Modular Recordings (known simply as Modular) is an Australian

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 ...

founded in 1998 by

Steve Pavlovic Stephen Pavlovic (born 1966) is an Australian music entrepreneur. Pavlovic began promoting music tours, events and concerts in 1990. Since then he has toured influential artist including Nirvana, Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Beck, Foo Fighters, ...

that is currently owned by Universal Music Australia. It has released music from local artists such as Eskimo Joe,

Ben Lee Benjamin Michael Lee (born 11 September 1978) is an Australian musician and actor. Lee began his career as a musician at the age of 14 with the Sydney band Noise Addict, but he focused on his solo career when the band broke up in 1995. He appe ...

The Avalanches The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group formed in Melbourne in 1997. They are known for their studio albums '' Since I Left You'' (2000), ''Wildflower'' (2016), and '' We Will Always Love You'' (2020), as well as their live and ...

Wolfmother Wolfmother is an Australian hard rock band from Sydney. Formed in 2004, the group is centred around vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, who is the only constant member of the line-up. The band has been through many personnel changes since ...

Cut Copy Cut Copy (sometimes stylised as Cut/Copy) are an Australian synth-pop band formed in 2001 by Dan Whitford (vocals, keyboards and guitar). Originally a home-recording project, the band now includes Tim Hoey (guitars), Ben Browning (bass guitar), ...

The Bumblebeez The Bumblebeez (previously known as Bumblebeez 81) is an Australian indie band, formed by Christopher Colonna and his sister Pia Colonna (AKA Queen ViLa). The band's music has been described as a, "cut'n'paste collision of noisy hip-hop and rock ...

Bag Raiders Bag Raiders are an Australian electronic music duo founded in 2006 by Jack Glass and Chris Stracey. They play keyboards, drums, and act as vocalists, producers, and remixers, with Stracey additionally playing guitar, violin and piano. They also ...

Van She Van She are an electropop band formed in 2002 in Sydney, Australia, with Matt Van Schie (pronounced Van Ski) on bass guitar/vocals, Tomek Archer on drums/sequencer, Michael Di Francesco on synth/guitar and Nicholas Routledge on vocals/guitar. ...

, Rocket Science,

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The Presets The Presets are an Australian electronic music duo of Julian Hamilton (vocals, keyboards) and Kim Moyes (drums, keyboards). Formed in 2003 and signed to Modular Records, The Presets released two EPs ('' Blow Up'', '' Girl and the Sea'') in a ...

Pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from ...

, and

Tame Impala Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring act, Tame Impala consists of Parke ...

, and local releases of international artists including Dom,

Yeah Yeah Yeahs The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are compl ...

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, Colder,

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, Ladyhawke,

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, MSTRKRFT, and Softlightes. After its establishment, the label was first recognised by the successful releases of

The Living End The Living End are an Australian punk rockabilly band from Melbourne, formed in 1994. Since 2002, the line-up consists of Chris Cheney (vocals, guitar), Scott Owen (double bass, vocals), and Andy Strachan (drums). The band rose to fame in 199 ...

's eponymous debut album and

's ''

Breathing Tornados ''Breathing Tornados'' is the third studio album by Australian musician Ben Lee, released on 16 November 1998, through Modular Recordings. It peaked at number 13 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Critical reception Wendy Mitchell of ''CMJ New Music Re ...

'', with the former becoming the highest-selling rock debut, and the latter being nominated for the

ARIA Award for Album of the Year The ARIA Music Award for Album of the Year, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recording Indu ...

. It then grew during the early 2000s, defining itself through its assortment of parties, artists, and the "

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

-leaning dance music" that became known as the "Modular sound". However, in 2015, a lawsuit filed by BMG Rights Management pitied the label against UMA, with UMA originally winning in July against owner Pavlovic, but the courts overturned the decision in October towards Pavlovic's favor. Thereafter, Pavlovic resigned in March 2016, leaving the label under renovations.

History

Modular Recordings was founded in 1998 by

, first recognized with

's eponymous debut album and

's ''

''. Both were successful, ''The Living End'' became the second highest-selling debut rock album in Australian music history at the time; ''Breathing Tornados'' was nominated for the "Album of the Year" ARIA Award.

's ''

Since I Left You ''Since I Left You'' is the debut studio album by Australian electronic music group the Avalanches, released on 27 November 2000 by Modular Recordings. It was produced by group members Robbie Chater and Darren Seltmann (under the pseudonym Bob ...

'' (2000) was also another critical success, earning the group nine ARIA Award nominations. In 2004, with the emergence of

and

and the development of regular Modular parties and tours, the label began to grow, defining its 'electronic, rock-leaning dance music' the "Modular sound". Dan Whitford of Cut Copy described it as 'discovering dance music played live with a more musical aesthetic, rather than just a DJ on stage'. In 2004, an office was established in New York, followed by London in 2005.

