Compost Records
Encyclopedia
Compost Records is a German record label
established by Michael Reinboth in 1994
.
Gilles Peterson
called Compost "the most consistent and forward thinking record label of continental Europe."
Their compilation series "Future Sounds of Jazz" (Vol. 1-11), compiled by label boss Michael Reinboth, and "Gluecklich", have been praised in magazines like “Mix Mag", “Groove”, “The Face” and “Jockey Slut”.
As Rainer Trueby said: “Jazz stands in as the godfather, electronic music as the mother and we are the children.”
The German music magazine Groove simply combines everything under the name of "Phusion". But that’s maybe only half of the ingredients or story. You can be sure we will do our best to supply the scene – as we did in the past - with new innovative flavours and the variety style in the future.
One of the unspoken secrets behind Compost’s longevity, vital refreshment and underground success throughout the years of a virulent difficult business and is the rare fact that – and if you take a look into the huge catalogue which improve such - Compost always signed and developed a huge bunch of newcomers, unknown talents, or fresh blood, and a lot of those mates are still on the label. As a little contradiction to other labels with such a longevity and numeric artist roster, those labels often signing bigger names and exploiting artists with a sales history of previous albums on other labels. Well Compost never followed this A&R philosophy (which is in fact not a philosophy, more a commercial consideration) anyway Compost never really signed such big names from the offered plates, although A&R Michael Reinboth often had the chance and facility to sign famous names. Big names may sell, but that’s never a guarantee nor a challenge. As well as lot of big names of the Nineties or lately six years were fallen apart, getting boring or never had the open minded view.
Michael Reinboth: “If you’re in for the money, you better leave this business.”
Compost is also described by cult-author Greil Marcus in Lipstick Traces: „After Dada, all art sat in a compost pile, its mystifications sucked into the methane. There could be no real communication; all words had come loose from their meanings and floated free of their owners. Still, a compost pile was good for something: fertilizer. Along with the preordained stages of amplification and decomposition there was another possibility: that of „ciselant“ (chiseling away). This was active, conscious decomposition, and it was the only means to active creation“
None of the average descriptions of styles or genres are really fitting to Compost’s music. Compost’s music is unpredictable, full spectrum, variety.
The first release “Fresh In My Mind” by A Forest Mighty Black went straight to a small underground-hit, sold nowadays more than 6.000 12 inches and founding its channels to the playlists of DJs like James Lavelle (who later founded MoWax), Gilles Peterson or Kyoto Jazz Massive. The follow-up releases by Beanfield, Fauna Flash or Trueby Trio substantiate the fresh vibe and success. In the beginning the international acclaim was bit excelsior and deeper than in Germany. But after a while the bashfully Germans – who rarely hyping their own artists, actors and cultural scenes, were convinced by the massive good output and the international popularity of Compost Records.
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
established by Michael Reinboth in 1994
1994 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1994.-January–February:*January 25 – Alice in Chains release their Jar of Flies album which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP to do so....
.
Gilles Peterson
Gilles Peterson
Gilles Peterson , is a DJ, record collector and record label owner from London, UK. Through his labels Acid Jazz, Talkin' Loud, and latterly Brownswood Recordings, he has been associated with the careers of well-known artists of the 1990s such as Erykah Badu, Roni Size and Jamiroquai...
called Compost "the most consistent and forward thinking record label of continental Europe."
The label
Compost Records has evolved from a one-man bedroom label into a very productive and creative business located in a Loft-style office in East-Munich. Today Compost Records has about 30 exclusive artists and 60 non-exclusive projects, with 350 releases (100 CD titles, 250 vinyl); as well as over 100 releases on several subsidiary labels: Drumpoet Community, Angora Steel, Compost Black Label, Jazzanova Compost Records (JCR), and Compute. All label trademarks are part of Compost Medien GmbH & Co KG. Compost is also known for their special merchandising items like the DJ bags, DJ trolly, and other gimmicks.Their compilation series "Future Sounds of Jazz" (Vol. 1-11), compiled by label boss Michael Reinboth, and "Gluecklich", have been praised in magazines like “Mix Mag", “Groove”, “The Face” and “Jockey Slut”.
