Heat Death Records

We recently discovered Heat Death Records and was instantly impressed not only by the ethos and vision of the label, but also by the impressive artist catalogue they have managed to put together. The unique approach they are taking within the ‘limited edition/micro label’ field is a breath of fresh air, and for those looking to seek out great alternative music that comes packaged in a special way then Heat Death are most definitely a label worth checking…

Heat Death Records:

The label was started in May 2009 as a way to produce physical releases for artists who had download only albums/eps on net labels or would otherwise never print a cd. In the past year it has expanded to include original and exclusive releases due to the incredible interest from artists all over the world. – Ian (Label Manager)

Releases:

HEAT001 – Oskar Hallbert – Sid’s Apartment

A re-release of his download only EP on Rain Music, Oskar has spent months entirely re-working the songs from his original recordings. The minimal guitar work and field recordings create a unique sense of space, giving the listener the feeling of being in the room with Oskar himself. Anyone who enjoys Sinebag or Yuichiro Fujimoto needs to hear this remarkable Swedish musician.

Tuesday

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www.myspace.com/oskarhallbert

HEAT002 – Yawning – Selected Works – 50 copies, handmade sleeves, SOLD OUT

Yawning is Jun Minowa from Tokyo, Japan. He is one half of the ambient post-rock project Gargle and “Selected Works” represents a handful of demo tracks he made for himself that he didn’t feel fitted the aesthetic of Gargle. I approached Yawning as a fan early in 2009 and was sent a plain CDR full of music for free, which I thought such a shame for such beautiful music. The songs vary from piano compositions to post-rock, reflecting Jun’s love of artists like Eluvium and MONO. Selected Works was Heat Death’s first release to be produced and is now sold out.

The Sparks in Your Eyes

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www.myspace.com/yawningjp

HEAT003 – DBH – Thief – 50 copies, handmade sleeves.

Daniel Bridgewood-Hill is a folk guitarist, amongst other things, from Manchester, England. “Thief” is the result of a brief correspondence where I professed my love of his instrumental covers of pop songs and he recorded me a bunch of them to release. Yes, perhaps folk covers are ten-a-penny nowadays, with the likes of Jose Gonzalez only just off rotation in adverts and trailers, but nonetheless there are some gems to be found; and this EP is one of them.  DBH has created some remarkable takes on huge hits and you will be humming them for days.

Time After Time

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www.myspace.com/dbhguitar

HEAT004 – North Hero – Hewn – 50 copies, handmade sleeves with printed inserts

This American duo are both difficult to classify and difficult to describe, but they are rather nice to listen to. The release is a single improvisation split across 4 ‘movements’, utilising “piano, guitar and noise” to create a swirling journey for the listener. The band has previously released an EP on Reverb Worship, which was described as:

“Gentle, lilting and melodic, with occasional dark clouds in an otherwise clear sky. Ohio’s North Hero make lovely sounds using Rhodes-y piano sounds and heavily delayed guitar. A very pleasing mix.” Boa Melody Bar

This album is another instance where Heat Death has approached an artist looking to release a free download as a packaged CDR. Kari and Jake, who make up North Hero, provided artwork and a remastering of the whole album for the release. The original is hosted at the below link.

First Movement

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www.cors.bgohio.org/jake/NorthHero-Hewn.zip
www.myspace.com/northhero

HEAT005 – Mitsuyoshi Matsuda – Scene – 50 copies, hand-assembled sleeves

Mistuyoshi is a Japanese musician whose music is perhaps best described as folktronica for summer evenings. “Scene” is 7 tracks of gently processed guitar lines, occasionally accompanied by a softly chiming glockenspiel or some other electronic bleeps and peeps. Mitsuyoshi was good enough to record the whole EP especially for the label, which I believe makes it Heat Death’s first entirely original release – and an honour it is for that accolade to go to such a beautiful piece of music.

