Hefty Records
Encyclopedia
Hefty Records is an independent record label
based in Chicago
, Illinois
(USA). Founded in 1995
by John Hughes III (aka Slicker), the label releases a range in genres that include post-rock
, IDM
, down-tempo, nu jazz
, experimental music
, and hip-hop
.
, originally set up in his dorm room, in 1995. The first releases were two 7" singles and one EP created using basic analog technologies. After some minor promotion, Ding was put on college radio. This led to The Euphone record that Ryan Rapsys had collaborated. Soon afterwards a demo was given to Hughes from Scott Herren. Hughes accepted Scott Herren's request and he was added to the label as an artist under the name Savath and Savalas. Hefty next began the Immediate Action series in 2000, a collection intended to result consist of six vinyl records. The first record out was the Savath and Savalas 12-inch Immediate Action #001 with all the records hand pressed by Hughes. The sleeves were created by the Brooklyn graphics company Graphic Havoc. They used a stencil and spray painting technique to create each album; with different stickers to tell them apart. This series was met with success, and fulfilled the concept of getting the music out quick, in limited quantities, and with little promotion. As Hefty Records continued, so did the amounts of demo by independent artists hoping to be accepted to the group. Telefon Tel Aviv was the next group to show up on the recording company's records. Hefty Records is still putting out new material to this day.
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
based in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
(USA). Founded in 1995
1995 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1995.- January–February :*January 18 – Jerry Garcia crashes his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California, USA, but is not injured in the accident....
by John Hughes III (aka Slicker), the label releases a range in genres that include post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
, IDM
Intelligent dance music
Intelligent dance music is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno...
, down-tempo, nu jazz
Nu jazz
Nu jazz is an umbrella term coined in the late 1990s to refer to music that blends jazz elements with other musical styles, such as funk, soul, electronic dance music, and free improvisation...
, experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
, and hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
.
History
Hefty Records was formed by John Hughes (as well as Bill Ding and Dan Snazelle) as a way of releasing Hughes' own music. The label was formed while Hughes was still on campus at the Ohio UniversityOhio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
, originally set up in his dorm room, in 1995. The first releases were two 7" singles and one EP created using basic analog technologies. After some minor promotion, Ding was put on college radio. This led to The Euphone record that Ryan Rapsys had collaborated. Soon afterwards a demo was given to Hughes from Scott Herren. Hughes accepted Scott Herren's request and he was added to the label as an artist under the name Savath and Savalas. Hefty next began the Immediate Action series in 2000, a collection intended to result consist of six vinyl records. The first record out was the Savath and Savalas 12-inch Immediate Action #001 with all the records hand pressed by Hughes. The sleeves were created by the Brooklyn graphics company Graphic Havoc. They used a stencil and spray painting technique to create each album; with different stickers to tell them apart. This series was met with success, and fulfilled the concept of getting the music out quick, in limited quantities, and with little promotion. As Hefty Records continued, so did the amounts of demo by independent artists hoping to be accepted to the group. Telefon Tel Aviv was the next group to show up on the recording company's records. Hefty Records is still putting out new material to this day.
Artists
- Euphone
- Eliot LippEliot LippEliot Lipp is a Los Angeles based electronic music artist. He made a name for himself in the genre of electro when his work was picked up by Scott Herren of Prefuse 73 . Through Herren, Lipp was able to release his premiere album, S/T, on the Eastern Developments label in November 2004.- Music...
- Victor Bermon
- Ghosts & Vodka
- L'AltraL'AltraL'Altra is an indie rock/electronic/chamber pop band from Chicago, Illinois.-Bio:L'Altra is a indie rock/electronic band consisting of principle songwriters Joseph Desler Costa and Lindsay Anderson joined by drummer Charles Rumback and guitarist Alessandro Baris...
- Phil RanelinPhil RanelinPhil Ranelin is an American jazz and experimental music trombonist.Ranelin was born in Indianapolis, and lived in New York before moving to Detroit in the 1960s...
- Savath and Savalas
- Samadha Trio
- John Hughes/Slicker
- Telefon Tel AvivTelefon Tel AvivTelefon Tel Aviv is a Chicago, Illinois-based American electronic music act. Formerly comprising Charles Cooper and Joshua Eustis, Telefon Tel Aviv continues with Eustis as the sole official member since Cooper's death in 2009.-History:...
- Smaze
- Plus Device
- Retina.IT
- Radicalfashion
- Samadha
- Solo Andata
- Some Water and Sun
- SpanovaSpanovaSPANOVA is a Japanese music duo formed by Ken and Shin Tasaki. The brothers started composing and playing instruments together from the very early age, absorbing every kinds of music they were exposed; from '70s an '80s Pop and Rock as they always enjoyed on the radio; to Jazz, Soul, Bossa Nova,...
Compilation albums
- Immediate Action series of 9 EP's
- Hefty's 10th Anniversary series of 4 albums