Location: London
Est: 2008
Potted History:
RareNoise was founded in April 2008 and saw its first release the May of the following year. The label is the brainchild of two London-based Italians, entrepreneur Giacomo Bruzzo and musician Eraldo Bernocchi.
“I’d contacted Eraldo in 2007 as I was working on the first draft of a documentary based on the careers of himself, Bill Laswell and Otomo Yoshihide,” explains Bruzzo of the label’s beginnings. “Our conversations spun off into a few live collaborations, then blossomed into RareNoise itself, which I have been running since 2008.”
Mission Statement:
“RareNoise seeks to become a guiding light for all those enamoured by exciting, adventurous and progressive sounds,” states Bruzzo, simply. “This phrase truly encapsulates what RareNoise is about – complete independence from genre considerations. We’ve released about 100 albums since inception, spanning a very broad arc of genres including electronica, minimalism, ambient, harsh noise, free rock, free jazz, spiritual jazz, jazz-rock, electronic rock, doom, drone and contemporary classical.”
Key artists & releases:
The label marks its 10th anniversary this year, during which time it has clocked up an impressive output featuring work from the likes of Harold Budd, Gaudi, Robin Guthrie, Bill Laswell, Merzbow, Bernie Worrell and even Iggy Pop.
“RareNoise’s catalogue has emerged through a mixture of serendipity, intuition and broad guidelines,” says Bruzzo. “All the music we release has to primarily be physically exciting.”
They also encourage collaborations, highlighting ‘Winter Garden’ by Bernocchi, Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie, ‘Loneliness Road’ by Jamie Saft, Steve Swallow, Bobby Previte with Iggy Pop and Sonar’s ‘Vortex’ featuring David Torn as good examples of the label’s inventive output.
Future Plans:
“We’d like to see consistent catalogue growth, inclusion of musics of different origins, and continuing our attempts to breed new collaborations and genres along the way,” explains Bruzzo. “Breaking even would be nice, though I fear that may be postponed for a while should a hard Brexit become reality.”
Any other business?
“RareNoise has been deeply beneficial to my spirit,” offers Bruzzo. “Having come from a background of philosophy of science, mathematics and then finance, I needed a break and deep reinvention. Not being a musician has spared me conflicts with musicians themselves, and allowed me to indulge a vision of bringing together powerful statements of the universal language of music. This is particularly important today, when there is so much out there needing to be interpreted. Would I encourage others to do the same as I did? Not sure, to be honest!”
For more about the label, visit rarenoiserecords.com
