Ache Records was an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

based in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It was started by the musician

Andy Dixon Andy Dixon is a Canadian artist and musician, who gained notoriety as a member of the North Vancouver (city), North Vancouver punk rock band d.b.s. He founded the record label Ache Records, and later played in The Red Light Sting. Beginning ...

around 1999. Ache releases music for both Canadian and foreign acts. The first release on Ache Records was

Hot Hot Heat Hot Hot Heat was a Canadian indie rock band from Victoria, British Columbia, formed in 1999. The band was signed to Seattle label Sub Pop in 2001 and Warner Records throughout the majority of their career. The band has released five full-lengt ...

's release, ''Hot Hot Heat'' (1999), a four-song EP. Other notable artists to work with Ache include

Death from Above 1979 Death from Above 1979 (also known as Death from Above or DFA 1979) is a Canadian rock duo consisting of bassist Jesse F. Keeler and drummer and vocalist Sebastien Grainger from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2001. The band released their debut album ...

Four Tet Kieran Miles David Hebden (born September 1977), known as Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting and critically acc ...

Hrvatski In Croatian, '' hrvatski'' is the masculine adjectival form meaning "Croatian", both in the plural and singular; it is ''hrvatska'' in the feminine singular, ''hrvatske'' in the feminine plural, ''hrvatsko'' in the neutral singular, ''hrvatska'' ...

, Konono N°1, and

Matmos Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo formed in San Francisco and based in Baltimore. M. C. (Martin) Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances no ...

. Ache Records releases albums from disparate genres. The

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

newspaper, ''

The Sheaf ''The Sheaf'' is a student-run newspaper serving the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan since 1912. A new issue comes out every Thursday with approximately 3,000 copies per issue. ''The Sheaf'' is a student-run non-profit or ...

'', says that Ache has an "inconsistency of genres" and the label distances itself from using genres to describe its releases. Ache has been described by the ''

Montreal Mirror ''Montreal Mirror'' or just ''Mirror'' was a free English language alternative newsweekly based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada which was distributed every Thursday. It had a circulation of 70,000 and reached a quarter of a million readers per week. ...

'' as having an "uncanny ability to meld seemingly disparate worlds into a cohesive whole". ''

Discorder CiTR-FM (101.9 MHz) is a non-commercial FM radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is owned by the Student Radio Society of the University of British Columbia, with studios in the Alma Mater Society Student Nest in the Point Grey c ...

'' magazine named Ache Records "Label of the Year" for 2004, citing a featured review on ''

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...

'' for Flössin's album ''Lead Singer'', as well as the label's DIV/ORCE 7″ series. The label became inactive in 2012.

Ache Records releases

The first release on Ache Records was

's ''Hot Hot Heat'', a four-song EP. Hot Hot Heat also recorded a

split album A split album (or split) is a music album that includes tracks by two or more separate artists. There are also singles and EPs of the same variety, which are often called "split singles" and "split EPs" respectively. Split albums differ from "v ...

with The Red Light Sting for the label's (and Hot Hot Heat's) second release. Dixon's first band, d.b.s., released its final album on Ache in 2001, a five song EP entitled ''

Forget Everything You Know ''Forget Everything You Know'' is the final album released by the North Vancouver punk band d.b.s. It was released by Ache Records on April 1, 2001. Only 1,000 copies were pressed.

''. One thousand copies were issued. Dixon has also released several of his solo albums through the label (as The Epidemic, Secret Mommy, and by his real name), and with the bands The Red Light Sting and Winning. Femme Fatale's second album, ''As You Sow, So Shall You Reap'', was released by Ache in 2002.

released their first EP, '' Heads Up'', on Ache in 2002, as well as the vinyl edition of their 2004 album ''

You're a Woman, I'm a Machine ''You're a Woman, I'm a Machine'' is the debut studio album by Canadian rock duo Death from Above 1979. It was released October 26, 2004, through Last Gang Records. The album was produced by Al-P who would later work alongside Jesse F. Keeler i ...

''. The Swedish band Kid Commando released their only album, ''Holy Kid Commando'', with Ache in 2003. They also released a split single with

Kid606 Miguel Trost De Pedro (born July 27, 1979), better known by his stage name Kid606, is an electronic musician who was raised in San Diego and later moved to San Francisco. He is most closely associated with the Glitch (music), glitch, Intelligent ...

for Ache's DIV/ORCE 7″ series. The Congolese band Konono N°1 released the vinyl version of their 2004 album '' Congotronics'' through Ache. Ache has issued three pressings of the album.

DIV/ORCE 7″ series

On the DIV/ORCE 7″ series of split 7-inch singles, the musicians on each side have different musical styles. The series began in order to challenge what Ache Records called "finicky sub-genrifying", believing instead that "underground art forms should not be defined". Although Ache does not describe the genres of its releases, the ''

'' says that the pairings on these records are typically between

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

and

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

acts. The split releases in the series include: * ACHE013 – Hella / Four Tet * ACHE016 –

/ Die Monitr Batss * ACHE019 –

Sightings Discovery is the act of detecting something new, or something previously unrecognized as meaningful, "portal". In sciences and academic disciplines, discovery is the observation of new phenomena, new actions, or new events and involves providin ...

* ACHE023 –

/ Kid Commando * ACHE028 – Greg Davis / Of * ACHE031 –

Gorge Trio Gorge Trio is an American experimental rock band based in Oakland, California. It is composed of three-fourths of the critically acclaimed math rock band Colossamite, which disbanded in 1998, and is survived by three releases on Skin Graft Records. ...

/ Uske Orchestra * ACHE035 – Bulbs Band /

Wobbly The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

* ACHE039 – The Secret Mommy Quintet / Basketball band The ninth and final installment was slated to come out in 2011, but it never did, and the series remained incomplete forever.

''Project: Bicycle''

Another project of Ache Records was its compilation album ''Project: Bicycle''. The album had eleven songs by various

or electro-acoustic musicians. These musicians were given a single sample of music, a recording of a bicycle recorded by Jesse Gander at Hive Studios in Vancouver, and they were tasked with composing a song using only that sample.
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References

External links

* {{Authority control Record labels established in 1999 Canadian independent record labels Indie rock record labels Companies based in Vancouver Netlabels Online music stores of Canada 1999 establishments in British Columbia