Smalltown Supersound is 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- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

, founded in

Flekkefjord is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Flekkefjord. The villages of Sira, Gyland, Rasvåg, Kirkehavn, and Åna-Sira ar ...

in 1993 and now based in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It is dedicated to new forms of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

, rock and

electronic music Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...

. Their catalog features albums by Kelly Lee Owens,

Deathprod Deathprod is the musical pseudonym used by Norwegian artist Helge Sten for his ambient music project. He is married to Norwegian singer Susanna Wallumrød. Biography Sten began creating music under this name starting in 1991, culminating with a ...

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, occasional DJ and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a number of punk an ...

, Annie,

Jaga Jazzist Jaga Jazzist (also known as Jaga) is a Norwegian experimental jazz band, that rose to prominence when the BBC named their second album, ''A Livingroom Hush'' (Smalltown Supersound/Ninja Tune), the best jazz album of 2002. (in Norwegian) Biograph ...

, 120 Days, Mental Overdrive,

Bjørn Torske Bjørn Torske (born 1971 in Tromsø, Norway) is a house music producer. He became involved with producing music and local radio before moving to Bergen, Norway. He has collaborated on many occasions with Röyksopp. Discography EPs *''Expresso'' ...

, Mats Gustafsson and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of th ...

, amongst others.

History

Smalltown Supersound was founded in 1993 by Joakim Haugland in the small town of

in southern

. At the time, the teenage Haugland was an active participant in the town's local DIY scene, centred around the festival Fjellparkfestivalen and the local rock club. "There was no vision and no plan, it was just one of many things I started when I was in my teens. I ran a club, a festival, a cinema club, a management and a record label. I guess the record label was what stuck" says Joakim about the origins of the label. Haugland founded the label to put out music by local indie and

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

bands, with the name being a combination of "smalltown" (referring to Flekkefjord) and "supersound", inspired by the fictional radio station K-Billy's Super Sounds of the 70s in

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensemb ...

's movie ''

Reservoir Dogs ''Reservoir Dogs'' is a 1992 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in his feature-length debut. It stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tarantino, and Edward Bunke ...

''. The acronym and label

catalog number A catalogue number (British English) or catalog number (American English) may refer to: * Any number used to identify an item in a catalog (disambiguation), including: ** Accession number (disambiguation), in libraries and museums ** Auction cat ...

"STS" was an homage to the influential American independent record label SST. In the mid-90s, Haugland relocated to the Norwegian capital Oslo and began working at Voices of Wonder, continuing to develop Smalltown Supersound as a side operation. At this point, the musical profile label began to drift more towards

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians dur ...

and

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, ...

. An early milestone album for the label was the 2000 debut album by Kim Hiorthøy, ''Hei'', followed by

's album ''

A Livingroom Hush ''A Livingroom Hush'' is the second album of Jaga Jazzist, released in 2001 by Ninja Tune under the authority of the Warner Music Group. The BBC named it the best jazz album of 2002. The album features ten instrumental songs, most of which having ...

'' in 2002. The latter was named the best jazz album of 2002 by BBC. Over the ensuing years, the label's profile also grew increasingly international, releasing albums by artists such as

, Bruce Russell, Brian Reitzell, Kelly Lee Owens, DJ Harvey, Mats Gustafsson and

. However, Smalltown Supersound continued to maintain a strong Norwegian presence in its roster, being one of the spearhead labels of the "Oslo disco" scene of the 2000s with artists such as Lindstrøm, Prins Thomas and Todd Terje. Smalltown Supersound celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2018 with its own stage at the large Norwegian Øya festival, the very first label to do so. The anniversary was commemorated by the compilation album ''The Movement of the Free Spirit'', with tracks spanning the label's entire history remixed to a coherent musical piece by label stalwart Prins Thomas.

Sub-labels

In 2004, the label launched the sub-label '' Smalltown Superjazzz'' to release "jazz with a punk attitude". The sub-label was cancelled in 2012, but reactivated in 2019 as the label series Actions for Free Jazz (AFJ-Series). In 2020, Smalltown Supersound also founded the label series Le Jazz Non (LJN-Series).

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Norwegian independent record labels Electronic music record labels

History

Sub-labels

See also

References

External links