|
Story: Jack Foley
ONE of the UK's finest independent record labels is celebrating
its first ten years at the moment, with the release of a compilation
CD and a series of club nights.
Wall of Sound was founded in 1993, with Mark Jones at the helm,
and has spent the past ten years promoting cutting edge music
across all genres, achieving commercial and critical success both
at home and overseas, and launching the careers of artists as
diverse as Royksopp, Blak Twang, The Bees, Les Rhythmes Digitales,
The Wiseguys and Propellerheads.
The compilation CD, Off The Wall, brings together Wall of Sound
artists, both old and new, and is described as a celebration of
a decade of independence.
With a belief in career development that has taken bedroom producers
to million sellers, Wall of Sound's hit rate has been remarkable.
WOS artists have picked up awards at The Brits, the Mobos, the
MTV Music Awards, the Mercury Music Prize and the Grammy's.
Royksopp's debut album, Melody
AM, has become one of the most successful debut albums of
recent times, with sales approaching 500,000 in the UK alone,
while Jacques of LRD's path from teenage bedroom producer to Madonna
collaborator is famous.
|
 |
From the million-selling Propellerheads album to the chart-topping
singles from The Wiseguys, Wall of Sound has consistently delivered
the goods for the artists it represents.
Never one to rest on its laurels, either, Wall of Sound has also
found notable success with its sister labels, Bad Magic, We Love
You and, of course, the house imprint, Nu-Camp.
WOS's belief and support for UK hip-hop is also well-documented
and Bad Magic's artists, Blak Twang and The Creators are both
featured on the compilation album.
While the more alternative We Love You imprint has contributed
tracks from The Bees, Shawn Lee and The American Analog Set.
Given its durability and willingness to consistently raise eyebrows,
Wall of Sound can justifiably claim to have provided a soundtrack
to just about everyone's lives, at some point, whether they like
it or not!
Wall of Sound's music constantly finds exposure on sounbeds for
adverts and programmes on TV, and on film soundtracks.
From its humble beginnings in a tiny office in Battersea, Wall
of Sound's development in the past ten years has been the stuff
of dreams.
And it is a success story made all the more impressive by the
fact that Wall of Sound has never given up its independence, even
when the odds were stacked against it.
|
