Volcanic Tongue is a record shop, distribution company and record label located in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It specialises in underground music from the UK, US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. They describe their remit as "free folk, psych, Japanese underground, noise, avant-garde, free jazz, blues, experimental, garage punk/DIY, minimal synth, drone, Industrial, sound poetry, prog, american primitive, private press, acid folk, classic 1960s/1970s rock, basement scum & assorted outsider modes".Subscriber supplement from

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...

, issue 274 It was founded by

David Keenan David Keenan (born April 1971) is a Scottish writer and author of four novels. Career He used to run the Glasgow record shop, distribution company and record label Volcanic Tongue. Journalism His work for ''The Wire'' (who he wrote for from ...

and Heather Leigh Murray in late 2004. Initially existing as a mail-order list and website, they opened their shop in February 2006. Interviewed by ''

Stylus A stylus (plural styli or styluses) is a writing utensil or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example, in pottery. It can also be a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision w ...

'' in late 2005, Keenan described the rationale behind Volcanic Tongue's foundation as follows: They are unusual amongst retail/distribution outlets for being dictated by the personal taste of the founders rather than by market forces. Keenan explained that "it’s not just a record shop; we have a really tough filter and will not stock anything that we don’t like ... I don’t want to sell a copy of a record that I don’t want in my collection." Recently, they have expanded their label beyond small-run art editions of their own music (Scorces/Taurpis Tula/Heather Leigh Murray) to issue albums by

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 ...

's Dream/Aktion Unit and Zaimph.

References

External links

* British record labels {{UK-media-company-stub