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Memphis Industries
Dave Stelfox meets Ollie Jacob to find out more about his small but perfectly formed Memphis Industries imprint.
By Dave Stelfox
Wandering around Islington of a Sunday afternoon, with its farmers' markets, antiques shops and sedate village-like air, it is easy to imagine a London before the live/work spaces and dotcom companies that now populate the area. A similar sense of home-grown freedom and subtle understatement also runs through the output of the small, but perfectly formed, Memphis Industries imprint.
Working from a modest North London office, 25-year-old boss Ollie Jacob has no pretentions to being anything other than a cottage industry saying: "Basically, I worked in music promotions down in Brighton for quite a while, but while I was doing that I always wanted to run my own label, to sign artists and put out the sort of really good music that people are making in their bedrooms and otherwise probably wouldn't get heard. It's all about us all doing something we really like and can be proud of."
And it is this unassuming, yet equally uncompromising, attitude that gives Memphis Industries its distinctive personality. With a roster including Dan Berridge's Broadway Project, Andy Dragazis's Blue States and until recently Ollie himself as La Mouche; the label's sound fuses electronic atmospherics with earthy acoustic textures and a tactile indie-influenced flavour. "I think the way our identity has come about is through all the people involved sharing similar musical backgrounds," Ollie explains. "We're all old indie kids who spent our formative years reading NME and listening to guitar bands. I mean, I've got more affinity with bands like My Bloody Valentine than most 'dance music', but we've all been there and lost it in fields a few years ago, so that all comes through in what we do. To be honest one of the biggest influences on me starting up was Sarah Records, an indie label run off a kitchen table pretty much, who put out stuff by bands like The Fieldmice who were probably one of the most appalling groups to ever commit music to vinyl. After hearing them I just thought if they can do it, then why can't I ?! I wanted to combine the best of everything I'm into. I was never really looking for a label sound as I just want to work with artists who have a long-term future. The guys from Blue States and Broadway Project fit the bill because they're incredibly talented people."
In fact, the perfect example of the Memphis oeuvre comes in the shape of Compassion, Broadway Project's new album. In a market saturated with easy-listening, soundtrack-style meanderings, such disturbing samplescapes bring a welcome shiver to the spine. Contradictory moods of claustrophobia and ethereality flow through a noirish netherworld as swathes of baroque melody drift in an opiate haze over torrential rhythmic swells. As Dan Berridge began working as Broadway Project while suffering from the debilitating effects of ME, the insidious tension lurking under each tingling hi-hat is curiously resonant. Compassion is alternately foreboding and deeply touching, with a warmly human quality, especially evident in moments such as the sublime London Broken Heart, the unsettlingly beautiful Life Of A Refugee and Femme Fatale. Similarly, last year's Nothing Changes Under The Sun by Blue States won rave reviews thanks to its blend of soaring guitars, wayward rhythm and the turbulent sirtaki inflections of the album's stand-out track, Your Girl.
Both residents of the south coast, Andy and Dan regularly work with one another, cultivating a certain cosy friends and family environment. This ethos of collaboration also extends to a reciprocal remix arrangement between Memphis Industries and Yorkshire's Melodic records, so far resulting in Pedro contributing a truly gorgeous interpretation of 'The Beast' on Broadway Project's recent No Pain single and Blue States offering a typically idiosyncratic take on Minotaur Shock's Motoring Britain. "I really rate that label," Ollie reveals. "We've got quite a lot in common in terms of ethos, the way we do things and just the sort of people we are, so it works really well. We've just finished doing a joint Memphis and Melodic UK tour which was great fun."
And there is plenty more to come from Ollie and the rest of the team over the next few months. Singles from both Broadway Project and Blue States are due, entitled For The One and Elios Therepia respectively, while new signings Fort Lauderdale (previously heard on Worm Interface) are also set to release their debut Electric Hell's Angels EP in April and the subsequent album Time Is Of The Essence in May. So the future is looking bright for this compact and bijou operation. "Yeah, we've got quite a lot to look forward to," laughs Ollie. "As long as I can keep on working with great people and doing what I want to do, then I'm happy. The key words, as far as Memphis Industries is concerned, have always been quality and total self-indulgence . . .and that's got to be a good combination."
