Location: London Established: 2016
Potted History: Obsessed with music since his teens, freelance writer Gavin Stoker underwent a fresh voyage of discovery thanks to an obsession with Record Store Day’s limited run releases.
“I hadn’t bought a tape for 15 years,” says Gavin. “But I began to notice that a lot of the electronic and film score-orientated acts I was discovering seemed to be using them to physically release their music.”
His new-found love led him to labels such as Death Waltz, Mondo, One Way Static and Waxwork who were re-releasing classic electronic scores and Spun Out Of Control soon sprang to life.
Mission Statement: The label was set up with the sole purpose of physically releasing music by new electronic artists and fledgling film score composers who would otherwise fly under the radar of the larger, dedicated soundtrack labels.
“The physical aspect is important to us,” explains Gavin. “Apart from the fact a cassette release is less pricey than a vinyl one, the warm, analogue electronic music we put out sounds particularly great on tape.”
No tape player? All physical releases also come with a digital download.“Even people who don’t own a cassette player can enjoy the music and come on the journey of discovery with us,” adds Gavin.
Key artists & releases: “The label launched in February 2016, so we’re coming up for our first birthday,” says Gavin. “In that time we’ve put out eight albums of electronic film score-inspired music on cassette.”
While ‘Sodium Party’ by Irish composer Steve Nolan as well as ‘The Three Sisters’ and ‘Art Imitates’ by Repeated Viewing (Scottish synth artist Alan Sinclair), have been scores to actual films, artists who have released “imagined scores” on the imprint, including American composer Bryce Miller and British/US electronic duo OGRE and Dallas Campbell, are currently working in film, or having tracks licensed.
“As a label we couldn’t be happier for them,” beams Gavin.
Future Plans: “We put out our first tape when we only had 50 Twitter followers,” says Gavin. “That release went on to garner a 10/10 review, a couple of influential podcast plays and sell out within a month. Since then the label has pretty much grown organically. It’s more about breaking even than Top 10 hits, but with Carpenter-influenced bands such as S U R V I V E and the ‘Stranger Things’ soundtrack blowing up, who knows what the future holds?”
Any other business? “We have custom-made tape shells, including colour swirls or colour splits,” offers Gavin proudly. “It’s what would excite me as a collector and would make me want to own the physical release rather than just downloading a bunch of files.”
For more, visit spunoutofcontrol.com
