OK, we promised you an update on the future of Dynamite Vision following our AGM recently.
Dynamite Vision was founded in 2004 initially as an umbrella for the revived Falling A label and later it's sister label Six Armed Man. We also used it to be a research and experimental centre for our involvement in non physical formats and since that time have also been happy to help other musicians along the way as a kind of distribrution network. All of this has taken place whilst attempting to hold our other vocations as musicians and in some cases professional careers and families together.
We are very grateful for all the support and help we have received from the collective of musicians we have worked with. Some of this has been very fruitful indeed. In 2004 we found ourselves in the midst of an awakened interest in independently produced music and this subsequently resulted in a boom time which lasted until the end of 2007.
2008 started to show signs of a steady decline in our sales and traffic despite the fact that we have a huge mailing list and have worked hard to understand marketing on the internet. In 2009 we found ourselves in freefall both in our ability to keep our commitment to all the projects that we are spinning and also from a sales point of view it would be fair to say that we had better years in the days of selling diy cassettes in the early 80's. Some of this is due to the world economy being what it is at the present time but there is a bigger story which is related to the music business in general and how people choose music they listen to.
We have asked many questions about all aspects of what we do and have come to the following decisions. Barry Lamb and Peter Ashby are from this point forward going to make their main focus their own music and projects that they are involved in. What this in effect means is that the Falling A label will cease to exist and the catalogue will gradually be phased out as we run out of stock. It is with some sadness that we make this decision as Falling A has been our label since the days of the diy cassette in the late 70's.
We will be keeping the Six Armed Man label which seems to be more palatable as a brand and has a more relevant identity. Some of the Falling A catalogue will eventually find it's way onto the Six Armed Man label. Six Armed Man will seperate from the Dynamite Vision network and shortly will have a website in it's own right. This will eventually become the main hub of our operations. For the time being the Dynamite Vision store will remain online and we will continue to help our artists get into Amazon, iTunes, Napster and other key places but we are scaling down this side of the operation considerably as we only have the ability to work with a few people. We are monitoring this situation closely to see if this is a good use of our time and energy. To be honest the end result is likely to be that once Six Armed Man is fully operational in it's own right then we will begin to wind down the operations of Dynamite Vision and with it our distribution network.
Anyone who has worked with us will know that this has never been about money for us but much more about passion. No one draws a salary from Dynamite Vision and we have no staff only volunteers. Every penny we make goes back to the musicians eventually. The downturn in traffic and sales has brought our attention to the question of what do we really want to achieve and are we spending our time in the right way to enable that. The answer to that question is that we have found ourselves spread too thin and that we must streamline what we are doing.
There will still be some new releases coming through Dynamite Vision for the time being and anyone who has given us stock on consignment we are committed to selling that either here or through our other sales channels, so don't worry about that. This is a time and energy thing and we trust you all understand that.
We will publish a revised release schedule within the next week.
Madmen & Dreamers rock opera "Rememberance" is being broadcast in it's entirety on Dynamic Independent Radio 100.1 WDYN and WDYN.net
New Years Eve 7:00 PM
New Years Day 11:00 AM
January 9th 4:00 AM (for the people on the other side of the planet)
Click here for more details: http://www.wdyn.us/
13 December 2009
Rumours abound of Wavis O'Shave gatecrashing the Viz Comic 30th anniversary ball. More info here.
9 December 2009
Peter Ashby's album "Hagiography" is now available from CD Baby and all major download stores
8 December 2009
Madmen & Dreamers double CD set of their rock opera "Remembrance" is now available. This is more than great progressive rock ...it is a story that needs to be told.
Apologies for our release schedule being messed up once more. There's all kinds of inner turmoil going on here. It has been a tough year for us with many divided interests. The Dynamite Vision AGM is next week so we will hopefully bring you some good news as we consider our future.
