After one of the warmest Winter’s on record here in New York, Spring doesn’t seem like much of a big deal anymore. Nonetheless, the days are longer, brighter and warmer and therefore I feel bit less depressed when I leave the office of my day job at 6:00 pm because I don’t feel like I lost the entire day sitting at a desk and staring at a computer screen. I can now step out into some remaining rays of sunlight and absorb some vitamin D while I make my way home. Spring is also the season during which this label was born so it holds a special meaning for me.
May of 2012 will mark the 2-year anniversary of this project that is Fabrica Records. A project which was born on a Saturday afternoon in the quiet of my apartment in 2010. It was a rainy day. I remember this because on that day I recorded the sound of rain falling through my kitchen window, sounds which were then added as a background to one of the closing tracks of the first Fabrica release.
And so it was… I spent that Saturday doing the final “mixing” for the tape; designed, printed, cut, and painted the j-cards, and dubbed about 20 cassettes. A few days later, on Tuesday May 11, I launched this website. The label started (and continues really) with no major ambition other than to release music made by my friends and I, and/or people whose music I enjoy. The label pays some pretty obvious tributes to a few iconic independent music labels of the past, but it also is infused with a lot of personal experiences/lessons gained from the early 90′s hardcore-punk community which I was a part of while I completed my secondary and college education in Santiago, Chile. I owe a lot to my time spent volunteering with Chilean anarcho-punk collective Masapunk, as well as with the Washington, DC-based Amor y Lucha record label. My obsessive interest in music, radical politics, and my commitment to DIY culture I owe entirely to punk culture.
I may have stated this before in older posts, but Fabrica does not and will not ever take part in the “manufactured hype” game, I have no interest in PR agents/agencies (no matter how many of you scumbags “spam” the e-mail account or “follow” the label on Twitter), street teams or in making huge effort to convince music reviewers or major distributors to pay attention to what the label does. I am much more interested in taking things slowly and building this up not just as a place to “buy stuff” but as a label that is inspired and run by a community of like-minded people. If not for the patience, kindness, friendship and assistance from a countless number of people who have contributed their music, assisted with design, mixed recordings, distributed releases, and provided words of encouragement in moments of doubt, this label would not exist. And it will only continue to exist as long as it has a community around it that sustains it.
2011 was a good year for Fabrica, and if the first few months of 2012 are any indication than this will be a great year for Fabrica. We released our first ever vinyl record, my preferred format for music since the tender age of 15 when I dusted and plugged in my grandparents old Marantz turntable to play a used copy of Circle Jerks “Group Sex” LP I had bought from a friend. We also released a gorgeous new batch of cassettes by amazing artists whose work continues to impress me, even after many many many listening sessions.
We now have a new batch on the way (expecting to be ready by early May), a 2xLP reissue of an amazing 1990′s recording by a noise/experimental music pioneer, an LP by a multi-tasking multi-talented musician and fellow label owner, and much much more.
We’ve also expanded our distribution of non-label releases in our online store. A lot of what we carry in the store is the product of trades with fellow labels, so get in touch if you’re down with trading.
We’re celebrating spring with a spring-cleaning sale, a lot of records in the Fabrica store are marked down to wholesale or lower… also, use SPRING2012 promo code for an additional 10% off your order. All record and tape sales through the Fabrica store go directly to funding our future releases, we have day jobs, so the label sustains itself with the distro and its own releases.
As always, thank you very much.
Yours,
Joao Da Silva
Fabrica Records
Six new dark electronic tracks from this distinguished and extremely prolific gentleman currently residing in the city of angels. Hex Illumination is the perfect soundtrack for a late night drive through post-recession America’s once thriving cities.
New sounds from Silver Spring, MD’s own guitar-drone project INSECT FACTORY and Gowanus Brooklyn’s LUCIERNAGA.
