''Keynell'' and ''

'' have been repressed or reissued. Skam entered the full-length market in 1998 with the releases of ''Soup'' by Bola and ''

Music Has the Right to Children ''Music Has the Right to Children'' is the debut studio album by Scottish electronic music duo Boards of Canada. It was released on 20 April 1998 in the UK by Warp and Skam Records and in the US by Matador. The album was produced at Hexagon Sun, ...

'' by Boards of Canada, the latter being jointly released with

Warp Records Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, A ...

. A recurring feature on the packaging of Skam releases is the name of the label printed in

braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...

Series releases

Skam makes multiple series of record releases within the label, all of which are an anagram of "SKAM". The first three records were produced in conjunction with

Musik Aus Strom Musik may refer to: Music *''Die Musik'' (1901–1943), a German music magazine * Musik (album), the second studio album by Richie Hawtin * Musik (musical), the musical written by Jonathan Harvey and Pet Shop Boys * Musik (song), the Austrian entr ...

, and the latter two by Skam alone. Up until the 2004 release of

Mr 76ix ''Mister'', usually written in its contracted form ''Mr.'' or ''Mr'', is a commonly used English honorific for men without a higher honorific, or professional title, or any of various designations of office. The title 'Mr' derived from earlier ...

's ''Hits of 76ix,'' the label has produced a 7" single along with each full-length album; the 7" catalogue numbers begin with the letters "KMAS". Skam has since stated on its website that future KMAS releases will feature purely exclusive tracks to complement full-length recordings of the same number. In 2001, Skam began the "SMAK" series. Each SMAK 12" showcased two artists, one per record side. Some SMAK artists, like Quinoline Yellow, have gone on to become full Skam musicians.

NMB Allstars NMB may stand for: *National Mediation Board, an independent agency of the U.S. government * The Neal Morse Band, stylized as NMB since 2021 *Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, a metropolitan municipality in Eastern Cape, South Africa ...

("North Manchester Bedroom Allstars") went on to become part of the sublabel 33, which Skam has referred to as "a part of the family." Others, like

Ola Bergman Ola may refer to: Places Panama *Olá, a subdistrict in Coclé Province *Olá District Russia *Ola, Russia, an urban settlement in Magadan Oblast *Ola District, an administrative division in Magadan Oblast *Ola (river), a river in Magadan Obla ...

and

Posthuman Posthuman or post-human is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction, futurology, contemporary art, and philosophy that means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human. The concept aims at addressing a variety of ...

went on to set up their own record labels: New Speak and

Seed Records Seed Records has been the name of multiple record labels. 1970s American label Seed Records was a record label started in 1972 by Paul Clark, a musician involved in the Jesus music movement. The label ran until circa 1981, when he started ...

, respectively.

Made Made or MADE may refer to: Entertainment Film * ''Made'' (1972 film), United Kingdom * ''Made'' (2001 film), United States Music * ''Made'' (Big Bang album), 2016 * ''Made'' (Hawk Nelson album), 2013 * ''Made'' (Scarface album), 2007 *'' M.A.D.E. ...

, are known for their live acts. In October 2004, Skam began the "AMKS" series with ''Supermechamaximegamegablast'' by Mortal and Chemist, which is, as the catalogue number may suggest, a mix.

Reception

Tim Haslett wrote of Skam in the October 1997 issue of ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

:''

"It looked for a while as though the minimalist electronic movement had simply disappeared into the valley of the self-indulgent and repetitive. The monotonous sound of a 909 kick drum and high-hat was really beginning to wear on the nerves of even the most committed techheads. Enter the Manchester-based Skam label, which has single-handedly invigorated a minimal techno sound that's not indebted to breakbeats or drum-and-bass. Having released early tracks by cult favorites Gescom and the Boards Of Canada, the Skam imprint has continued to thrive at the periphery of the crepuscular world of underground techno."

In the same magazine in March 1999, Haslett wrote that Skam:

"is notorious for its elusiveness, its tendency to make available only tiny quantities of each release. This might seem an elitist marketing move, an attempt to restrict the audience, but the Skam folks spend so much attention to detail in artwork and sound quality that it's easy to forgive them."

Artists past and present

References

External links