Wagon Repair: Label of the Week

Wagon Repair: Label of the Week

1 October, 2007 | 4.13AM

• Written by: lizwarner
• Filed under: Music News: cobblestone jazz, it is what it is, label of the week, mathew jonson, the mole, vancouver, wagon repair

Canada’s Wagon Repair has been carving a steady niche from the underground since the tail end of 2004, releasing music out of Vancouver.

In spite of its underground status, with a new Cobblestone Jazz album around the corner, the label looks poised to grow.

The label has primarily been a vehicle for releasing music by Mathew Jonson, The Mole and Konrad Black, along with a handful of other artists and projects that are featured.

Though the label is young, is seems to be just getting started.

With an October album release set for Cobblestone Jazz (Tyger Dhula, Mathew Jonson and Danuel Tate), we thought it’d be a good time to highlight the work that this fine record label has been doing while hidden away in the great white north.

We spoke with Mathew Jonson [below right], who at 29, is already accomplished in his releases and live sets, and who clearly doesn’t believe in the phrase: if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

We caught up with him somewhere between Berlin and Vancouver.

If you had to choose a motto for Wagon Repair, what would it be?

Off the bat, I’d say “Wagon Repair: If we didn’t fix your wagon, then fuck off!”

I just like the way that sounds.

Or maybe, “Wagon Repair: Go fix your own fucking wagon — we have enough problems of our own already.”

That sounds nice too. 

That’s a far cry from your usual motto of “These Tracks Will Fix Your Wagon”. How do you choose the artists that you develop and support?

I like to support my friends a lot but they need to have good music to release, of course.

Luckily I’m surrounded by a tight group of people that are really talented.

It’s really nice to find new artists to work with, too, but I don’t really look that hard because there is so much good music right in front of me all the time. 

How do you decide what constitutes a great release?

Great releases need music with soul, tracks that compliment each other and give a record diversity at the same time.

And nice art on the cover. 

How do you explain the underground popularity of the Wagon Repair sound?

Maybe it’s that we don’t really have a sound — we just release music that we like.

People know that they can find something interesting when they check out our releases, and maybe get exposed to something new. 

Cobblestone Jazz takes a bit of a different approach. How did that project come about?

Cobblestone Jazz started as a band that Danuel put together called The Modern Deep Left Quartet consisting of the three of us plus “The Mole” [below right].

They moved out to Montreal, and after being robbed, Tyger and Danuel came back but Colin “The Mole” stayed there.

Then we formed Cobblestone Jazz as a new project.

We still do the Modern Deep Left Quartet, but it’s a bit of a different thing now, a bit more experimental.

What’s the music scene like in Vancouver?

There are lots of good DJs and producers here.

The best parties are the one-off shows that usually happen in warehouse or studio spaces like Open Studios.

In the summer, we have some really nice festivals like Soundwave, but in the winter it gets pretty quiet.

Are people surprised to realize that Wagon Repair is based out of Canada?

No, not really.

There are a lot of Canadian producers out there now so the Canadian scene is pretty well known now [see Konrad Black, right].

Which release or artist on your label has been most under appreciated?

I’m not really sure but sometimes it’s funny because the ones you think will do really well don’t and others become hits when you never expected it.

We all come from a wide background of musical influences, so when it comes to A&R, it doesn’t necessarily follow the music trends.

How do you recommend listening to music from Wagon Repair?

Be open to anything and don’t be surprised if you hear mistakes in the music – that’s what humans do.

What’s in store for the future of the label?

We’re getting to a point now where we can release albums, so that’s a big move for us.

One from myself, The Mole, Hrdvsion, Danuel Tate and of course Cobblestone Jazz on October 15th. [The Mole, right]

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Also check out ‘23 Seconds’ by Cobblestone Jazz: Album of the Week on Beatportal.

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