Hydra Head 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 ...

specializing in

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

music, founded in

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

Aaron Turner Aaron Turner (born November 5, 1977) is an American musician, singer, graphic artist, and founder of label Hydra Head Records. He is most widely known for his role as guitarist and vocalist for the post-metal bands Sumac (band), SUMAC and Isis ...

(the frontman of

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

) in 1993. It had another imprint, Hydra Head Noise Industries, which specialized in

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

and

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Noise music include ...

. Turner announced he was winding the label down in 2012. In 2020, the label removed its catalog from Spotify and returned its album rights back to several artists.

History

Hydra Head was founded in 1993 as a distribution company while Turner was still in high school. In 1995, he moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

to attend art school. In late 1995, he was handed a demo by Wichita Kansas band Vent. That seven-inch single would be the first record released on Hydra Head. The label grew to accommodate local bands such as Roswell, Corrin,

Piebald A piebald or pied animal is one that has a pattern of unpigmented spots (white) on a pigmented background of hair, feathers or scales. Thus a piebald black and white dog is a black dog with white spots. The animal's skin under the white backg ...

, and

Converge Converge may refer to: * Converge (band), American hardcore punk band * Converge (Baptist denomination), American national evangelical Baptist body * Limit (mathematics) In mathematics, a limit is the value that a function (or sequence) app ...

, and after Turner graduated from college in 1999, it became a full-time endeavor. In 2011, Hydra Head relocated to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, from its former home in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. Some of the bands signed to the label include

Cave In Cave In is an American rock band that formed in 1995 in Methuen, Massachusetts. The band's lineup solidified with the 1998 release of '' Until Your Heart Stops'' through Hydra Head Records, and their early albums were prominent in the metalco ...

Xasthur Xasthur () is the project of American musician Scott "Malefic" Conner. Conner formed Xasthur in 1995 and released eight studio albums of black metal by 2010, when he announced the end of the project. However, he began using the name once again ...

Kayo Dot Kayo Dot is an American avant-garde metal band. Formed in 2003 by Toby Driver after the break-up of Maudlin of the Well, they released their debut album ''Choirs of the Eye'' on John Zorn's Tzadik Records that same year. Since then, Kayo Dot' ...

, Boris, and Jesu. Its discography includes Botch,

Khanate A khanate ( ) or khaganate refers to historic polity, polities ruled by a Khan (title), khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. Khanates were typically nomadic Mongol and Turkic peoples, Turkic or Tatars, Tatar societies located on the Eurasian Steppe, ...

, and Harkonen, who were active at the time of their signings. On September 11, 2012, Turner announced the "imminent demise of Hydra Head Records", stating that Hydra Head would take its first steps into shutdown "this December, at which point we are cutting off new releases from the label." The label would continue to stay operational, maintaining its back catalogue to pay off its "rather sizeable debts." The label released '' Worship is the Cleansing of the Imagination'', a split album between

JK Flesh JK Flesh is a moniker of English musician Justin Broadrick employed for his solo work within electronic music. Broadrick's usage of the title spans back to his work in the 1990s with Kevin Martin (British musician), Kevin Martin in Techno Anima ...

Prurient Ian Dominick Fernow is an American experimental music, experimental musician, poet and multimedia artist. He is best known for extreme music released under the stage name Prurient, as well as numerous other aliases including Vatican Shadow, Rain ...

. The Hydra Head office in Los Angeles was closed in May 2013. In 2017, Hydra Head released Oxbow's ''

Thin Black Duke ''Thin Black Duke'' is the seventh studio album by American experimental rock band Oxbow. It was released on May 5, 2017 through Hydra Head Records. Background and composition According to ''Pitchfork'' writer Zoe Camp, the album "envision a wor ...

'', a long-germinating album that was slated to come out on Hydra Head and had been unable to find another label since Hydra Head's winding down. Discussing the album, Turner appeared open to releasing more albums "on a case-by-case basis". However, in a 2018 interview, Turner expressed disinterest in doing Hydra Head as a full-time label again, saying that "...it would mean me stopping a lot of other things that I’m currently doing, and I don’t want to do that." The label released '' Final Transmission'' by

, released on June 7, 2019. In 2020, the label's catalogue was removed from

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

, and the album rights to several of the label's bands were given back to the artists. Several artists such as

Discordance Axis Discordance Axis was an American grindcore band formed in 1991 in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Their songs employed themes of inner struggles, science fiction, comic books, anime, and literature. History Discordance Axis was originally formed ...

and Botch signed with other record labels such as

Relapse In internal medicine, relapse or recidivism is a recurrence of a past (typically medical) condition. For example, multiple sclerosis and malaria often exhibit peaks of activity and sometimes very long periods of dormancy, followed by relapse or r ...

, Willowtip and

Sargent House Sargent House is an American management company and record label based in Los Angeles. It was founded in June 2006 by Cathy Pellow, who is a music video commissioner for Atlantic Records and also owns a music video production company called Ref ...