26 November 2009
Here's an early Christmas greeting from the archives ... courtesy of Wavis O'Shave's alter ego Foffo Spearjig and here are some pictures from his recent very rare live performance
Psychedelic music, psych, krautrock, spacerock, progressive rock, prog rock, jazz rock, avant-garde music, avant rock, punk, new wave, alternative music, heavy rock, indie, art rock, King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator, The Fall, Egg, Gong, Steve Hillage, Hawkwind, Joy Division, Killing Joke, Eyeless in gaza, The Doors, Henry Cow, Public Image Ltd., PiL, underground music, Library music,
10cc, 13th Floor Elevators, 23 Skidoo, 4ad Record label, Abstract Truth, A Certain Ratio, Sarah Aderholdt, The Adverts, Steve Ainsworth, Albinoni, Amm, Amon Duul, Laurie Anderson, A Primary Industry, Arrested Development, Attrition, Kevin Ayers, Aztec Camera, Angelo Badalamenti, Bauhaus, BBC Radiophonic workshop, The Beatles, Beaver & Krause, Be Bop Deluxe, Jeff Beck Group (especially "Rough & Ready"), The Birthday Party, Blah Blah Blah, Bleach Boys , Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bonzo Dog Band, Bootleg history & culture, David Bowie, The Boys, Tim Buckley, Carter Burwell, Kate Bush, Buzzcocks, John Cage, Can, Captain Beefheart, Captain Lockheed & the Starfighters, Caravan, Johnny Cash, Cassette Culture, Nick Cave, Census of Hallucinations, Charisma Record label, Chicago Transit Authority, John Cooper Clarke, The Clash, Cleaners from Venus (especially the diy tape years), John Coltrane, Comus, Countless obscure library albums from the 60's & 70's, Cressida, The Cure (first three or four albums plus a few later trax), Current 93, DAF, Roger Daltrey (Had to give him a separate entry because of the version of "I'm Free" backed by the London Symphony Orchestra), The Damned (Up to and including "The Black Album"), Miles Davis, The Dead Students, Sandy Denny, Delia Derbyshire, Devo, Djam Karet, The Doors, Durutti Column, Ian Dury & the blockheads, Bob Dylan (Cherry pick about 30 songs), Earthquake, Echo & the Bunnymen, Eden's Children, Egg, Einstuerzende Neubauten, Electric Light Orchestra, The Electronic Sylvia Plath, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Brian Eno, Everything but the girl, Eyeless in Gaza, The Faces, Factory Records, John Fahey, Fairport Convention, The Fall, Family, Fanzines '79 - '85 too many to mention, they were lifeblood at the time for the struggling underground musician., Faust, The Flock, Focus, Peter Frampton (Frampton Comes Alive - How uncool is that!), Free, Gang of Four, Genesis (especially pre-Lamb lies down on broadway), Gentle Giant, Philip Glass, Gnidrolog, Goblin, Godley & Creme, Gong, Gracious, Peter Hammill, Herbie Hancock, Francoise Hardy, Steve Harley ("Sebastian"), Roy Harper, Don "Sugar Cane" Harris, Harvest Record label, Hatfield & The North, Hawkwind, Isaac Hayes, Bobby Hebb ("Sunny"), Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pierre Henry, Henry Cow, The Hiding Place, Steve Hillage, Allan Holdsworth, Freddie Hubbard, Human Condition, Human League (Pre- "Dare"), Husker Du, If, I'm Dead, Imogene, Indian Summer, Island Record label, Isley Brothers, Chad Jackson ("Hear the drummer get wicked"), The Jam (selected mostly early singles), Bert Jansch, Jar, Jellyfish, Jethro Tull, Robert Johnson, Johnny 7 Combo, Jon & Vangelis (especially "I hear you now"), Quincy Jones, Joy Division, Juicy Lucy (well, just for the stirring version of "Who do you love?"), Paul Kelday, Killing Joke, King Crimson, Kraan, Kraftwerk, Krokodil, Led Zeppelin, Legendary Pink Dots, Keith Levene, Libra, Liliput, Long Hello, Lori & the Chameleons, Loving Awareness, Magazine, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Major Lance, John Martyn, Jasun Martz, Matching Mole, Curtis Mayfield, Mellotron, Moog and vintage synths, Mellow Candle, Minutemen, The Modern Art, Ennio Morricone, May Blitz, Moby Grape, Modern English, Modern Man, Thelonius Monk, Monochrome Set (especially the early singles), Muslimgauze, Nanook of the North, National Health, Bill Nelson, Neu, New 7th Music, Martin Newell, Naz Nomad & the Nightmares, Non, Michael Nyman, Occult Chemistry, The Old man and the sea, Beth Orton, Os Mutantes, John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett, Charlie Parker, Parrot Records (Balkerne Passage, Colchester RIP), Harry Partch, The Pastels, Patto, John Peel (From 1979 - 1987), Pierre Peret, Pink Floyd , PFM, The Pop Group, Sylvia Powell, The Prisoners, Public Image Ltd., Pure Hell (Riotous cover of "These boots were made for walking"), Purrkur Pillnikk, Queen (well, actually "Sheer heart attack" plus a couple of tracks), Queens of the Stone Age, Rabbits Hat, Radiators from Space, Radio Caroline (1975 - 78), Rain Tree Crow, The Ramones (First four albums plus "It's Alive"), Raw Material, Red Crayola, Otis Redding, Red Noise, Renaissance, The Residents, Boyd Rice, Rolling Stones (About 30 awesome trax...the rest ar e pretty mediocre really :-), Sonny Rollins, Rough Trade record label, Rush (selected tracks), Sade (silky smooth voice), Ryuichi Sakamoto, Erik Satie, SBB, Scars, Scientist, Scritti Politti (Early singles plus "The word girl"), Sex Pistols, Adrian Sherwood, Shub-Niggurath, Sibelius (Finlandia), Slapp Happy, The Slits, Soft Machine, The Sonics, Spooky Tooth (First album plus Ceremony with Pierre Henry)Steel Pulse, Stiff Records (visonary record label), Still Life, The Stranglers (First three albums plus an odd later track), Style Council (a few perfect pop moments), Suicide, Donna Summer (From Love to love you baby to Macarthur Park), Supercharge, Swell Maps, Tangerine Dream, T-Connection (Do anything you wanna do - crucial 12"), Teardrop Explodes (Kilimanjaro), Television, The Temperance Bus Boogie band, Thin Lizzy, Third Ear Band, This Mortal Coil, Timmy Thomas ("Why can't we live together"), Richard & Linda Thompson (I want to see the bright lights tonight), Throbbing Gristle, Tonight (one hit wonder "Drummer man"), Tonto's Expanding Headband, Mel Torme (Comin' home baby / Right Now ...what a perfect single), Robin Trower, The Tubes, Tubeway Army, Ugly Custard, James "Blood" Ulmer, Upp, Van der Graaf Generator, Vangelis, Van Halen (First three or four albums, ha ha I'm gonna get hammered for citing this), Velvet Warrior, Vertigo Record label, Virgin Prunes, waiting for Bardot, War (Me & baby brother), Warm Dust, Wayland, Web, We Be Echo, White Noise, White Speed, White Stripes, The Who (Meaty beaty big and bouncy is definitive), Wire, Jimmy Webb, Jah Wobble, Stevie Wonder (Music of my mind, Talking Book & Innervisions), Robert Wyatt, X-Ray Spex, XTC (Early singles and first couple of albums), Neil Young, Young Marble Giants, Frank Zappa
FILM
Ghost Dance, La Cabina, Amelie, Billy Liar, Brighton Rock, Any Marx Brothers film, Pulp Fiction, Monty Python & the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, One from the heart, Psychomania, Snatch, Lock, stock & two smoking barrels, The old man and the sea, Most David Lynch stuff, Zabriskie Point, Walkabout, The first men on the moon, Walk the line, The Time Machine (original)
