The Leaf Label is a British

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 ...

based in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, England. Initially an electronic music label, releasing mainly instrumental music, the company's approach now features artists spanning

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

History

The Leaf Label was created in late 1994 by

Tony Morley William Anthony Morley (born 26 August 1954) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Preston North End, Burnley, Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham City, as well as playing for other teams abroad. He ...

; at that time,

press officer A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Duti ...

at 4AD in London, along with his friend Julian Carrera, then working for music press company Stone Immaculate. The pair ran the label as a hobby until the end of 1996, during which time they released a series of eight 12" singles, of mainly

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 ...

. The label debuted in early 1995 with a 12" release by

Boymerang Boymerang was the drum and bass project of the English post-rock musician Graham Sutton. Formation Following the release of the Bark Psychosis album ''Hex'' in 1994, Sutton became interested in drum and bass. He began buying Jungle records at t ...

, a project by

Graham Sutton Sir Oliver Graham Sutton CBE FRS (4 February 1903 – 26 May 1977) was a Welsh mathematician and meteorologist, notable particularly for theoretical work on atmospheric diffusion, boundary layer turbulence, and for his direction of the UK Mete ...

of the post-rock band

Bark Psychosis Bark Psychosis are an English post-rock band/musical project from east London formed in 1986. They were one of the bands that Simon Reynolds cited when coining "post-rock" as a musical style in 1994, and are thus considered one of the key ban ...

, and early releases also included two volumes of the 'Invisible Soundtracks' series of EPs. Following his recovery from a serious road accident in 1995, Morley decided to leave 4AD at the end of 1996, setting up his own independent promo company No9, and parting company with Carrera around the same time. The company's first office was in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

in South West London, later moving to larger premises in

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

, South London. The label's first album release was 1997's ''Silence FM'' by The Sons Of Silence, a group which consisted of members of

O Yuki Conjugate O Yuki Conjugate (OYC) are an English post-industrial/ ambient musical group founded in 1982 in Nottingham by Roger Horberry and Andrew Hulme and still - intermittently - active today. Their music has been variously described as 'ambient', 'four ...

(OYC). OYC also spawned the label's second artist album release, by A Small Good Thing. The label followed these releases with key artist album releases by

Faultline In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

Susumu Yokota Susumu Yokota (横田進 ''Yokota Susumu'', or ススム・ヨコタ ''Susumu Yokota''; born 1960 or 1961 – March 27, 2015) was a Japanese composer. He released several albums under pseudonyms including Stevia, Ebi, and others. Yokota worked ...

, Eardrum and 310 in the late 1990s. Yokota's ambient albums, licensed from his own Skintone label in Japan, remain some of the label's most successful releases. In 1999, Morley set up the PostEverything mail order operation with

Colin Newman Colin John Newman (born 16 September 1954) is an English musician, record producer and record label owner. He is best known as the primary vocalist and songwriter for the post-punk band Wire. Early life Newman was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire ...

(from the band

Wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...

) and web designer Dorian Moore. Morley resigned as a director of the company in 2005, and the site closed in 2008. The label's first real success of the 2000s came with Dan Snaith's

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, who released two albums under that name in 2001 ('' Start Breaking My Heart'') and 2003 ('' Up In Flames''). Following a lawsuit by Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba of

The Dictators The Dictators are an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1973. Critic John Dougan said that they were "one of the finest and most influential proto-punk bands to walk the earth." Origins The band was formed in 1972 by Andy "Ad ...

, Snaith was obliged to change his artist name, and subsequently became known as Caribou, with his third album, ''

The Milk of Human Kindness ''The Milk of Human Kindness'' is the third studio album by Canadian musician Dan Snaith, released under the moniker Caribou on April 18, 2005, by The Leaf Label and Domino Recording Company. It is Snaith's first album credited under Caribou, wit ...

'', released under that name in 2005. The label followed the success of Manitoba with a run of debut albums by

Murcof Murcof is the performing and recording name of Mexican electronic musician Fernando Corona. Corona was born in 1970 in Tijuana, Mexico and raised in Ensenada. He was for a time a member of the Tijuana-based Nortec Collective of electronic musicians ...

, Boom Bip & Doseone and

Asa-Chang & Junray ASA-CHANG & Junray is a band founded by Japanese percussionist ASA-CHANG, who was the founder and original bandmaster of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. After leaving the group in 1993, he formed ASA-CHANG & Junray in 1998 with programmer and guitar ...

in 2002, Colleen in 2003, and

A Hawk and a Hacksaw A Hawk and a Hacksaw is an American folk duo from Albuquerque, New Mexico, currently signed to L.M. Duplication. The band consists of accordionist Jeremy Barnes, who was previously the drummer for Neutral Milk Hotel and Bablicon, and violinist H ...