, a new wave electropop four piece from Sydney were signed in August 2005, as well as

in mid-2006. An office in Los Angeles opened in 2007, along with the signing of

, Plug-In City and

The Whitest Boy Alive The Whitest Boy Alive is a German-Norwegian musical group based in Berlin. It was originally active from 2003 to 2014; after a five-year hiatus, the group reformed in 2019. The band is composed of singer and guitarist Erlend Øye of Kings of Conv ...

. In June 2015, Modular and Universal Music Australia were sued by BMG Rights Management for failing to honor an agreement made over $1 million worth in royalties from

recordings, including ''

Innerspeaker ''Innerspeaker'' is the debut studio album by Australian musical project Tame Impala. Recorded at a remote beach shack in Western Australia during the winter of 2009, the album was released on 21 May 2010 by Modular Recordings. ''Innerspeaker'' ...

'' and ''

Lonerism ''Lonerism'' is the second studio album by Australian musical project Tame Impala, released on 5 October 2012 by Modular Recordings. Like the band's debut studio album, ''Innerspeaker'' (2010), ''Lonerism'' was written, recorded, performed, and p ...

'' and the group's self-titled EP. Frontman Kevin Parker himself claimed in a

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...

AMA (Ask Me Anything) that 'Someone high up spent the money', and that he 'may never get that money'. UMA claimed that on 24 December 2014 Pavlovic agreed to sign a separation deal, giving half of Modular to UMA, together with music, trademarks, websites and other assets, but refused to and claimed the deal wasn't binding and is owed $32,500 in holiday pay. UMA initially won the lawsuit against Pavlovic in June at the

New South Wales Court of Appeal The New South Wales Court of Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, is the highest court for civil matters and has appellate jurisdiction in the Australian state of New South Wales. Jurisdiction The Court of Appeal operates pursu ...

, but the court overturned the decision in favor of Pavlovic in October, stating that Pavlovic did comply and recognized the deal, which was technically non-official since it wasn't signed. However, he resigned from Modular on 11 March and most of the roster of musicians have since been signed within Universal label group.

Artists

Architecture In Helsinki Architecture in Helsinki were an Australian indie pop band which consisted of Cameron Bird, Gus Franklin, Jamie Mildren, Sam Perry, and Kellie Sutherland. The band released five studio albums before going on hiatus: '' Fingers Crossed'' (2003), ...

Azari & III Azari & III (pronounced "Azari and Third") was a Canadian music group, formed in 2008, which performed house, electronic and dance music. They released their self-titled debut album in 2011 and earned recognition on the dance music scene with the ...

Beni is a Japanese R&B singer, who debuted in 2004 under the Avex Trax label. In 2008, Arashiro left Avex Trax and transferred to Universal Music Japan where she started to perform as simply Beni (stylized as BENI). She was initially best known fo ...

* Canyons * Ceo * Club Mod *

Grace Woodroofe Grace Rachel Woodroofe is a blues singer and guitarist from Perth, Australia. From 2015-2021, she performed under the name R.W. Grace. In 2023 she announced her return to music with a new single "Beginning", again using her original artist name ...

Jonathan Boulet Jonathan Boulet is an Australian musician from Sydney. Best known for his work as a solo artist, he wrote, recorded, produced and played almost every instrument in his small garage studio for his debut self-titled album. He played at the Sple ...

* Kim * Kindness * Ladyhawke * Movement *

New Young Pony Club NYPC (also known as New Young Pony Club) are an English electronic music band from London. The band was formed by Andy Spence and Tahita Bulmer in 2004. Their influences are predominantly post-punk and new wave artists. Career Forming and sig ...

* The Rapture * Rocket Science *

Sneaky Sound System Sneaky Sound System is an Australian dance music group formed in late 2001 by Angus McDonald on guitar, MC Double D (Daimon Downey) on vocoder and vocals, Damien Hesse (DJ) and Nick Broadhurst on saxophone. They were joined in 2004 by Connie M ...

* Softlightes *

The Tough Alliance The Tough Alliance, or ''TTA'', was an electronic pop music duo from Gothenburg, Sweden. The duo first came together in 2003 and consisted of childhood friends Henning Fürst and Eric Berglund. Previously on Swedish record label Service, in 200 ...

* WIM * Young Dreams

Compilations

* '' Modular Presents: Leave Them All Behind'' (2005) * '' Modular Presents: Leave Them All Behind 2'' (2007) * ''Modular Presents: Leave Them All Behind 3'' (2009)

References

* Jam, James (2006-09-16). "We Heart Modular". ''New Music Press'', pp. 16–17.

External links

*
Official Modular US MySpace page
{{Authority control Australian record labels 1998 establishments in Australia Record labels established in 1998 Record labels based in Sydney

History

Artists

Compilations

See also

References

External links