[Interview] Sushitech / Pariter Label Feature

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[Interview] Sushitech / Pariter Label Feature

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Label Feature: Sushitech & Pariter Records

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Sushitech Records & its siblings Sushitech Purple & Pariter are home to some of the most salubrious house & techno records at present. This has been achieved with a unique balance of bright new artists such as David Labeij, Koljah & Leonel Castillo on the one hand; with scene legends like Russ Gabriel & Steve O’Sullivan releasing classic records on the other.

Daniel Filipovic chats to label founders & owners Yossi Amoyal & Matt du Jardin on the Sushi flavours, its recent past, present & future.

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Sushitech has established itself as one of the more forward-thinking, conceptually based labels in the last couple of years. What motivated the early beginnings & what motivates you now with the label?


The basis of the label(s) was always to release music we were and are passionate about, it was also to release good artwork and try to promote the artists we are working with and try and create a family feel. That's the very foundations of it all and the way we work.
When we first started, no one knew us so we spent a lot of time trying to find producers who we liked and who might fit in to the general concept of the label. We did things the opposite of most labels, we never asked for demos as such, it was more a case of hey we like this producer, talk to them for a bit and see if they wanted to work with us and try and create something special. We always try to treat the individual as an artist and respect where they want to go musically. Essentially, it's try to share the vision of the artist within the same concept of the label.

Sam Valenti of Ghostly Records recently said the role of a record label is to provide consistency of vision and voice & building an affinity and a trust with fans. Would you agree with this?

We wouldn’t disagree with it that, that’s for sure. Every label has to have a mission statement like this, it’s all about getting the ground work laid down from the start, setting goals for the label, deciding where things are going musically and trying to build a kind of community with the fans that follow the label.
Some labels out there keep to a very specific sound and the people who buy their records are used to hearing this kind of sound and know what to expect, this is what some people like and this is one example of building trust with fans and it works really well. On the flip side, some people have a more open stance on the sound they like to hear, they like a wider range of styles and are more receptive to this, people who trust at the base, the label to release good quality music and a production that is very well put together. This is what we are trying to reach with our label. For us, it’s not about being pigeon holed in to one sound and way one way of releasing, we are more about an open expression of good quality music. Our vision is in line with our sound and that is anything that sound organic, deep and rhythmic in terms of the way it’s produced and delivered. It can be anything from house to techno we are not stuck on one style.

Tell us a bit more about the Sushitech family & its siblings Pariter & Sushitech Purple.

Basically, the best way to describe it (without going over the top) is it's like one big family (did we mention happy). We are releasing the main material on Sushitech and Sushitech Purple. On Sushitech we release more of a straight laced sound, more serious perhaps? Sushitech Purple is more like "smiling" (ah ha, there's the happy) and the lighter stuff. Each label has got its own specific artists who build its character and gives it the spirit. You'll find artist release music on both labels, for example Chrom, Leonel Castillo and Gregorythme. This gives the artist the chance to be creative in a different way and also creates some interesting collaborations and to share new ideas. This is really how Pariter started, it was another way to give existing artists (and some new) the chance to push a different sound, in this case a more aggressive and techno-ish sound that basically wouldn't fit Sushitech.

You have just released the Ferox classics EP by Russ Gabriel on Pariter & Mosiac classic EPs by Steve O'Sullivan on Sushitech. What’s the thinking behind these releases, considering they were originally a part of the Mosiac / Ferox back catalogues?

To start with, we have the up most respect for these producers and artists. They are some of our biggest influences from a long time ago. It took us a long time to find them, well over a year of none stop searching for an email or phone number. When we did get in contact, we were very excited to be able to release some of their music. It was really out of a mark of respect and trying to get them recognized for what they have done for music. It was also a nice way to let people know that they are back and releasing music with a UK label (since both Ferox and Mosaic were UK labels) such as ours, it was kind of like bringing them back from the past. Going forward, Russ has already released new material on Pariter and Steve is about to release some new tracks on Sushitech. It's great for all the old fans, and it's great to be able to share the music with people who are not familiar with these artists.

The artwork on Sushitech releases has been original & unique, in fact a certain type of identity branding which I would rate similar to that of Perlon. Colorful characters have been painted, printed & branded on cardboard, fabric, paper - can you explain a little more about the artist, the artwork & how long into the future this type of theme will continue?

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All our art works are produced by Christian Meinke. Chris knows the sound of the labels and he transfers his perception of these sounds in to these artworks. We have a general idea of how we want each bit of artwork to look but to begin with Chris always works some ideas down and we then refine it down to the finished piece of artwork. We will continue to release in this way for as long as possible! Each label has its own style of artwork, it did take us a while to find the right person who would take our vision and deliver it in an art work. But we are now very happy with the result and the way things are going.

It's important for us to bring the people who are buying our releases a real piece of artwork. We think that the sleeves give lots of personality to the record, even if the music is the most important part.

Sushitech is now exclusively published & distributed by Neuton, Germany. How did this come about?

When you first start a label it's fairly hard to get picked up by a distributor as no body knows you. In our case we knew some friends who were already being distributed by Venus distribution so we started working with them, unfortunately they went bankrupt just our first release was coming out! Luckily we were able to find another distributor and we worked with them for a about a year or so. Soon though, we found our music was not getting to the right places and as we slowly built ourselves up we shopped around for a better distributor. Just as we were looking Neuton approached us and as we wanted to work with them anyway it took us about 20 second to decide that this is what we wanted. Now are music is delivered to all the places we want and we are happy with the way things are going.

Artists that have released on Sushitech have included Koljah, Leonel Castillo & Mikael Stavostrand. On Pariter Russ Gabriel, Alejandro Lopez & Xpansul have been the mainstays. Are you looking to consolidate your artist roster or look to add more talent in the future? Are there any particular artists you would like to work with?

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We have the main artists on the labels that we try and push forward with our best efforts; this helps them to develop and pushes things forward. Other then these artists, we are also collaborating with some remixers, this helps to bring something different to label and adds a bit of colour to things. We are treating each record as a project of its own and sometimes with the addition of a remixer this brings something different to the label, pushing the record the target point. Some labels start out with a few friends who are producing; they have no way to release their music so they start a label. In our case, we just wanted to have a way to transfer our vision.
It might be that sometimes we are working on a project and we will decide to include a remixer or, we will invite an artist from outside of the label to work with us, just to keep things interesting.

We have a compilation coming up soon, this will feature all the label artists each releasing one single track, it should bring all the main artists who we've worked with closer together. At the beginning people may not have understood where we were going with things. After 10 releases, people should have a clearer picture of exactly where things are going. As for the roster, we are not looking to sign anyone new just at the moment, we want to put all our efforts in to the artists we are working with and help them release new material. We do have 1 or 2 artist who we've been talking to for a while but have not yet released anything. So although they are new from a release point we've had them lined up for a while.

Who are those two artists?

Makam from the Netherlands, who is an amazing new talent and Radiq from Japan who has released before on labels such as Logistic.

With Sushitech & Pariter expanding, have you considered doing label nights in Berlin, or indeed some dates around Europe in support of your artists & your sound?

We have just launched our new booking agency for Sushitech, this allows us to take booking requests for label nights and dj gigs. Our artists are touring all over Europe, some of them are also visiting the US and Japan. In Berlin we have already put on some label nights and we are just about to work with Watergate. We've also put some parties on in London and places further a field such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. We think that as our music catalogue grows people should start to understand our sound a bit better and with that the demand for label parties should start to grow!

You release digital versions of each Sushitech & Pariter offering on the back of the vinyl release. In today’s market environment, I would be curious to know: Overall, are your sales greater with the digital medium or through vinyl releases?

In general we reach more people with the physical releases but in today’s market and with the ever increasing vinyl costs we need one to service the other.

It’s great for us when people feel our music when they hear it, weather it's a digital file or vinyl it doesn’t matter but we do have a lot of respect to those who buy our records as a real peace of art and who will have that connection with the whole vinyl ethos just like us!

There have been and will be some more limited edition releases that we put out only on vinyl. We've done this to grab peoples attention and hopefully bring them back to the record stores, after all, if there's a release which can only be got at via a store chances are you'll make that extra effort and go along to pick it up. it's all about supporting vinyl as best we can.

When will we see a Sushitech mix CD in stores? Are there any plans to release one?

We don’t have any plans for one at the moment. We do get a lot of positive feedback from people who are enjoying our music though, people who have heard our music at label parties etc and want to take home that sound with them, it will come eventually but for now we are concentrating on vinyl and putting out this format for DJ’s to play. We are actively updating our website with new sets from our artists, this are free for download so you can listen to our sound this way.

Finally, as label owners one of you is based in Berlin, the other soon to relocate to London from Jersey. Do you find it hard running a label when you are physically apart & are there any plans to come together to drive Sushitech & Pariter into the future?

It’s not hard at all. We’ve always worked this way so it’s all we know. We meet up a few times a year when we need to but with the wonders of the internet we can chat via IM, email, and video calls. We also use the same means of communication to keep in contact with all our artists. We’re not out of touch with the human side of things though, in the future we’d love to move in to an office somewhere and work both side by side. As it stands today though we are making the most of the tools we have available to us.


5 Sushitech & Pariter releases to check out:

1. Ralph Sliwinski - Pox Box

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Ralph Sliwinski with his first record on Sushitech shows us his deeper side with a fantastic house track. It’s also holding a Johnny D remix which is real dancefloor monster.

2. Steve O’Sullivan – Mosaic Classics Part.1

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This is the first disc of 2 from the Mosaic classics project.
3 Housey tracks of Steve O’Sullivan from the years 1998-2002 - still sounding fresh and rocking.

3. Anonym – Huis Muziek

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The new talent of Sushitech from Detroit with a great EP that fusing House and Techno grooves. Very interesting and unique sound! Check it.

4. Russ Gabriel – Konacno

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Russ Gabriel: The master of UK minimal techno with his first EP after 5 years of silence in the techno scene. 2 longer atmospheric tracks with Detroit flavor. He never lost the edge.

5. Lauhaus & Labeij – Sababa EP

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Lauhaus & Labeij: Well known to most of us from their Polder project with great funky and techy tracks. Club-ish and summer-ish. The last news from Sushitech.



Related Links:
http://www.sushitech.com/
http://www.myspace.com/sushitech
http://www.prtr.co.uk
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Interview conducted exclusively for mnml.nl by Daniel Filipovic
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menos160
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Post by menos160 »

the Gregorythme release is superb! I love this label, always coming with good stuff.
Thanks for this new kind of label interviews.
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Post by thomasjaldemark »

nice! i thought sushitech were dutch for some reason.. hmm :)
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Post by stefspijk »

the makam release is going to be amazing!
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Post by dsat »

quality comes first, and these guys know what they're talking about!
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Post by ::BLM:: »

Quality guys. Just been looking at the artwork, which I havent paid attention too before - its well good, very nice...
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Post by Alex Biron »

Interesting piece. The Gregorythyme release has been my favourite so far (although I'll be sure to go back and listen to the ones I missed). You guys seem to have a good outlook on life and music. I love how you work with Japanese artists and the "tour of Japan and the US" sounds awesome. Maybe you can add Vancouver BC, Canada to that tour?? I'd be sure to bring out lots of people :) Either way, keep the juicy releases coming!
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Post by IanBolles »

I think the Gregorythyme was the best release. Good stuff.
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