My New Label and ISM’s 15th Birthday

So it’s been a busy summer. Both of these items technically happened already, but I didn’t have a chance to write about them. I also owe everybody a ton of record reviews from the last few months, that will probably drop later this week. But let’s dive into the label and ISM’s birthday…

I finally started my own new label that will be my primary outlet for my own music moving forward. The label is called Q.E.D. Recordings and I have been selling direct to individuals and shops through my website which you can find here. I am currently sold out, but sign up for the email list on there to be first to find out about the next one. Copies are still available in a number of shops in the US and in Europe hit up Juno (shop or distro) to snag one of the last copies!

The music on the record is my first released solo music, and is much more of a reflection of my own personal tastes and ideas than any of my previous collaborative work. Essentially I get to be as difficult as possible now, so this EP was put together with a stack of dusty records, a 35 year old MPC, a synth or two plus some Rhodes, and a bunch of grimy fx pedals, all recorded to cassette multitrack.

I sold a bunch of copies over DEMF weekend, big thanks to all those who supported. And then I’ve done a ton of mail order all over the US to sell most of the copies domestically which has also been a really fulfilling result. The goal is to have two more releases and maybe a limited t shirt out before DEMF weekend 2023, so keep your eyes peeled (or sign up for that email list!) so you don’t miss out.

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ISM’s 15th birthday occurred on August 5th. The very first post was made as soon as I finished setting up the site in the summer of 2007, you can see it here. That same day I dropped a mix. The next day, August 6th is what really set things off when I posted the first published interview with Omar-S.

I had no idea how much that interview would blow up. It still does notable traffic to this day. Back then, I had no real specific plans for the site, I hadn’t recruited anybody else to write yet, etc. I was just planning to try to replicate the kind of discussion I had in record stores.

Fifteen years is a long time. Those early days were truly good fun, we had many compatriots with their own sites and blogs. I’m still friends with a lot of those people today. This blog got me into all the paid writing I have done ever since for a variety of different outlets. I do miss the DIY nature that was so widespread in those days, such a different vibe from how ubiquitous the same old same old dance media sites are today. I think we have maintained the original idea of the site very well.

We had a moment where we thought we were gonna stop ISM (as longtime readers might remember), but eventually ended up deciding against it. We did decide to stop having mixes, which was a reflection of just how crowded the hosted mixes area has become. We are still independent, we still just write about what we like with no regard to trends or PR companies, and we still write about dope music from great artists long before the wider public is hip to them.

Big ups to all the people who have written for ISM over the years. Big ups to everybody who did mixes for us as well. I’m not naming you all, but every contribution has been deeply appreciated. This has been a collective effort; if it was just up to me, this shit probably wouldn’t have lasted three years much less fifteen.

But I will mention one cat by name: Kenny Hanlon. I’ve known this dude forever now, close to twenty years. But we weren’t super tight when I asked if he wanted to contribute to ISM and he agreed. Thank goodness I did, because he really kept the site afloat in the times where I had other shit going on and couldn’t write so much. It is impossible to imagine what ISM would be without his tireless work.

Looking forward to next year when ISM can get its drivers license and drive me around to gigs.

Thanks to all our readers over the years!!!!