Blog : Foxy Digitalis Label Spotlight

foxy digitalis label spotlight

Half/theory features in foxy digitalis' label spotlight column for April. The following transcript is from
http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/label_spotlight.php?id=33

Who started the label and why?
Scott Sinclair (moi) initially started halftheory.com as a collective webspace for noise artists in Brisbane (Australia's poor cousin of Sydney/Melbourne). A lot of my friends had websites documenting some great DIY projects hosted on commercial free webhosts, which as a web developer I have a kind of irrational religious contempt for, so I brought these websites together under one roof as a first step towards representing Brisbane noise. Previously Andrew Kettle had a great label with lots of Bris-noise (http://listen.to/kettle) but he stopped and there is too much beautiful work being made in Brisbane for it not to be documented. So I spent my expendable income on setting up the half/theory label and printing/burning the releases. The emphasis will always be small-run burns of 100 or less where the artists can have complete control over their work. I like to think that half/theory releases are the culmination of very well developed ideas or perhaps the outer reaches of singular concepts from each artist. Half theory, not half arsed.


What's the story behind the name?
It just kinda stuck.


What keeps you inspired to continue doing the label?
It's fun. There are millions of inspiring DIY projects happening in Australia. Personally, I'm more attracted to electronics, drones, and immersive sound/video work, which is a little harder to see live or find on the map as something like say 'improvisation'. Sometimes I get annoyed that I'm unable to release all the artists I love. I guess that's a good problem to have.


What's the hardest thing about running an independent label these days?
Apart from money? half/theory also releases DVDs, so learning new technology in new areas can sometimes be a lengthy process of trial and error.


If you could work with any one artist, who would it be and why?
I don't tend to prefer improvisers with my tabletop guitar playing. As long as it's fresh to your ears, anyone can surprise you. I am also starting to produce speed/grind/karaoke/core as Company Fuck, so if I could luxuriate in a Beverly Hills studio while the Neptunes and Passenger of Shit made all my music sound better, that would be it. Oh shit. That's two artists isn't it?


What's your demo policy?
People do demos? Why don't they start a label? DIY forever!


What do you have planned for the future?
We are going to expand the website to include a lot more contributions from active supporters of Bris-noise like Lloyd Barrett, Joel Stern, Jamie Hume, and Joe Musgrove. Decentralising. This should give a better idea of what is going on with gigs, radio, and releases in Brisbane. Also the online shop will expand to include releases by Australian cousin labels like Antboy, Naturestrip, and Breakdance The Dawn, as well as academic and archival texts relating to any area of esoteric research. Personally, I'm off to Europe, which makes all this Brisbane cheerleading sound quite hypocritical.


What's the best record you've heard in the past year?
No bests, but here's some things that have floated my boat in the last year.

gigantic brain – the invasion discography
tim coster – landing
rod cooper – friction
dangerdoom – the mouse and the mask
black boned angel – supereclipse
kanye west – college dropout
prosthetic cunt - fuckin' your daughter with a frozen vomit fuck stick
candie hank – full disco perversion blow
xanopticon – liminal space
corrupted - el mundo frio
birdflesh - carnage on the fields of rice
hetleveiker – tent
botborg - principles of photosonicneurokinaesthography (dvd)
frankie lymon & the teenagers – best of
cassetteboy - dead horse


Any closing advice?
Fuck you and your celebrity complex. Karaoke is for the children!

Shout outs to Biffplex, Lloyd Barrett, Hetleveiker, Aaron Hull, Peter Newman, Robin Fox, Tim Coster, Joel Stern, and The Perfect Lovers.

Added by company fuck on 3 April 2006