Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Est: 2018
Potted History: “The label is run by me, José Moura and Márcio Matos, who are also the owners of Flur, a record store in Lisbon,” says label co-founder André Santos. “It’s where we all met each other and have been working together for 15 years now. We talked about it for years, and around 2016 José had the idea to start doing the reissues of Telectu, a Portuguese electronic/jazz/experimental duo. While we were preparing ‘Belzebu’, their second album from 1983 and the first in our catalogue, we became good friends with António Duarte, aka Dwart. He and Telectu had a long-time friendship, but he also had a lot of unreleased music. That’s how ‘Taipei Disco’ was born, our second release, which came out in 2018 on the same day as ‘Belzebu’.”
Mission Statement: “We started with the desire to make Telectu’s music known to a wider audience by releasing their records,” recalls Santos. “But as soon as we put out our first releases, we started to receive a lot of demos. We understood that it would take us more time than we thought to reissue other Telectu releases, so we decided to put a hold on that and start releasing new music. We soon understood the label would be an extension of our role as owners of a record store – being active promoters of music we love and sharing the creativity and uniqueness of Portuguese experimental/electronic music with a broader audience.”
Key Artists & Releases: “‘Ficciones Del Trópico’ by Venezuelan artist, Molero is our biggest release so far,” says Santos. “It was our first by a non-Portuguese artist, and it was a success beyond our greatest expectations. We are very happy to have some local heroes in our catalogue like Magina, Maria Da Rocha, Clothilde and Ondness. I strongly recommend you listen to Polido’s ‘A Casa E Os Cães / Sabor A Terra’, and Joana Gama & Luís Fernandes’ ‘There’s No Knowing’. Both are future classics.”
Future Plans: “In 2021, we didn’t release as much as we planned, because of the pandemic and structural changes in Flur,” Santos explains. “So, we intend to catch up this year, with upcoming releases by Nocturnal Emissions, Funcionário, Ondness, Vera Dvale, Casper Clausen & André Gonçalves, and a three-LP boxset with music by Maxwell Sterling, Joana Gama, Luís Fernandes and Ece Canli. We will also return to our reissues of Telectu’s back catalogue, and we are doing some management and booking for some of the artists we represent.”
Any Other Business: “Independence and stubbornness are key for us,” says Santos. “We are a three-headed label and sometimes we don’t agree with each other. But it’s important to be sure you’re doing the right thing and to have the trust of your partners while doing that.”
For more, see holuzam.bandcamp.com
