Location: London Est: 1995
Potted History: Jono “Kumo/Metamono” Podmore’s Psychomat imprint was initially set up as a sub-label to Mr C’s Plink Plonk label. “I was working closely with them at the time, producing techno and house,” says Jono, “but my own material was much more diverse it didn’t sit on Plink Plonk, so Psychomat was created for the Kumo sound.”
Three 12-inches and the debut ‘Kaminari’ album appeared in 1997, just before Jono was lured to France to work with Irmin Schmidt and the greater Can family. Like you do.
“As I swanned around great European cities producing operas, films and TV, donning the mantle of Professor der Praxis der Popular Musik, downing litres of Chateauneuf du Pape and breathing life into ancient analogue synthesis with Metamono, Psychomat sat in intellectual cryogenesis awaiting rebirth,” explains Jono, helpfully.
That rebirth took place earlier this year, March to be precise, with the release of the ‘Miss Slipper’/‘Lewes’ seven-inch, a collaboration with sound writer Swantje Lichtenstein, and continues with a new EP, ‘Impulsion’ featuring Reason Stendec.
Mission Statement: “Whenever people hear of a Psychomat release there must be a sense that it could be like nothing they’ve ever heard or will be something that makes them think differently of what they are familiar with,” says Jono. “The aim is to extend the palette of commercial electronic music with the techniques of sound art, sound writing, multimedia, narrative, extended rhythmic range and non-western musical forms, while vigilantly maintaining the highest quality both technically and intellectually. No baggy mixes, no tokenism – the real shit every time.”
Key artists & releases: Every release and collaboration so far has been touched by magic Podmore fingers. There are also a raft of notable remixes from the likes of Mr C, Technical Itch, Inky Blackness and more.
“There is a family of artists I work with whose names will forever crop up in the long game that is Psychomat,” says Jono. “Have a look at the ‘Miss Slipper’/‘Lewes’ remixes on bandcamp and you’ll get an idea of our meta-roster.”
Future Plans: “There is a new Kumo EP brewing, perhaps even before the end of the year, as well as the prospect of an album,” says Jono temptingly. “The long-term plan is to release a huge project of films made to music, which, with the help of some mighty film makers, has been slowly coalescing for at a decade or so. There’s enough in the bag already to keep that going for a few years.”
Share some good advice? “You don’t need a manager, you need a lawyer and an excellent mastering engineer.”
For more, see psychomat.com
