Falling A Records is a British Essex, England-based

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 ...

, founded in the late 1970s by Barry Lamb and Peter Ashby.,''Record Collector'', October 2011, no 393, page 54 born out of the D.I.Y cassette movement. It owned a shop in

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea, often simply called Clacton, is a seaside town and seaside resort, resort in the county of Essex, on the east coast of England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District, wi ...

which sold new and second hand records, distributed

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

s such as

New Crimes New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

, Vague, Vox, Flipside,

Juniper beri-beri Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

, Blam!, and D.I.Y magazines/

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

including the very first copies of '' Viz''. It also distributed leaflets for various causes such as "anti-

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

" and "anti-

vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for Animal test ...

", music and politics being interlinked at the time. It had a roster of several bands on its own label, such as the insane picnic ''(sic)'', Standing Ovation and

Spasmodic Caress Spasmodic Caress were an English post punk/ new wave band, formed by Peter Masters, that played many gigs along the East Coast in Essex, Ipswich, Colchester and London between 1979 and 1984. They recorded a track for the 4AD Records 12" compilatio ...

, as well as cassettes and some vinyl it distributed for other D.I.Y cassette labels including Cause for Concern, Subway, Adventures in Reality, Music for Midgets, Third Mind and Colortapes. Many notable bands were distributed by Falling A, including The Cleaners from Venus featuring Martin Newell, the Modern Art, Attrition,

The Pastels The Pastels are an indie rock group from Glasgow formed in 1981. They were a key act of the Scottish and British independent music scenes of the 1980s, and are specifically credited for the development of an independent and confident music scen ...

, The Membranes and Wavis O'Shave (also known as Foffo Spearjig). Some exclusive material was recorded for Falling A by The Cleaners from Venus and Foffo Spearjig among others. In 1985, the cassette culture was threatening the fabric of the established music industry, and Falling A's profile was such that it received the largest write up in the annual ''Music Week'' directory of UK record labels,''Music Week'' directory of UK record labels 1985 even more words than EMI. The label is still in existence as of July 2021. It is currently reissuing back catalogue on CD while releasing new music and creating a vast archival resource from all the memorabilia, ephemera and past product in its vaults.

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Cassette culture 1970s–1990s British independent record labels

See also

References

External links