Network 23 was a record label founded by the

Spiral Tribe Spiral Tribe is an arts collective and free party Sound system (DJ), sound system formed in 1990. It organised free party, free parties, festivals and raves in the UK and later Europe in the 1990s. Spiral Tribe was involved in the Castlemorton ...

sound system Sound system may refer to: Technology media * Sound reinforcement system, a system for amplifying audio for an audience * High fidelity, a sound system intended for accurate reproduction of music in the home * Public address system, an institution ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. Its last release was in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. In 2005, the label Network Repress was set up to rerelease tracks.

History

Having left England for mainland Europe after the Castlemorton Common Festival and the ensuing trial for organising it,

found themselves in Paris and decided to set up a record label. The aim was to start a non-profit communication channel in opposition to the mainstream. Over the next two years, Network 23 released a number of records by members of Spiral Tribe under various aliases such as SP23, 69db and Crystal Distortion. Some tracks were recorded in a mobile studio whilst on the road. The Spiral Tribe sound came to be known as

free tekno Free tekno, also known as tekno, freetekno and hardtek, is the music predominantly played at free parties in Europe. The spelling ''tekno'' is deliberately used to differentiate the musical style from techno. The music is fast and it can vary ...

, also referred to as spiral hardcore, French hardcore and enimatek. The label also brought out records by invited artists such as Curley, Somatic Responses, Unit Moebius, Headcleaner and Les Boucles Etranges. The first ten records were pressed at MZM in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

since the company offered the cheapest price, but the sound quality is low. Nevertheless, most of these records have become classics, selling at a high price on auction sites. Some tracks are still played at parties 10–20 years after they were made.

Techno Import controversy

In 1997, commercial distributors Techno Import released a CD entitled ''Spiral Tribe The Sound of Teknival''. The CD was advertised on television and manufactured 30,000 copies. Techno Import actually registered the word ''

teknival Teknivals (a portmanteau of the words free tekno, tekno and music festival, festival) are large free party, free parties which take place for several days. They take place most often in Europe and are often illegal under various national or region ...

'' as a trade name. Spiral Tribe members were not informed of this decision until the CD was already produced. They released flyers which began ''F**k Techno Import'' and stated ''Spiral Tribe is not for sale''. This, alongside the differing views of people in the collective, eventually led to the winding up of Network 23.

Slogan

* "This is Network 23, the network that means business, now transmitting live to the world." (Opening line of Max Headroom)

Network Repress

In an indication of the popularity of the label, in 2005 a new label, Network Repress was set up to rerelease hard to find classic tracks alongside new or unreleased music by the same artists. Between 2005 and 2013, 24 releases were brought out by various artists from SP23, the new name of Spiral Tribe.

References

External links