, respectively, to help reissue their back catalogs. A press release on Botch's signing with Sargent House stated that Hydra Head folded in 2020. As of April 2022, the label continued to sell its remaining stock via Bigcartel.com.

Current roster

* 27 * Agoraphobic Nosebleed * The Austerity Program *

Big Business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly ...

Black Face Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...

* Boris *

Cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

* Cavity * Craw *

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 ...

Daughters A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state, condition or quality of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show re ...

* Drawing Voices * Everlovely Lightningheart * Greymachine * Gridlink * Harkonen *

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised i ...

Helms Alee Helms Alee is an American rock band that formed in 2007. Based in Seattle, Helms Alee features Ben Verellen, former member of Harkonen and Roy. Helms Alee has released six albums, ''Night Terror'' (2008) and ''Weatherhead'' (2011) through Hy ...

* Heresi * Jesu *

* Keelhaul *

Khlyst The Khlysts or Khlysty ( rus, Хлысты, p=xlɨˈstɨ, "whips") were an underground Spiritual Christian sect which emerged in Russia in the 17th century. The sect is traditionally said to have been founded in 1645 by Danilo Filippovich, a ...

Knut Knut ( Norwegian and Swedish), Knud ( Danish), or Knútur ( Icelandic) is a Scandinavian and German first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used which ...

* Logh * Lotus Eaters *

Lustmord Brian Williams is a Welsh musician, sound designer and composer. He has released albums under the name Lustmord starting in the 1980s and through the present. Williams began as a recording artist within the industrial genre, working with Ch ...

* Mamiffer *

Merzbow 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 ...

* Nihill * The Octave Museum *

Oxbow __NOTOC__ An oxbow is a U-shaped metal pole (or larger wooden frame) that fits the underside and the sides of the neck of an ox or wikt:bullock, bullock. A bow pin holds it in place. The term "oxbow" is widely used to refer to a U-shaped meand ...

* Pet Genius * Phantomsmasher *

Pyramids A pyramid () is a Nonbuilding structure, structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a Pyramid (geometry), pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid ca ...

* Torche *

Zozobra Zozobra (also known as Old Man Gloom and sometimes branded as Will Shuster's Zozobra) is a giant marionette effigy constructed of wood, wire and cotton cloth that is built and burned on the Friday of Labor Day weekend prior to the annual F ...

Tortuga

The Gersch The Gersch is a band founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1996. They have been on extended hiatus since 1999 with the only activity since that time being the 2006 release of their self-titled album, mixed and produced by Justin Sosnovski, Graham ...

Old Man Gloom Old Man Gloom is an American post-metal band originally formed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but now based in Massachusetts. The group, formed by Aaron Turner of Isis and Santos Montano, expanded to become a sort of supergroup in the Boston hardcore ...

* Scissorfight *5ive *Tusk

Past artists

*The Abandoned Hearts Club *Age of Reason *Barbaro * Botch *Boxer Rebellion * Buzzov*en *Cattlepress * Coalesce *

*Corrin *

Cult of Luna Cult of Luna is a Swedish post-metal band from Umeå founded in 1998. Their style of music is similar to contemporary bands Neurosis and Isis. Cult of Luna was signed to Earache Records in the early 2000s and released five albums, including th ...

The Dillinger Escape Plan The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American metalcore band. The band was formed in 1997 in Morris Plains, New Jersey by guitarist Ben Weinman, bassist Adam Doll, vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, and drummer Chris Pennie. The band's use of Consonance and ...

* Drowningman *

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Kid Kilowatt Kid Kilowatt was an American rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in 1996 and dissolved in 1997, including members of Cave In, Converge (band), Converge and Piebald (band), Piebald. They wrote only one album, ''Guitar Method'', first releas ...

Mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

* Miltown *

Neurosis Neurosis (: neuroses) is a term mainly used today by followers of Freudian thinking to describe mental disorders caused by past anxiety, often that has been repressed. In recent history, the term has been used to refer to anxiety-related con ...

Pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

*Roswell * Seven Day Curse *Six Going on Seven *SOHNS *

Soilent Green Soilent Green is an American grindcore/sludge metal band formed in 1988 in Chalmette/ Metairie on the suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana. History Soilent Green was founded in 1988, but their debut album was not released until 1995, when '' Pu ...

Sunn O))) Sunn O))) (pronounced "sun") is an American drone metal band formed in 1998 in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. The band is known for its distinctive visual style and slow, heavy sound, which blends diverse genres including doom metal, ...

*The Hollomen *The Never Never *

These Arms Are Snakes These Arms Are Snakes was an American post-hardcore band that formed in 2002 and featured former members of Botch and Kill Sadie. Before disbanding in 2009, they released three studio albums: ''Oxeneers or the Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go ...

Today Is the Day Today Is the Day is an American noise rock and Avant-garde metal, experimental metal band that originally formed in Nashville, Tennessee. The band's diverse sound combines influences from areas such as noise music, avant-garde metal, grindcore ...

*Unionsuit *Vent

References

External links