Label of the Month: Dark Entries

For label head Josh Cheon, the name Dark Entries is more than a veiled nod to goth band Bauhaus' 1980 single. It signifies a shadowy portal to an alternative history, a fantasy archival dive into a timeline in which obscure synthpop acts who recorded lone cassettes in '80s Midwestern basements became underground heroes with vinyl and digital releases, or experimental electronic Greek divas wove globally acclaimed spells, or 1970s gay porn soundtracks by genius producers topped the dance charts. 

Through over 300 releases over the past 16 years, Cheon's label has “rescued” and reissued a plethora of esoteric tracks and acts that straddle the genre borders of post-punk, goth, synthpop, Hi-NRG, experimental electronic, proto-house, dark wave, even “occult rave.” 

These include cherished rarities from Lena Platonos (the aforementioned Greek diva), all-female Finnish synth quintet Belaboris, Slovenian Electronic Body Music act Borghesia, big beat/industrial duo Smersh, '80s Coldwave band Parade Ground, crude minimal synth band Crash Course in Science, and avant-garde noise/pop legends Severed Heads. 

“Putting out these records is an extension of the archive,” Cheon says. “You never know what's going to happen to different media, that could be lost forever. Dark Entries is trying to project this music forward in time, and make it accessible and affordable, as much as possible.” 

Cheon's voracious spelunking for arcane musical gems springs from his youthful obsession with that countercultural sweet spot in the 1980s when outfits were “expressive,” hair was spiked high, and genres melded and mutated with each underground release — DJs flipping from electro to goth to house to punk. Growing up in New Jersey about 15 minutes from New York City, he spent his teenage years breaking out the black mascara and dancing at spots like goth club The Bank. While he dreamed of a career in music, he was urged by friends to continue his studies in biochemistry, since science was a much more stable and lucrative career choice. Then, at the end of the 2000s, there was a Dark Entries epiphany. 

“It was a time when blogs were really big, and they were digging up so much obscure music. We were all just absorbing so much music,” Cheon says. “It was like, 'Oh here's this amazing band from somewhere you never heard of that only released this one cassette. And here's this other incredible singer whose album is going for, like, $300 on Discogs. But my friends and I wanted to play these things out when we were DJing. We were obsessed with raiding thrift stores for things we hadn't heard and passing around old vinyl records — we were all just playing vinyl because that's how the music came. So I thought, 'Someone should be releasing these records now, so more people can get ahold of them. And so the artists can be enjoy some appreciation all these years later.”

He traces the label's genesis to two lucky happenstances. After a stint interning at music labels like 4AD, Matador, and DFA in the 2000s, Cheon noticed an uptick in interest in darkwave dance nights, and soon launched his own, called Radio Lines, at funky San Francisco bar the Transfer. While DJing with Phil Maier of the A Viable Commercial blog, he discovered Rochester, New York art school band Eleven Pond, whose sole release, Bas Relief, from 1986, was fetching wild sums on Ebay. Through a comment one of the band-members left on the blog, Cheon reached out, eventually receiving the master tapes, and re-releasing the record in 2009 as an almost exact replica of the original. “The Eleven Pond record was really a turning point, because it showed I could do this. So many artists have been really happy to know people love their records so many years later.” 

Also in 2009, Cheon's queer DJ collective Honey Soundsystem inherited a garage-load of tapes from legendary DJ Johnny “Disco” Hedges, owner of San Francisco Hi-NRG label Megatone, which helped keep dance floors aflame during the height of the gay scene in the 1970s and early '80s. Many of the previously unheard gems therein were by electronic music pioneer Patrick Cowley, who passed away from AIDS in 1982, at the age of 32. Cowley's production and synth wizardry helped propel disco diva Sylvester to the top of the dance charts with hits like “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)," and his own records like “Menergy” were gay club classics. But he made hundreds more tracks, many unreleased, from politically charged post-punk songs with his band Catholic and psychedelic electronic soul experiments to extensive work laying down the pumping grooves of vintage gay porn videos. 

“Some of Patrick's tapes were being sent away to another label, and I thought, 'These should be released by queer people from San Francisco,'” Cheon says. “That really kind of lit the fire to get things started.” That first batch of tapes launched an epic side-quest which saw Cheon tracking down dozens more of Cowley's creations, including his scandalous sex diaries, climbing through attic crawlspaces and delving into dank basements around the country to score material for what would become nearly 10 Dark Entries releases, with more on the way. “Bringing Patrick's music to the world, and watching the huge influence he's had, has been one of the most rewarding experiences running Dark Entries. It's been such an honor to be involved in this part of his legacy.” 

Any good “retro” label needs a sharp look, and Cheon's aesthetic partner in Dark Entries is designer Eloise Shir-Juen Leigh, who helms all original concepts and reproductions, giving each release a perfect sheen. That artful care extends to the side of Dark Entries that issues newer bands as well, like darkwave duo Linea Aspera, techno-minimalist Bezier, and contemporary acid house hero Bill Converse. Fabulous compilations like Back Up: Mexican Tecno Pop 1980-1989, the obscure and blissfully queer Deep Entries: Gay Electronic Excursions 1980-1985, and Bay Area Retrograde fill in musical history gaps many may have never suspected even existed. 

Three years ago, Cheon left his job at a biochemistry lab to open a brick-and-mortar Dark Entries record store in San Francisco's gritty, vibrant Tenderloin neighborhood. “I finally decided to take the leap and make this my full-time occupation. And so far it's been pretty good!” he says. Next up on tap for his label? Steamy synth-pop “Sexy Boy” single from gender-blending Canadian '80s pop singer Kinga; Greatest Fits, a compilation of eccentric German New Wave icon Gina X's idiosyncratic dance floor stabs; and Deep Entries, a sublabel for “tons and tons” of gay porn soundtracks. At Dark Entries, the shadow work continues.