Smalltown Supersound is an
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 ...
, founded in
Flekkefjord
is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Flekkefjord. The villages of Sira, Gyland, Rasvåg, Kirkehavn, and Åna-Sira are ...
in 1993 and now based in
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. It is dedicated to new forms of
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 ...
,
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 ...
and
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 ...
.
Their catalog features albums by
Kelly Lee Owens
Kelly Lee Owens (born 24 August 1988) is a Welsh electronic musician and producer. She released her self-titled first album in 2017 to critical praise, her follow-up album ''Inner Song'' was released in August 2020. Her third studio album ''LP.8 ...
,
Deathprod
Deathprod is the musical pseudonym used by Norwegian artist Helge Sten for his ambient music project. He is married to Norwegian singer Susanna Wallumrød.
Biography
Sten began creating music under this name starting in 1991, culminating with a ...
,
Neneh Cherry
Neneh Mariann Karlsson (born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, occasional DJ and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a number of punk roc ...
,
Annie
Annie may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* Annie (actress) (born 1975), Indian actress
* Annie (singer) (born 1977), Norwegian singer
The ...
,
Jaga Jazzist,
120 Days
120 Days was a Norway, Norwegian rock band.
Biography
The band comprises Jonas Dahl, Arne Kvalvik, Kjetil Ovesen, and Ådne Meisfjord, and was formed in Kristiansund in 2001 under the name The Beautiful People. When they changed their name, th ...
,
Mental Overdrive
Mental Overdrive is the primary solo moniker of Per Martinsen (born 31 July 1966), one of Norway's most prolific and influential techno musicians. His tracks have ranged from hardcore rave techno to vibrant space-disco, and he's always maintained ...
,
Bjørn Torske,
Mats Gustafsson
Mats Olof Gustafsson (born 29 October 1964) is a Swedish free jazz saxophone player.
Career
Gustafsson came to the attention of lovers of improvised music as part of a duo with Christian Munthe (started in 1986), as member of Gunter Chri ...
and
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
, amongst others.
History
Smalltown Supersound was founded in 1993 by Joakim Haugland in the small town of
Flekkefjord
is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Flekkefjord. The villages of Sira, Gyland, Rasvåg, Kirkehavn, and Åna-Sira are ...
in southern
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. At the time, the teenage Haugland was an active participant in the town's local
DIY
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...
scene, centred around the festival Fjellparkfestivalen and the local rock club. "There was no vision and no plan, it was just one of many things I started when I was in my teens. I ran a club, a festival, a cinema club, a management and a record label. I guess the record label was what stuck" says Joakim about the origins of the label. Haugland founded the label to put out music by local
indie
Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Gaming
*Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies
*Indie game, any game (board ...
and
lo-fi
Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...
bands, with the name being a combination of "smalltown" (referring to Flekkefjord) and "supersound", inspired by the fictional radio station K-Billy's Super Sounds of the 70s in
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...
's movie ''
Reservoir Dogs
''Reservoir Dogs'' is a 1992 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in his feature-length debut. It stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tarantino, and Edward Bunke ...
''. The acronym and label
catalog number "STS" was an homage to the influential American independent record label
SST.
In the mid-90s, Haugland relocated to the Norwegian capital Oslo and began working at
Voices of Wonder
Voices of Wonder a.k.a. Voice of Wonder Records was one of the most important rock record labels in Oslo, Norway in the early 1990s. The label was fronted by a small and intimate record store on Olaf Ryes plass, which in addition to the labels own ...
, continuing to develop Smalltown Supersound as a side operation. At this point, the musical profile label began to drift more towards
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 ...
,
free jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...
and
experimental music
Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...
. An early milestone album for the label was the 2000 debut album by
Kim Hiorthøy
Kim Hiorthøy (born March 17, 1973) is a Norwegian electronic musician, graphic designer, illustrator, filmmaker and writer.
Biography
Hiorthøy was born and raised in Trondheim, Norway, and studied at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art (1991–96 ...
, ''Hei'', followed by
Jaga Jazzist's album ''
A Livingroom Hush
''A Livingroom Hush'' is the second album of Jaga Jazzist, released in 2001 by Ninja Tune under the authority of the Warner Music Group. The BBC named it the best jazz album of 2002.
The album features ten instrumental songs, most of which having ...
'' in 2002. The latter was named the best jazz album of 2002 by
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
Over the ensuing years, the label's profile also grew increasingly international, releasing albums by artists such as
. However, Smalltown Supersound continued to maintain a strong Norwegian presence in its roster, being one of the spearhead labels of the "Oslo disco" scene of the 2000s with artists such as
.
Smalltown Supersound celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2018 with its own stage at the large Norwegian
festival, the very first label to do so. The anniversary was commemorated by the compilation album ''The Movement of the Free Spirit'', with tracks spanning the label's entire history remixed to a coherent musical piece by label stalwart Prins Thomas.
'' to release "jazz with a punk attitude". The sub-label was cancelled in 2012, but reactivated in 2019 as the label series Actions for Free Jazz (AFJ-Series). In 2020, Smalltown Supersound also founded the label series Le Jazz Non (LJN-Series).