Monday 18 January 2021

4AD record label

 



Wikipedia:

4AD is a record label owned by the UK based Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" (after the Hendrix album) by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records.The name was changed to "4AD" after the release of the first 4 singles. In late 1980 Watts-Russell and Kent purchased the label off Beggars Banquet to become an independent record label, then in 1981 Kent sold his share to Watts-Russell.

The label gained prominence in the 1980s for releasing albums from alternative rockpost-punkgothic rock and dream pop artists, such as BauhausCocteau TwinsModern EnglishDead Can DanceClan of XymoxPixiesThrowing Muses and Watts-Russell's own musical project This Mortal Coil. In 1987, the label scored an international hit with the dance music single "Pump Up the Volume" by the one-off project M/A/R/R/S. 4AD continued to have success in the 1990s and 2000s with releases from The BreedersLushRed House PaintersCamera ObscuraTV on the RadioSt. Vincent and Bon Iver. The label's current roster includes acts such as The NationalGrimesBeirutDaughterDeerhunterBig ThiefPurity Ring and Future Islands.

In 1999, Watts-Russell sold 4AD back to the Beggars Group. The label's history has been detailed by Martin Aston in the biography Facing The Other Way, released in 2013.


Louder: A Guide to the Best 4AD Albums 

Various - 1980 Forward: 25 Years of 4AD   (2015)  Well organised compilation of one of the most significant small record labels. Score: 6 

Pitchfork review of 1980 Forward 


Guardian - "4AD records - A label that's still made with love" (2012)

Guardian - "4AD: The Pure Label" (2013) 

Martin Aston - Facing The Other Way: The Story of 4AD (2013)   

Transistor Blog "Why 4Ad is an Age Defying Record Label

CoS "Top 10 4AD albums" (2015) 

Drowned in Sound "70 Song Introduction" (2013) 


Artists who have been on 4AD

Current

Former


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