postcard 01: smallville records + mulemusiq
absorb records was born from a relationship between two friends and a deep connection over music. Our story echoes that of the label / collective / (and sadly now defunct) shop known as smallville records, from hamburg, germany. Founded in 2005 by Julius Steinhoff, Stella Plazonja, and Peter Kersten / Lawrence, and later joined by Just von Ahlefeld who comprised the other half of smallpeople with Julius.
The releases on smallville over the years have been varied yet evocative, inspired, dreamy and always a touch playful deep house.
Start with Move D & Benjamin Brunn's Honey or Let's Call It a Day, and fast forward to Joe Davies' most recent contribution to the catalogue, Shields in Full Sunlight, and you'll find they're still in full force, pushing the genre-boundaries but always cultivating the mood.
Check out this interview with Lawrence and the accompanied mix above from the 2009 RA podcast for a snapshot of a moment in time from the label and inspirations. We found their concept for smallville to resonate deeply with us about what we hope for absorb to represent and encompass.
"Smallville is our office, where we plan all the weird things: labels, parties, record sales, bookings, journeys and the shop is a great place to meet." - Lawrence
Below, a German-language interview with Julius and Just on the origins of smallville records from a feature on Hamburg...
...and a transcribed interview in english from the little white earbuds blog from 2012, with the accompanying mix below:
Mulemusiq
Despite a vast geospatial and temporal difference, there is remarkable similarity in sonic and artistic visions and stories depicted by smallville records and mulemusiq. The Tokyo-based label was started in 2004 by Toshiya Kawasaki and if you're reading here, you're likely familiar with their unique and varied offerings. While the label may have started as a outlet to feature releases from the Sapporo-based Kuniyuki Takahashi, the label lineup expanded to include many others, from Lawrence to Koze, Sprinkles to Schwarz. There has been substantial cross-pollination of artists across these two labels over the years, and both labels have featured extensively the visual art of Stefan Marx, emphasizing the ambiance and utterly human sounding electronic music.
Check out this rare interview with mulemusiq's founder on RA.
Don't miss the recent releases from Georgia's Saphileaum or the debut LP from UK-based Wallace.
listen in...
absorb records radio, featuring music from both of these fine labels, old and new: