Amorphous Records: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox musician | {{Infobox musician | ||
| Name = Amorphous Records | | Name = Amorphous Records | ||
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}} | }} | ||
[[Image:Original Amorphous logo.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Original Amorphous Records logo ([[2001]]–[[2003]])]] | [[Image:Original Amorphous logo.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Original Amorphous Records logo ([[2001]]–[[2003]])]] | ||
'''Amorphous Records''' is an independent record label founded in [[2000]] by [[ | '''Amorphous Records''' is an independent record label founded in [[2000]] by [[Pat Finn]] and [[Karl Koch]]. Its roster primarily includes the two's personal musical projects, or the projects of their friends and bandmates; it has released music by [[Organic Mechanic]], [[Karlophone]], [[Skuraiipeare]], [[Southern Fried Swing]], and [[Sonnyboy]]. According to label lore, its executive director is a mysterious fellow by the name of [[Blantiss Fliangshemp]]. | ||
==History== | ==History== | ||
{{ | During [[1999]], while [[Weezer]] was [[Weezer#Hiatus and Matt Sharp's Departure|on hiatus]] following the release of ''[[Pinkerton]]'', the members of the band dispersed across the country to live at home and work on individual musical projects. [[Pat Wilson]] returned to his home in Portland, Oregon to develop his solo band [[the Special Goodness]], which he had recorded a single [[The Special Goodness (album)|self-titled album]] for in [[1996]]. [[Karl Koch]] followed in tow to assist Wilson and see childhood friend [[Pat Finn]], who facilitated Weezer's existence in Los Angeles in the early 90s before moving to Portland after the band was signed. | ||
Finn, Koch, and Wilson experimented with music collaboratively during this time. Finn accompanied Wilson on bass at the [[The Special Goodness concert: 07/06/1999|first Special Goodness concert]] in July and Wilson drummed on demos with Finn for an early iteration of his own band, [[Organic Mechanic]]. The trio additionally had their own backlogs of unreleased work; Koch and Finn had developed demos under numerous monikers (including [[Skuraiipeare|Skrapr]] and [[Melvin Jones Total Soul Attack Orchestra]]), Koch had worked on his own solo music as [[Karlophone]] since at least [[1996]], and the three had recorded together off-and-on since [[1992]] for their project [[Southern Fried Swing]]. | |||
The group sought to release their work through a DIY label. Finn conceived of the name Amorphous Records around [[2000]], inspired by the diverse and "amorphous" musical output which would fall under the label. Koch developed a website in spring [[2001]], originally hosted under his personal [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EarthLink EarthLink] web space. This early iteration of the website featured information on the label's first three planned releases: ''[[Organic Mechanic (album)|Organic Mechanic]]'', the self-titled debut album from Finn's band (Wilson's drumming had since been replaced by Talbott Guthrie), ''[[Press Any Key to Begin]]'', Koch's debut as Karlophone, and ''[[Free Flight Thru the Universe of Sound]]'', an album consisting of collated Southern Fried Swing recordings. By September [[2002]], the Organic Mechanic and Karlophone albums were both available for purchase on CD through the website. The following month, the website was moved to be hosted under [[Karlophone.com]]. | |||
By mid-[[2003]], the keyboard logo used on the website was replaced with a new design, and a listing for a yet-to-be-released Skrapr album titled ''[[Snow Lust]]'' appeared below the existing albums. In fall, ''Free Flight Thru the Universe of Sound'' was made available for purchase in a run of 111 homemade CD-Rs, as well as the album ''[[Dad Eye]]'' by | |||
[[Sonnyboy]] (the band of Organic Mechanic saxophonist [[Joe Cunningham]]) in a run of 100. The latter album was removed from the website without warning in early [[2004]]. Koch would later recall that this may have resulted from conflict between Finn and Cunningham following the breakup of Organic Mechanic. | |||