The music
In the past 15 years the diversity and distinction of Compost's label output and philosophy has been receiving growing popularity. Especially globally, Compost and several of its acts and DJs succeeded in ascending the premier league and being amongst one of the "big names". Younger labels partially emulated the philosophy and a growing number of club nights started promoting this sort of sound (e.g. the DJ Rainer Trueby, one of the biggest supporters of this sound, is one of the most frequent booked DJs from Germany playing at many different clubs worldwide). Due to the increase in high quality releases of talented musicians and producers in this field and DJs supporting their music, they all, as well as Compost Records and assorted labels helped developing and developed themselves into an own sub-cultural scene. One symptom of this scene since the very beginning was that the sound is hard to define and describe, as there are no particular one-style, strict no boundaries: The main trademark which describes the sound and scene best, is the fact that the supporters and producers all praise the true eclecticism, which means: Diverse musical influences and mixing all sorts of musical styles together, preferably Disco, Jazz, Brazil, Hip Hop, Electro, Techno, Detroit, House, Soul, Broken Beat.As Rainer Trueby said: “Jazz stands in as the godfather, electronic music as the mother and we are the children.”
The German music magazine Groove simply combines everything under the name of "Phusion". But that’s maybe only half of the ingredients or story. You can be sure we will do our best to supply the scene – as we did in the past - with new innovative flavours and the variety style in the future.
One of the unspoken secrets behind Compost’s longevity, vital refreshment and underground success throughout the years of a virulent difficult business and is the rare fact that – and if you take a look into the huge catalogue which improve such - Compost always signed and developed a huge bunch of newcomers, unknown talents, or fresh blood, and a lot of those mates are still on the label. As a little contradiction to other labels with such a longevity and numeric artist roster, those labels often signing bigger names and exploiting artists with a sales history of previous albums on other labels. Well Compost never followed this A&R philosophy (which is in fact not a philosophy, more a commercial consideration) anyway Compost never really signed such big names from the offered plates, although A&R Michael Reinboth often had the chance and facility to sign famous names. Big names may sell, but that’s never a guarantee nor a challenge. As well as lot of big names of the Nineties or lately six years were fallen apart, getting boring or never had the open minded view.
Michael Reinboth: “If you’re in for the money, you better leave this business.”
Compost is also described by cult-author Greil Marcus in Lipstick Traces: „After Dada, all art sat in a compost pile, its mystifications sucked into the methane. There could be no real communication; all words had come loose from their meanings and floated free of their owners. Still, a compost pile was good for something: fertilizer. Along with the preordained stages of amplification and decomposition there was another possibility: that of „ciselant“ (chiseling away). This was active, conscious decomposition, and it was the only means to active creation“
None of the average descriptions of styles or genres are really fitting to Compost’s music. Compost’s music is unpredictable, full spectrum, variety.
History
Compost Records was founded in October 1994 by Michael Reinboth, DJ since 1980, composer, music journalist, club- and party organizer and promoter, producer, scout, publisher of a magazine called “Elaste” in the early 80ties, a football fan and a dedicated record collector (more than 70.000 vinyl). (see more facts about Michael Reinboth in his bio)The first release “Fresh In My Mind” by A Forest Mighty Black went straight to a small underground-hit, sold nowadays more than 6.000 12 inches and founding its channels to the playlists of DJs like James Lavelle (who later founded MoWax), Gilles Peterson or Kyoto Jazz Massive. The follow-up releases by Beanfield, Fauna Flash or Trueby Trio substantiate the fresh vibe and success. In the beginning the international acclaim was bit excelsior and deeper than in Germany. But after a while the bashfully Germans – who rarely hyping their own artists, actors and cultural scenes, were convinced by the massive good output and the international popularity of Compost Records.