Mille Plateaux is a German

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

founded in 1994 by Achim Szepanski in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, as a sublabel of Force Inc. Music Works. Its releases in the fields of

minimal techno Minimal techno is a subgenre of techno music. It is characterized by a stripped-down aesthetic that exploits the use of repetition and understated development. Minimal techno is thought to have been originally developed in the early 1990s by Detro ...

, glitch music and other experimental

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

have a lasting influence.

History

Origins and Activities (1994–2004)

The name Mille Plateaux was taken from '' Mille Plateaux (A Thousand Plateaus)'', a philosophy book by

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...

and

Félix Guattari Pierre-Félix Guattari ( ; ; 30 March 1930 – 29 August 1992) was a French psychoanalyst, political philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, social activist, and screenwriter. He co-founded schizoanalysis with Gilles Deleuze, and created ecosophy ...

, published in 1980. Their idea of the

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

has been applied as the label's concept of publishing a large variety of forward thinking electronic music from different contexts. In 2000, Mille Plateaux released their '' Clicks & Cuts Series'', which featured both Mille Plateaux and non-Mille Plateaux glitch music artists. This series is widely perceived to be a cornerstone of glitch music.

Bankruptcy and Various Revivals (2004–2011)

In early 2004, Mille Plateaux's parent company Force Inc. went bankrupt due to the collapse of Germany's main independent music distributor, EFA-Medien. Mille Plateaux and other Force Inc. Music Works owned labels also folded at that time. The label was revived briefly in late 2004 under the name MillePlateauxMedia, with four releases. In 2005, two releases were made by RAI STREUBEL MUSIC S.L. on the label Supralinear with the note "by Mille Plateaux". In 2006, Mille Plateaux (along with the other former Force Inc. Music Works labels Force Inc. and Force Tracks) was taken over by the Berlin-based company Disco Inc. Ltd., who only released two CD albums. In March 2008, Mille Plateaux was acquired by Total Recall, an online store and distributor for used and new music. Their owner Marcus Gabler, known as singer of the band

Okay ''OK'' (), with spelling variations including ''okay'', ''okeh'', ''O.K.'' and many others, is an English word (originating in American English) denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, acknowledgment, or a sign of indifference. ''O ...

, became the A&R manager. Mille Plateaux relaunched its activities on 7 May 2010, with three new albums but halted activity in 2011. In 2018, Total Recall was dissolved.

Relaunch by Achim Szepanski (2018–2024)

Its original founder Achim Szepanski successfully reactivated the label's activity in 2018. Since then it has released music digitally as well as on vinyl, CD, cassette and USB stick. Among a broad range of new and younger artists,

Thomas Köner Thomas Köner (born 1965 in Bochum, West Germany) is a multimedia artist whose main interest lies in combining visual and auditory experiences. The BBC, in a review of Köner's work in 1997, calls him a "media artist," one who works between insta ...

, Porter Ricks and Cristian Vogel have returned to the label. The curatorial focus is centered around the concept of Ultrablackness:

"Anonymous, dark, black, hidden, concealed, encrypted, opaque, undercover, incomprehensible: Ultrablack of Music dares the exodus and listens to those forces and sounds that tell of the unheard in music. Sound is the vibration, resonance and diffraction of waves in the black cosmos."

Bearing the same title, the book "Ultrablack of Music" contains texts by writers and artists such as Benjamin Noys, Frederic Neyrat, Marcus Schmickler and Holger Schulze. It was accompanied by a compilation of 34 tracks. In September 2024, Szepanski passed away at the age of 67. The label’s final release before Szepanski’s passing was "Vanatühi" by Estonian multidisciplinary artist Kiwanoid. The album was released in collaboration with the Estonian label Glitch Please and was made available in multiple formats, including vinyl, cassette, digital, and even floppy disk.

Former sublabels

* Ritornell – started 1999, released rather abstract, sound art works of

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

* Cluster – started 2010, released experimental

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

* Organic – started 2010, released experimental / progressive, non-electronic (sounding) music * Force Intel (sister label) – started 2010, released less experimental electronic music, often referred to as IDM

Artists

Some artists released on the label prior to 2004: *

Akufen Marc Leclair (born August 13, 1966), better known by his stage name Akufen, is a Canadians, Canadian electronic musician. His music is electronic music that is often described as minimal house, minimal techno, glitch (music), glitch, or microhouse ...

Alva Noto Carsten Nicolai (born 18 September 1965 in Karl-Marx-Stadt, now Chemnitz) is a German artist, musician and label owner. As a musician he is known under the pseudonym Alva Noto. Life and career Carsten Nicolai was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Ch ...

Alec Empire Alec Empire (born Alexander Wilke-Steinhof on 2 May 1972)https://www.alec-empire.com/ae Alec Empire official website biography is a German experimental electronic musician who is best known as a founding member of the band Atari Teenage Riot, a ...

Andreas Tilliander Berndt Andreas Tilliander (born 1977) is a Sweden, Swedish electronica, drone music, drone and techno producer who significantly contributed to the evolution of the glitch (music), 'clicks & cuts' genre with his first albums ''Cliphop'' (Raster.No ...

* Antye Greie-Fuchs * Autopoieses ( Ekkehard Ehlers and Sebastian Meissner) * Christophe Charles * Cristian Vogel *

Curd Duca Curd Duca (born 14 March 1955) is an Austrian musician, composer and producer of electronic music. Life and work Duca has played (1982–1991) in the experimental groups "Auch wenn es seltsam klingen mag / even though it may sound strange)","8 ODE ...