Psapp Psapp ( or ) is a British experimental electronica band. The band, a duo consisting of Carim Clasmann and Galia Durant, are sometimes credited with inventing a musical style known as ''toytronica'', a form of electronica made with toys and toy ...

and

Efterklang Efterklang () is a Danish indie rock group from Copenhagen, formed in December 2000. The band has recorded five studio albums and are currently signed to the 4AD label, as well as their own record label Rumraket. In 2012, they released their f ...

in 2004. The label celebrated its tenth anniversary with a week of events in London in October 2005, along with the retrospective 2CD compilation ''Check The Water''. The company relocated to

Horsforth Horsforth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish within the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, lying about five miles north-west of Leeds city centre. Historically a village within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a p ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

in the spring of 2006. Significant releases since then have included

Vladislav Delay Vladislav Delay is the most frequently used pseudonym of Sasu Ripatti (born 1976), a Finnish electronic musician. He has also recorded as Luomo, Sistol, Uusitalo, Conoco, and Ripatti, working in styles such as minimal techno, glitch, and house. ...

Nancy Elizabeth ''Nancy Elizabeth Cu'' is an English folk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who releases music with The Leaf Label. She is an active member of Sōka Gakkai. History Early years Nancy was born in Billinge Higher End, near Wigan, Great ...

, Oh No Ono, Melt Yourself Down, Wildbirds & Peacedrums and

Polar Bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

, whose album '' In Each and Every One'' was nominated for the 2014

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

. The label moved office again in September 2010 to its current premises, also in Horsforth. The company now also manages a number of artists, and Morley sources music for the Velvet Ears music library, owned by music supervisor Liz Gallacher. In the autumn of 2015, The Leaf Label celebrated its 20th anniversary with a limited edition box set, vinyl re-issues and a series of concerts in Leeds and London, under the umbrella of 'Leaf 20'. Limited to only 300 copies, The Leaf 20 box set was made available to fans through the

PledgeMusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...

service. In 2016 ''

Channel the Spirits ''Channel the Spirits'' is the first full-length album by London-based band The Comet Is Coming. It was released on 1 April 2016 by The Leaf Label. Background Described as a "prophetic document" and "the beginning of the end" by The Leaf Label, ...

'' by

The Comet Is Coming The Comet Is Coming is a London-based band who incorporate elements of jazz, electronica, funk and psychedelic rock. The band originally recorded for The Leaf Label, on which their debut EP ''Prophecy'' was released, on limited edition 12" ...

was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize as well as making Best Albums Of 2016 lists in ''Time Out New York'', ''The Quietus'', ''Uncut'' and ''Mojo''. The label continued to release from Szun Waves,

Warmduscher Warmduscher are a London-based post-punk band formed in 2014 and currently signed to independent record label Bella Union. Background Warmduscher are Craig Higgins (Clams Baker Jr.), Benjamin Romans-Hopcraft (Mr. Salt Fingers Lovecraft), Adam ...

Keeley Forsyth Keeley Forsyth is an English actress and musician. She has released the albums ''Debris'' (2020) and '' Limbs'' (2022). Acting Forsyth's first acting role was as Nicky in the BBC children's television series '' The Biz'' in 1995, appearing a ...

, Craven Faults and

Sarathy Korwar Sarathy Korwar is a US-born, Indian-raised, London-based drummer, percussionist, composer and bandleader. He works predominantly in a jazz and Indo jazz field but also incorporates elements of hip-hop, and other fusions. Background Born in th ...

. Warmducher's ''Tainted Lunch'' came in at number 6 in

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

Albums Of The Year 2019 and the (delayed)

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

2020 saw special releases from Warmduscher, Sarathy Korwar and

Snapped Ankles Snapped Ankles are an English, London-based post-punk band, incorporating elements of performance art and art rock. They signed to The Leaf Label in 2017 and have released four albums, two EPs and numerous singles to date. The band members' id ...

. ''Debris'' by Keeley Forsyth, ''Erratics & Unconformities'' by Craven Faults and ''People On Sunday'' by Domenique Dumont made numerous Album Of The Year lists in 2020, including ''The Quietus'',

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Rough Trade and Norman Records.

Artists

References

External links

* – official site * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leaf Label, The British independent record labels Record labels established in 1994 Indie rock record labels Electronic music record labels

History

Artists

See also

References

External links