With the awesomeness of their debut compilation, Manifesto #1, coinciding with it’s release last week, Slutty Fringe decided This Is Not An Exit Recordings should be the first ever entrants into the very much hallowed (and less than regular) Slutty Fringe Label Of The Month feature.
Not only an imprint that rivals DFA for consistent excellence, but also a love story akin to Bogart & Bacall, we knocked heads with Simon & April from TINAE for a lowdown on how they did, do and plan to do.
Slutty Fringe: For those unfamiliar with TINAE, give us a brief run down of how it all began?
Simon: Thisisnotanexit began as much by accident as by design. I saw They Came From The Stars I Saw Them in a pub in East London in 2006 and couldn’t believe they didn’t have a record label so offered to put a single out. It all snowballed from there! I also met my wife April in 2008 and from then on Thisisnotanexit became a two person operation. She’s as important as I am in the decision making and running of the label.
Was there a particular sound you wanted to be associated with? My buddy Scott Urlaubshits described the TINAE policy as wonderfully idiosyncratic dance music with a strong commitment to looking forward which is near perfect (and quite lucid for a Scotsman)
Simon: The thing about Thisisnotanexit is that we’re not a genre label – we hate the way people put music in boxes – it’s so lazy. I like Scott’s description though. I guess our influences which may help people are early 80’s new wave, post punk, synth pop but mixed up with acid house, techno and disco. Think Factory, Mute and Output. Think Optimo. Think David Lynch if he directed music videos. Think Guy Debord if he was a rock star. If people are looking for something a bit different they may well find it with Thisisnotanexit.
Favourite release?
Simon: Favourite Thisisnotanexit release?! That’s like picking a favourite child! We love everything we put out in equal measure! I am though particularly fond of the Detachments Fear No Fear release and still can’t get over the fact that it sold so few – its an absolute juggernaut of acid house meets EBM and absolutely kills everytime I play it out – combined with the Naum Gabo and Moscow remixes it’s an overlooked release in my mind.
The Brain Machine album is also up there with Delia & Gavin’s Days of Mars and the double vinyl version is a piece of art, Naum Gabo’s Pictur release took over two years to come out and features Naum Gabo, Joakim and Tim Goldsworthy and artwork from a Turner Prize nominee – pretty amazing stuff, and I can’t believe They Came From The Stars I Saw Them’s The HOT Inc. was never a hit.
And the Salem / Detachments collaboration coming out soon is seriously amazing.
April: Spectral Empire – Innerfearence (Chateau Flight Remix)
Ones that got away? Bands or remixer?
Simon: Salem and FF are my two favourite bands of the modern age but we’re too small for them unfortunately. We luckily managed to get Heather from Salem to contribute vocals to a Detachments track which was a massive coup. Maybe FF will work with us in some form in the future – who knows.
Other than that we’d like to release Kate Bush, Kraftwerk, David Lynch or Cold Cave’s next albums if they’re reading this.
Why release a compilation now?
Simon: We’ve been wanting to put out a collection for a while but it feels like after a couple of years we now have the right to do so. We also don’t release much on CD so it’s nice to have something our non-vinyl friends can own. We’re also aiming to release Thisisnotanexit Manifesto 2 later in 2010 alongside a bunch of albums we’re really excited about.
How many takes for the mix on the 2nd CD? Personally hate doing recorded mixes as I’m a perfectionist!
How many takes? I’m a bit of a perfectionist too so it took a while to get right. I’m pretty bad at putting DJ mixes out there – I did a series of Thisisnotanexit mixes which are from 1-9 and are out there for those that want to go and hunt them out. After volume 9 got over 20,000 downloads I became paralysed with fear about doing volume 10 and thus it’s never been done. Maybe someday soon. I have every intention to do more mixes and hopefully with a Thisisnotanexit label night starting soon I’ll become a little less paranoid about putting them out there.
Plans for the future?
Simon: 2010 looks to be our busiest year yet – Thisisnotanexit Manifesto 1 is out now, and then we’ve got Detachments H.A.L out in April, the next single from Night Plane called Crimes Of The Future out in the summer and debut albums from Command V, Detachments, Spectral Empire and The Dark Esquire. Plus Thisisnotanexit Manifesto 2. We’ll also be doing regular monthly label events in Dalston soon starting with a night we’re hosting at Bardens Boudoir on April 23rd as part of the Land of Kings festival.
April: World domination!
Most favourite Musical Haircut of all time?
April: Debbie Harry – Heart Of Glass video (vee good choice!!)