Dälek Dälek (pronounced "dialect") (stylized in all lowercase) is an American experimental hip hop group formed in Newark, New Jersey in 1998. The group's current lineup consists of MC dälek (vocals and producer) and Mike Manteca (aka Mike Mare ...

* Dean Roberts *

DJ Spooky Paul Dennis Miller (born September 6, 1970), known professionally as DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is an American Electronic music, electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics "illbient" or "trip hop". ...

DJ Vadim Vadim Alexandrovich Peare (), known professionally as DJ Vadim, is a Russian-British DJ and record producer. Born in Saint Petersburg and raised in London, Peare is additionally a promoter, record collector, radio presenter, occasional painter ...

* Donnacha Costello * Frank Bretschneider * Hanayo * High Priest of the Antipop Consortium *

Ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

* Jamie Liddell * Jammin' Unit * Jetone * Jim O'Rourke *

Justin Broadrick Justin Karl Michael Broadrick (born 15 August 1969) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and i ...

* Kevin Martin *

Kid 606 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, IDM, hardcore techno and ...

* Kouhei Matsunaga * Luomo (aka

Vladislav Delay Vladislav Delay is the most frequently used pseudonym of Sasu Ripatti (born 1976), a Finnish electronic musician. He has also recorded as Luomo, Sistol, Uusitalo, Conoco, and Ripatti, working in styles such as minimal techno, glitch, and house ...

) * Marcus Schmickler *

Marvin Ayres Marvin Ayres (born 1950s) is a British composer, cellist, violinist and producer. He has composed and recorded a diverse selection of minimalist albums, incorporating spatial soundscapes and psychoacoustics and latterly 5.1 and True 3D Surround i ...

Masami Akita is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by Masami Akita, best known for a style of harsh noise music. Since 1980, Akita has released over 500 recordings and collaborated with numerous artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada a ...

* Max Eastley * Microstoria *

Mouse On Mars Mouse on Mars is a German electronic music duo formed in 1993 by Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma. Their music is a blend of electronic genres including IDM, dub, krautrock, breakbeat and ambient, featuring heavy use of organic analog synth and ...

* Mr. Thing *

Noto Noto (; ) is a city and in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy. It is southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains. It lends its name to the surrounding area Val di Noto. In 2002 Noto and its church were decl ...

Oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas of mathematics (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.), it is given a more precise definition, which may inc ...

Panacea In Greek mythology and religion, Panacea (Greek ''Πανάκεια'', Panakeia), a goddess of universal remedy, was the daughter of Asclepius and Epione. Mythology Panacea and her four sisters each performed a facet of Apollo's art: * Panac ...

* Peter Rehberg * Porter Ricks * Random Inc (a.k.a. Sebastian Meissner) *

Robert Babicz Robert Babicz (born January 5, 1973, in Niemodlin, Poland) is a Polish-born music producer, mastering engineer and live performer living in Malta. With a career spanning nearly three decades covering genres from techno to acid house to minimal tec ...

Ryoji Ikeda Ryoji Ikeda (池田亮司 ''Ikeda Ryōji'', born 1966) is a Japanese Visual arts, visual and sound artist who currently lives and works in Paris, France. Ikeda's music is concerned primarily with sound in a variety of "raw" states, such as sine ...

Safety Scissors Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 14 ...

* Scanner * Si Begg * snd * Sophie Rimheden *

Spectre Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to: Religion and spirituality * Vision (spirituality) * Apparitional experience * Ghost Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writt ...

* Stewart Walker * Suba * Suphala *

Techno Animal Techno Animal was an electronic duo formed in 1990 in London, England by British musicians Justin Broadrick (of the band Godflesh) and Kevin Martin (aka the Bug, of the band God). The duo released six LPs beginning with their 1991 debut ''Gho ...

Terre Thaemlitz Terre Thaemlitz is an American musician, composer, owner of the record label Comatonse Recordings, and a public speaker. Thaemlitz's work critically combines themes of identity politics – including gender, sexuality, class, linguistics, ethnici ...

* Twerk *

Ultra-red Ultra-red are a sound art collective founded in 1994 by two AIDS activists, Dont Rhine and Marco Larsen. Both are involved in ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). Originally based in Los Angeles, the art collective has expanded over the years ...

Wolfgang Voigt Wolfgang Voigt (born 1961) is a German electronic music DJ and producer from Cologne, known for his output under various aliases, such as Gas. He signed on numerous record labels, including Warp, Harvest, Raster-Noton, Force Inc, Astral Ind ...

(best known as

Gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

) *

Yasunao Tone was a Japanese multidisciplinary artist born in Tokyo, Japan and working in New York City. He graduated from Chiba University in 1957 with a major in Japanese Literature. An important figure in postwar Japanese art during the 1960s, he was active ...

Some artists released on the label (or its substitutes) between 2004 and 2010: *

* Eight Frozen Modules * Edith Progue * Kit Krash * Ran Slavin * Bizz Circuits Some artists released under Marcus Gabler in 2010–2011: * Ametsub * Craig Vear * Gultskra Artikler * Kabutogani * Klive * Wyatt Keusch Some artists released since the relaunch in 2018: * Bienoise * Baransu * Cristian Vogel * Deepchild * Thomas Köner * Porter Ricks * Network Ensemble * Simona Zamboli * woulg * DeRayling * Gianluca Iadema * John-Robin Bold * Andy Cowling * Kiwanoid

References

External links

Official websiteMille Plateaux at BandcampMille Plateaux at FacebookMille Plateaux at InstagramMille Plateaux page at DiscogsMillePlateauxMedia page at Discogs
{{Authority control German independent record labels Electronic music record labels Ambient music record labels 1993 establishments in Germany Record labels established in 1993 Companies based in Frankfurt