Calm

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www.myspace.com/mitsuyoshimatsuda

HEAT006 – Automobile, Swift – Enemy, Enemy – 50 copies, printed mini-dvd cases, handnumbered

Automobile, Swift has had “Enemy, Enemy” up for free download for some time, and it’s been a favourite on my mp3 player for nearly as long. It’s achingly restrained ambience, the crackle of static and the slow pulse of the cycling, haunting melodies playing somewhere in the distance never fail to draw me in, as if onto a different plane to the world around me. If William Basinski, Stars of the Lid or Belong mean anything to you then you are doing your ears a great disservice by not listening to this. Joseph of Automobile, Swift is also half of Willamette – who have a release on Infraction soon that will blow people away!

Percival

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www.cllct.com/release/enemyenemy
www.myspace.com/automobileswift
www.myspace.com/escapingthememory

HEAT007 – dné – Talking With Crayons

Physical reissue of the small, but perfectly formed EP on Mine All Mine! Records. The original download clocked in at less than 10 minutes and although this comes with a bonus track it is a brief foray into the world of this Czech musician. The music itself is Message to Bears-esque folktronica that is trying to convey the feeling of being brought up in a rural area. As dné himself puts it: with guitar, piano, melodica, glockenspiel, drums, laptop and pieces wood, he will bring back the memories of the good winter evenings spent with the thrilling game of canasta…

Bare Flower in Vain

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www.myspace.com/dnednedne

HEAT008 – Woodworkings – TBC

Woodworkings is a lovely man called Kyle. He plays in post-rock band We All Inherit the Moon and also manages to find the time to produce a stream of consistently excellent albums under his solo moniker. These solo albums are mostly modern classical though some revolve around guitar drones too, he branches out into other techniques as he sees fit from release to release. The demos so far are unfinished, they still have more tracks to be laid down – most notably a violin – but are included to show the direction this release will take. Woodworkings will also have a release on sonicpieces later in the year.

Demo 2

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www.myspace.com/woodworkings

HEAT009 – Split – Ten & Finneyerkes -50 copies, hand-assembled sleeves with printed inserts.

Finneyerkes came to me with an album that was sort of post-rock, sort of electronic, generally not like anything I listened to but pretty much ace. We had problems with masters and such and in the hold up I was approached by an English artist called Ten who, lo and behold, had a similar take on things. The two are by no means the same, but I felt they worked off each other well and arranged the first Heat Death split release. Easily the most electronic album on the label so far, and most likely the most overtly electronic album I will ever allow on the label: spoken word, violins, drones, huge synths and guitars all meet in one place. It’s quite the pairing.

Suspended In The Sky

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www.myspace.com/tenthegreat
www.myspace.com/finneyerkes

HEAT010 – Cylon – Cycle

Jannick Schou, AKA Cylon, runs a net-label, dotContemporary, which when you think about it kind of goes against everything Heat Death stands for. Luckily, as if to atone for this, he has put out CDs on half the UKs DY labels as well as producing for and collaborating with other musicians for their releases.  When he first came to Heat Death Jannick told me that he had sent different demos to several different labels, based on what style they seemed to want. It is surely testament to his talents that Under the Spire, Dead Pilot and Heat Death have all put out his music. This approach also means that you should not base your expectations for this release on his other outings though; this is a more musical piece than his work on either of the previously mentioned labels. Fans of Rameses III should find some familiar ground tread by Cylon with Cycle, but who knows what classics we will hear from him in future.

Cycle

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www.myspace.com/schoudk

HEAT011 – Sumner McKane – Something Very New England About This View – 100 copies, handmade.

Sumner McKane was a pleasant surprise; I bought a CDR from him that came with a note about the importance of physical media, so I replied to him with my thoughts and an EP on Heat Death followed shortly. Musically, Sumner plays ‘ambient americana’ – I’m not sure if he coined that term but it is definitely apt.

14 When He Went Into The Woods

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www.sumnermckane.com

Heat Death Links:

www.heatdeathrecords.co.uk
www.myspace.com/heatdeathrecords