Location: High Wycombe
Est: 2010
Potted History: In 2010, Dan Seville recorded a laptop album, Blank Disco’s ‘From Zero’, and was curious as to how he could go about releasing it. “This was before Bandcamp, “ he says, “so you had to use sites like MySpace, and arrange your own distribution and makeshift online selling platforms. I roped in a couple of mates, Al and Ian, to lend a hand and Subexotic was born.”
The process caught his imagination and Dan went in search of talented new producers to work with, releasing albums by The Fractal Skulls and Counter Silence. Around the same time, he also set up One Cut Vinyl, a vinyl lathe cutting business. “The lathe cutting went pretty crazy,” sighs Dan. So having caught the label bug, Subexotic was mothballed for a while. Turned out to be seven years. “The logical route back in was making limited runs of my own lathe-cut vinyl and I soon had new releases from Counter Silence, Lee Pylon’s Dogs Versus Shadows and a couple of solo projects from Simon Klee.”
Mission Statement: “I’ve never thought about a mission statement to be honest,” says Dan. “It just feels like a calling and a natural extension of a desire to do your own thing. How about ‘Back yourself, make your own rules, keep creating’, that sounds about right.”
Key Artists & Releases: The roster represents the label’s broad approach and includes releases from The Home Current, Cub\cub, Orbury Common, Simon Klee and Counter Silence. “To my ears, if it’s good, it’s good, never mind the genre,” says Dan. “Since restarting in 2019, the Dogs Versus Shadows debut ‘This Crow Wears A Wire’ and Simon Klee’s ‘The Reciprocal Second’ did a lot to bring our blend of quirky electronics and a sense of story arc coupled with strong design to a new and growing audience.”
Future Plans: “Release-wise, we’ve got so many bright lights coming it’s hard to cover it all – Xqui, Letters From Mouse, Dogs Versus Shadows, Onepointwo, The Central Office of Information, Rupert Lally, Forest Robots, Giants Of Discovery… they’ve all got astonishingly strong albums in the pipeline. Definitely exciting times.”
Any advice for those thinking of setting up a label? “I think I’d be more likely to ask for advice than give it,“ laughs Dan. “The joy of creating small scale releases with no concern over other people’s opinions, doing what you want to do, and then trying to do it a little better each time, is surely the point of being an independent label. I try to remember this when the rigours of label admin, and the well-known dangers of social media start to consume me.”
For more, visit subexoticrecords.bandcamp.com