Working from a modest North London office, 25-year-old boss Ollie Jacob has no pretentions to being anything other than a cottage industry saying: "Basically, I worked in music promotions down in Brighton for quite a while, but while I was doing that I always wanted to run my own label, to sign artists and put out the sort of really good music that people are making in their bedrooms and otherwise probably wouldn't get heard. It's all about us all doing something we really like and can be proud of."
And it is this unassuming, yet equally uncompromising, attitude that gives Memphis Industries its distinctive personality. With a roster including Dan Berridge's Broadway Project, Andy Dragazis's Blue States and until recently Ollie himself as La Mouche; the label's sound fuses electronic atmospherics with earthy acoustic textures and a tactile indie-influenced flavour. "I think the way our identity has come about is through all the people involved sharing similar musical backgrounds," Ollie explains. "We're all old indie kids who spent our formative years reading NME and listening to guitar bands. I mean, I've got more affinity with bands like My Bloody Valentine than most 'dance music', but we've all been there and lost it in fields a few years ago, so that all comes through in what we do. To be honest one of the biggest influences on me starting up was Sarah Records, an indie label run off a kitchen table pretty much, who put out stuff by bands like The Fieldmice who were probably one of the most appalling groups to ever commit music to vinyl. After hearing them I just thought if they can do it, then why can't I ?! I wanted to combine the best of everything I'm into. I was never really looking for a label sound as I just want to work with artists who have a long-term future. The guys from Blue States and Broadway Project fit the bill because they're incredibly talented people."
In fact, the perfect example of the Memphis oeuvre comes in the shape of Compassion, Broadway Project's new album. In a market saturated with easy-listening, soundtrack-style meanderings, such disturbing samplescapes bring a welcome shiver to the spine. Contradictory moods of claustrophobia and ethereality flow through a noirish netherworld as swathes of baroque melody drift in an opiate haze over torrential rhythmic swells. As Dan Berridge began working as Broadway Project while suffering from the debilitating effects of ME, the insidious tension lurking under each tingling hi-hat is curiously resonant. Compassion is alternately foreboding and deeply touching, with a warmly human quality, especially evident in moments such as the sublime London Broken Heart, the unsettlingly beautiful Life Of A Refugee and Femme Fatale. Similarly, last year's Nothing Changes Under The Sun by Blue States won rave reviews thanks to its blend of soaring guitars, wayward rhythm and the turbulent sirtaki inflections of the album's stand-out track, Your Girl.
Both residents of the south coast, Andy and Dan regularly work with one another, cultivating a certain cosy friends and family environment. This ethos of collaboration also extends to a reciprocal remix arrangement between Memphis Industries and Yorkshire's Melodic records, so far resulting in Pedro contributing a truly gorgeous interpretation of 'The Beast' on Broadway Project's recent No Pain single and Blue States offering a typically idiosyncratic take on Minotaur Shock's Motoring Britain. "I really rate that label," Ollie reveals. "We've got quite a lot in common in terms of ethos, the way we do things and just the sort of people we are, so it works really well. We've just finished doing a joint Memphis and Melodic UK tour which was great fun."
And there is plenty more to come from Ollie and the rest of the team over the next few months. Singles from both Broadway Project and Blue States are due, entitled For The One and Elios Therepia respectively, while new signings Fort Lauderdale (previously heard on Worm Interface) are also set to release their debut Electric Hell's Angels EP in April and the subsequent album Time Is Of The Essence in May. So the future is looking bright for this compact and bijou operation. "Yeah, we've got quite a lot to look forward to," laughs Ollie. "As long as I can keep on working with great people and doing what I want to do, then I'm happy. The key words, as far as Memphis Industries is concerned, have always been quality and total self-indulgence . . .and that's got to be a good combination."
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