Astral Spirits Records | |
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Founded | 2014 |
Founder | Nathan Cross |
Genre | |
Location | Austin, Texas, U.S. |
Official website | astralspirits |
Astral Spirits Records is an independent record label specializing in free jazz, improvisation, and experimental music. [1] [2] Based in Austin, Texas, the label was founded in 2014 by musician Nathan Cross, who started Astral Spirits as a platform for "the new wave of heavy free jazz"; as the breadth of the label's offerings expanded, imprint Astral Editions became the home for its more experimental releases. [3]
Astral Spirits has been featured in Bandcamp Daily , [1] All About Jazz , [2] the Chicago Reader , [4] DownBeat , [5] and the Free Jazz Collective; [3] [6] Rolling Stone has called the label "crucial" [7] and "enormously prolific"; [8] and in 2019, Tiny Mix Tapes included Astral Spirits among their favorite labels of the decade. [9]
In the early 2010s, Cross began to consider starting a record label or a live-recorded series as a way to stay involved in music without touring extensively. [10] He spoke with Morgan Coy of Monofonus Press while in the early planning stages, and Coy encouraged him to start a label under the Monofonus umbrella. [10] Cross named the label after a recurring song title in Joe McPhee's work: the first "Astral Spirits" track appeared on McPhee's Trinity , recorded in 1971, and he continued to use the name on later releases (e.g., Oleo and In the Spirit ). [2]
Astral Spirits began as a cassette-based label, but later expanded to include vinyl and CDs. [4] All albums are also available as digital releases, but the catalogue is not available through low-revenue streaming services such as Spotify. [2]
Since the label's inception, Cross has handled most logistics––aside from artwork and layout––himself, including curation, press, and shipping. [2]
Cross launched Astral Editions in 2019, initially intending to make it a digital-only offshoot. [10] The imprint began carrying physical products in 2020, distinguishing itself instead by a greater emphasis on experimentalism outside of the jazz continuum. [10] The Astral Editions Bandcamp carries the tagline, "a primer on some of the best unheard experimental music being made today by names you don't know yet, but should". [11]
The Astral Spirits logo was designed by Mason McFee, who also chose the label's signature Cooper Black font; for the first two years, McFee created all tape and LP artwork. [10] [12] Jaime Zuverza later took over design, eventually developing a template for the label's distinctive visual aesthetic; he listens to, and creates artwork specifically for, the majority of Astral Spirits releases. [1] [2]
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