Labels to Watch 2011: Beachcoma

Labels to Watch 2011: Beachcoma

22 February, 2011 | 1.43AM

• Written by: Beatportal
• Filed under: Music News: beachcoma, jake fairley, labels to watch 2011, metope, pan/tone

Loads of DJs and label owners pay lip service to breaking the rules, but when the dance-music scene is as commercialized as it is these days, it’s refreshing to find a label that really does dance to the beat of a different drummer. Take Berlin’s Beachcoma, for instance. Founded by Metope, Jake Fairley, and Pan/Tone (Sheldon Thompson, aka Sid Le Rock, aka Shelbono “Barracuda” Del Monte) as an outlet for productions that other labels weren’t interested in, the label follows some pretty unorthodox practices—for instance, no member of the collective hears his colleagues’ next EPs until after they’ve been mastered. How’s that for a display of mutual faith?

Fortunately, quality control isn’t an issue: the trio’s records for Beachcoma aren’t a far cry from the sounds they’ve previously released on Areal Records, Cereal / Killers, Dumb Unit, and others. Deep, grinding, occasionally melodic techno is the order of the day, with gritty analog depth and just enough quirk to make them stand out.

We spoke to Pan/Tone about Beachcoma’s unusual approach; read on for the full interview.

What’s the vision or guiding philosophy behind your label, and what sets you apart? How many people are running it?

Beachcoma’s philosphy is simply a “Pull my finger” then wait and see what happens approach. We have no shame, thus giving us nothing to prove nor anyone’s standards to live up to. Hey! We are beach bums without the sand. Rather, “our beach” is our studios that protect us from the shit piles that cover our Berlin sidewalks. When we need to run down to the kiosk for that pack of smokes, as with the electronic music of today, we always try our hardest to dodge them piles of shit.

We release music based on our gut feeling, not current trends. This is the direction which has always defines us as individual artists. When I’m at a club listening to a DJ set, I can usually single out Jake’s or Metope’s tracks being played, apart from the musical haystack of other tracks. For me, there’s a few producers that have been able to achieve this. These few people excite and inspire us to keep to the path.

Jake Fairley (aka Fairmont), Metope, and myself (Pan/Tone) started Beachcoma so that we could release our own music—music that was sometimes overlooked by other labels, opting to choose the other tracks. As the saying goes, someone’s trash is someone else’s treasure, and that sometimes applies to how we release, just as long as we believe it in ourselves to stand behind it. We have a NO judgment policy amongst us that prohibits us from listening to one another’s next release until after it is mastered. Basically this means that if Metope is the next to put out his EP, it’s he that solely makes that decision. Jake and I have no say in the matter. So far, this policy has provided us with no letdowns after the mastering day.

What can we expect to see from the label in 2011?

Metope, Jake and myself just released our first group project under the clever name Beachcoma, titled “We Are Beachcoma.” I must say, it turned out great working with these guys, even if we made Metope sit five meters away from us in the studio. We were even performing live together as Beachcoma, which was loads of fun. We are already planning for more future releases under this group project.

Next release is with Metope in late February. Still haven’t heard it… still not mastered. Yep!, rules are rules. smirks

We release in rotation, starting with Metope, so the next one after will be with Jake Fairley, and then me, the third spot in our releasing lineup… Or as the French would say, “turd.”

Which record label, past or present, would you name as an inspiration or role model for what you do, and why?

K-Tel Records! Why? Because they gave us groundbreaking classics such as the Mini Pops. They are young adorable kids dressed up like sluts and sing popular songs by washed-up stars. They are so creepy clean.

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