Cold Spring 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 ...

based in

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, England, specialising in "all forms of extreme media, but particularly: dark ambient, neo-classical/

neo-folk Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrumenta ...

orchestral An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...

power electronics Power electronics is the application of electronics to the control and conversion of electric power. The first high-power electronic devices were made using mercury-arc valves. In modern systems, the conversion is performed with semiconducto ...

noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...

Japanese noise , a portmanteau of "Japanese" and "noise", is the noise music scene of Japan. Nick Cain of ''The Wire (magazine), The Wire'' identifies the "primacy of Japanese Noise artists like Merzbow, Hijokaidan and Incapacitants as one of the major developm ...

, minimal,

death industrial Power electronics is a style of noise music that typically consists of static, screeching waves of feedback, analogue synthesizers making sub-bass pulses or high frequency squealing sounds; with (sometimes) screamed and distorted vocals. The genre ...

, dark soundtracks,

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

, obscure electronics from Russia, China, Japan, Poland and others."

History

Beginnings

The label is owned, and run, by Justin Mitchell who had been working for

Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, abbreviated as TOPY, was a British magical organization, fellowship and chaos magic network founded in 1981 by Genesis P-Orridge, lead member of multimedia group Psychic TV. The network, including later members of ...

, a radical occult group from the 1980s. Mitchell had started out listening to early electronic music around the late 1970s, early 1980s."An Interview with Justin"
''Last Sigh'', accessed 27 September 2009 This included bands like

Soft Cell Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their plat ...

and

The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

. From listening to this genre of music Mitchell progressed into the different fields of electronic and experimental music including artists like

Genesis P-Orridge Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (born Neil Andrew Megson; 22 February 1950 – 14 March 2020) was a singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, and occultist who rose to notoriety as the founder of the COUM Transmissions arti ...

. Mitchell began getting involved in the music industry after be involved in re-issuing some cassette releases from his project Satori. These releases originated from around 1984 and were released by another label.

1990–1999

Cold Spring began releasing recordings in 1988 by mail order, then in 1997 began selling and distributing releases on the internet. After releasing a handful of cassette releases by artists such as The Grey Wolves and

. Cold Spring released their first vinyl compilation album ''"...And the Wolf Shall Lick The Jewels From Your Belly"'' (CSR 1LP). This was in 1990 and featured artists such as The Grey Wolves,

Crash Worship Crash Worship or ADRV (''Adoración de rotura violenta'', Spanish for "crash worship") was a San Diego, California based experimental music and performance art ensemble formed in 1986. They were most renowned for live performances partly inspired ...

and

The Hafler Trio The Hafler Trio is an English conceptual, performance and sound art collaborative between Andrew M. McKenzie, the only permanent member, and guest sound artists, performers, and/or musicians. The project has seen the release of numerous albu ...

. The next planned release, (CSR 2LP) would have been a

split album A split album (or split) is a music album that includes tracks by two or more separate artists. There are also singles and EPs of the same variety, which are often called "split singles" and "split EPs" respectively. Split albums differ from "var ...

between

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

and Psychic TV but was withdrawn due to major label pressure.
"Discogs", accessed 27 September 2009 It wasn’t until 1992 that Cold Spring released their next release ''Asesinos'' by

. This would be the first CD release by the label. In 1999 Cold Spring released the

Merzbow is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...

project titled ''A Perfect Pain''. The album was an enormous success for Cold Spring, and one of the label’s most requested titles.

2000–present

An untitled collaboration between American artists

Boyd Rice Boyd Blake Rice (born December 16, 1956) is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the ''Partridge Family Temple'' religious group, co-founder of ...

and

Z'EV Z'EV (born Stefan Joel Weisser, February 8, 1951 – December 16, 2017) was an American poet, percussionist, and sound artist. After studying various world music traditions at CalArts, he began creating his own percussion sounds out of indust ...

produced a two track vinyl release in September 2008. The following year, EV released an album titled ''Sum Things''. It consisted of archive material reflecting his take on the dark ambient genre of music. The tracks were recorded between December 2005 and March 2006. 2009 also saw Cold Spring re-release

Anni Hogan Annie Hogan (sometimes spelled as Anni Hogan) also known as Ann Margaret Hogan is a British musician, record producer, composer and club DJ, born in 1961. Originally known for her association with British musician Marc Almond, Hogan has since c ...

s ''Kickabye''. The original EP was re-packaged including ten extra tracks; ''Kickabye'' featured artists such as

Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He ...

and

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...

."Cold Spring Discography"
, accessed 21 October 2010 In 2010 former

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. ''Q'' magazine in ...

member,

Steven Severin Steven Severin (born Steven John Bailey; 25 September 1955) is an English songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He is best known as the bassist of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees which he co-founded in 1976. He took th ...

released his debut album for Cold Spring titled ''Blood of a Poet''. The album is a recording of his soundtrack for a 1930 silent movie by

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

.Cold Spring Records
Retrieved on 20 October 2010

Cold Spring artists

References

External links

*
Cold Spring independent CDR distribution website

Dagaz Music – Interview with Justin Mitchell
{{Authority control British independent record labels Record labels established in 1990 Ambient music record labels Industrial record labels Noise music record labels Experimental music record labels