The BSBTA Label Group /// A Beard of Snails / d'Oorhinge l'Orange / Workaholics on Holiday!

December 31, 2008:
It's the end of the year - time to be sentimental, time to look ahead. But first...
One more to round out the year: We Wait for the Snow "The Dawn of the Vultures" (on A Beard of Snails)

So, 2008 saw 21 releases via The BSBTA Label Group!

9 releases on A Beard of Snails, from: Monks of the Balhill / A Man & a Guitar, 6majik9, Cherry Creepage / Nufenen, Conger Eel, Kowloon II, Rough Ride of Crafts & Inhibitionists, Mette Mareridt, Quaouauh, and We Wait for the Snow
7 releases on d'Oorhinge l'Orange/d'Oorhinge Mandarine, from: Konrad Korabiewski, Le Panda Bleme et le Lolicocks, Land Equivalents, Prester, Funny Art Collective (feat. Bjørn Svin), Manipulator Alligator, and Rimacona.
3 releases on Workaholics on Holiday!, from: Body Lotion and the Bloody Hands, Younolovebunny, and The Dear Elaines.
1 release on BSBTA Vinyl: v/a: Vinyl Beards.
1 release on 3S3TA: v/a: Au revoir, 3S3TA.

Huge thanks to all our artists, listeners and supporters for helping to make 2008 that much more tolerable.

2009 will be my 9th year of running labels (and, I believe, the 10th anniversary of the initial conception of the 'Bloated Sasquatch Beer Theatre' name.) At any rate, why wait a whole year to start celebrating? One way we plan on "celebrating" in '09: Resurrecting the Bloated Sasquatch Beer Theatre Audio label... for five new compact disc releases!!!!! (Well, 1 or 2 CD reissues, and at least three CD-Rs of never-before-heard music.) We'll also take this opportunity to use the previously unused BSBTA #107, 108, 109 & 110 catalog numbers. These releases will, of course, don the classic BSBTA logo. More details to come. All this, in addition to the 12" and two 10"es on BSBTA Vinyl. Oh my!

A Happy and Healthy New Year to all!
- Christian K. & the Group of Labels

We Wait for the Snow "The Dawn of the Vultures" Stark, dark, reverb-laden doom folk with Tibetan influences. Black monk rituals built from cavernous ambience, mountainous chanting and ominous minimalism.

Quaouauh "Constellation Hut" A B of S kicks off phase two of its existence with this brief but mind-pummeling disc of austere vocal-based lo-fi mantras.

Mette Mareridt "Mette Mareridt & Remixes" An elegant reissue of this cult Copenhagen no-fi punk / stoner / avant / psych / rock group's self-released debut + a "remix" disc.

None planned

CD-Rs from Mike Khoury & Hans Buetow, The End Springs, Canyon, Aditi Tahiti, and more. We'll also be doing some very limited edition tape releases (c60 and c90 splits featuring anywhere from 2-6 artists, in editions of 30-40 copies), as part of the Expulsion Into Offering series, starting in 2009.

Official site
MySpace

Land Equivalents "Alpha Numeric Routines" Groovy, dubby, post-prog flavoured instrumentals heavy on the drums and vintage synths.

Rimacona "Yume-No-Hotori" 2x3" CD-R A fantastic juxtaposition of dreamy '60s/'70s soft pop/jazz aesthetics and early 21st century music/technology.

Manipulator Alligator "Harvest Famicom" 3" CD-R Unites the best of folktronica / indietronica / 8-bit, with splendid singin'/songwritin' and whimsical experimentation.

Funny Art Collective feat. Bjørn Svin "Purple Mandarin" 3" CD-R An overall melancholy (at times, semi goth/EBM) sound; yet, intoxicating electro-beats, humourous cut-up samples and fragile melodies are also present.

Prester "Prester and Friends" 3" CD-R A miniature machine park of experimental / tuneful bliss.

None planned

Early 2009: The Original Beekeepers, Paper Sessions, and Fabio Zuffanti CD-Rs, plus a cryptic scenery 3". After these, d'Oorhinge will, release-wise, be put on hiatus for the rest of the year.

Official site
MySpace

The Dear Elaines "Sky Baby Conquest, Perhaps" Remastered reissue of the first Dear Elaines E.P. - homespun Anglo-pop at its finest.

Younolovebunny "Albummet der ændrede verden" Charmingly eccentric and eclectic lo-fi rock/pop.

Body Lotion and the Bloody Hands "Screamfest" Humourous anti-twee horror-pop for bloody dancefloors.

None planned

Early 2009: Jim Musgrave "Pet Bites" CD-R, "Don't Quit Your Holiday Job" 2x CD-R compilation, and more...

While we close the d'Oor, Workaholics on Holiday will (at least for the time being) shift its musical focus. WOH'll still be about pop... but pop of a more, uh, elabourate, dreamy, innovative variety; i.e., no lo-fi/naive/twee stuff. (Fret not: one or more of the releases on the resurrected BSBTA label will be of a twee-tastic persuasion.)

Official site
MySpace

v/a: Vinyl Beards 12" LP feat. Sea Zombies, We Wait for the Snow / throuRoof, Cones, Family Battle Snake / Sarah's Charity, Donato Epiro / Vanessa Rossetto, Shiggajon, The End Springs / A Man & A Guitar, Fabio Orsi / Valerio Cosi

v/a: Vinyl Snails - 12" LP (an A Beard of Snails co-release)

The Dear Elaines / Low Fire - split 10"

TBA / TBA - split 10"

Official site

v/a: "Au revoir, 3S3TA" A mini-collection of new material from the artists featured on the previous five 3S3TA discs. Dreamy, dark, psychedelic...

Some of you may know that The BSBTA Label Group crawled out of the womb of, and proceeded to slowly devour Bloated Sasquatch Beer Theatre Audio circa late 2006. (For those of you who don't know, Bloated Sasquatch Beer Theatre Audio was a record label that existed from early 2000 to late 2006, releasing 109 CDs and CD-Rs.)

The BSBTA Label Group itself is not a record label, but an umbrella organisation, distributor, and spiritual guide for a number of genre-specific and/or format-specific micro labels (see above.) And while the Label Group name and "concept" may carry corporate connotations, this is all very much underground. It is a common misconception that said labels are "BSBTA sub-labels". BSBTA itself is no longer a label (no shit, Shirley Locke); each label is independent, while, of course, retaining strong ties with their common roots. Or something like that.

Based out of Copenhagen, Denmark ("CPH" to hipsters), the Label Group and its labels are 99% of the time run by one person, often referred to as "us", "we" or "our" (bands often help with the artwork and packaging for their own releases.) Here is a "label" spotlight courtesy of the impeccable Foxy Digitalis e-zine.

If you wish to contact any of our labels, or The BSBTA Label Group in general, please do so by e-mailing bsbta at bsbta dot com
...I'll try to get back to you in two minutes or two months, or somewhere in between. Chances are I did receive your e-mail, and am beating myself up for not having answered you yet.

The BSBTA Label Group MySpace page is here, but I rarely log in. Add ABoS, MySpace or WoH! instead. Please send an e-mail rather than a MySpace message.

Did someone say "demo policy?" While none of our labels are necessarily seeking new bands for their rosters, you're still welcome to make me aware of your music (you're probably going to regardless ;-))... I can't/won't promise anything, tho'.