A listing for the Karlophone 7"-vinyl single "[[Desire]]" was added to the website in late summer [[2004]], and listings for his second album ''[[I Must Find This Karlophone...]]'' on CD and 12"-vinyl followed suit with its release in early [[2007]]. The website received minor updates on its contact page up until [[2009]], after which activity ceased entirely. | |||
Koch has continued work on a third Karlophone album and in [[2022]] hinted at a vinyl re-release of ''[[Free Flight Thru the Universe of Sound]]'' as well as an archival release of Skrapr music. In [[2023]], Koch stated that he expects that a new release by the label is inevitable and will include more involved promotion. However, no material progress on any new Amorphous Records release since 2007 has been revealed. Additionally, Finn has made no indication of a desire to return to the label. | |||
{{Karl Koch quote|I wish I could remember exactly what the origins were. I mean, I remember going out to Portland, where [[Pat Finn]] lived, in [[1998|'98]], and then [[1999|'99]] again — and this is of course, during the dark times with [[Weezer]], so I had a lot of free time. [. . .] That's where we were recording a lot of, just, wacky demos together. Like [Finn] was in full-on — he gets into these modes where he just cranks out tons and tons of music. So I just jumped in there and I had a little sampler and we were making tons of fun stuff, and I was trying to figure out what I was gonna make, as far as making my own record. [. . .] At some point out there when I was hanging with him, we said 'We should just release [his album] ourselves, somehow.' And it was funny, because you can make a label just by saying you have a label, and that's what it comes down to. [. . .] We just said, 'Okay, this is gonna be called Amorphous Records.' And I think Pat Finn came up with that name because the idea was like, it's a collective of amorphous — like, anything could be on this label, as long as it's not shitty. [. . .] It was like the very beginnings of, you don't have to get signed [. . .] like, 'Yeah you can do whatever you want! Nobody's ever gonna know, but you can do whatever you want!' Like, getting the word out was almost impossible. There was no social media to speak of, you just have your website. It's like, 'Well who's gonna go to this website? Why would they go there?' I don't know! It's all we got. [. . .] We had some missteps where some things didn't come out, and he had some sort of dispute with one of his guys in Organic Mechanic, so the Sonnyboy thing never came out. It's just kinda been floating ever since. There'll be another release, but's gonna be promoted a lot better, because we have a lot more ways to do it now.|[[Weezerpedia interview with Karl Koch - 2023]]}} | |||
==Fictional lore== | ==Fictional lore== | ||
{{Expand section}} | {{Expand section}} | ||
==Release catalog== | ==Release catalog== | ||
{| class="wikitable" style="width: | {| class="wikitable" style="width:40%" | ||
! style="text-align:center;" |Title | ! style="text-align:center;" |Title | ||
! style="text-align:center;" |Artist | ! style="text-align:center;" |Artist | ||
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| | ''[[Snow Lust]]'' (unreleased) | | | ''[[Snow Lust]]'' (unreleased) | ||
| | [[Skuraiipeare]] | | | [[Skuraiipeare]] | ||
| | N/A | |||
| | AR 004 | | | AR 004 | ||
|- | |- | ||
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==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[http://www.karlophone.com/amorphous/index.html Amorphous Records page] on Koch's website | *[http://www.karlophone.com/amorphous/index.html Amorphous Records page] on Koch's website | ||
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20010604201613/http://home.earthlink.net/~kmk808sk8/amorphous/ Original Amorphous Records website] via Archive.org | |||
{{Navbox Amorphous Records}} | {{Navbox Amorphous Records}} | ||
[[Category:Record labels]] | [[Category:Record labels]] [[Category:Karl Koch]] [[Category:Pat Finn]] [[Category:Karlophone]] [[Category:Southern Fried Swing]] [[Category:Organic Mechanic] [[Category:Sonnyboy]] [[Category:Skuraiipeare]] | ||
[[Category:Karl Koch]] | |||
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[[Category:Organic Mechanic] | |||
[[Category:Sonnyboy]] | |||
[[Category:Skuraiipeare]] | |||