Incredibly, the five year anniversary of Invisible, Inc. is upon us. Five whole years of bringing you music from the outer reaches and the fringes of obscurity, to the inner workings of your psyche
It seems strange to celebrate this landmark in arguably even stranger times, but perhaps this sort of music is precisely what we need right now. A balm against the stress.
Let's rewind five years to the very beginning. Invisible Inc was started with the aim of releasing music to a wider audience that deserved wider attention. Amongst the new music there was also vast amounts of music previously only available digitally that seemed to vanish as quickly as it appeared...or music that came out on self-released CDrs or cassettes in incredibly small runs; music that deserved being brought out on vinyl to actual record stores worldwide and thus helping those artists widen their fanbase. Thus, connections were made that wouldn't have been made otherwise. It's undeniable that now more than ever, a physical release stands out from the billions of digital-only releases that we can all so easily drown in.
In the five years of its existence the label has certainly grown. I would never have thought that I would release music by such luminaries as Tonto's Expanding Head Band, Laraaji and K. Leimer - all 'veteran' artists with a legacy that I have been in awe of for years.
But as much as there are a few 'established' names appearing on the catalogue now, the ethos of unearthing unheard-of musical gems and getting them out there remains.
V is for Vision is no different. 'Kailash' by Sigward & Oliver Sudden, for instance. Originally relased digitally-only in 2018, it's a stunning piece of dark, downtempo electro with a distinct nod to minimal wave and synth goth that I very proudly present here on vinyl for the first time.
Don’t let that fool you that the label could ever be described as a 'reissue' label. The aim was always to find music that had gone so far under the radar that it would be widely considered as sounding as fresh as the day it was made. And in that respect much of the compilation features artists that are extremely ‘fresh’ at the moment...and this is deliberate. I specifically approached artists who had released some of my favourite music of 2019: Anatolian Weapons, Youkounkoun, Puma & The Dolphin, Golden Bug & In Fields and TCB. These five artists released some seriously amazing music in 2019 that you should hunt down at all costs.
Add to this artists already released on Invisible Inc: Secret Circuit, Sordid Sound System and Double Discone (the former two on board since the very beginning, the latter appearing for the first time just earlier this year) and we have a selection of artists both old and new that I feel widen the span of the five years of the label as much as possible.
Whether any of the background info and the label's ethos makes any difference whatsoever is of course debatable ....the long and short of it is the music is absolutely wonderful and that's what matters. So I'm honoured to be able to share it with you.
GK Machine (March 2020)