Middle Pillar Presents

Last updated
Middle Pillar Presents
MiddlePillar logo.png
Founded 1998 (1998)
Founder Kevin Dunn
James Babbo
Distributor(s) Middle Pillar Distribution (U.S.)
PHD Canada (Canada)
Audioglobe Distribution (Europe)
Nova Media (Germany)
Genre Ambient, dark wave, experimental, gothic
Country of origin U.S.
Location New York City
Official website www.middlepillar.com

Middle Pillar Presents is a New York-based record label that specializes in ambient, gothic, and experimental music. The label began as distributor for other labels and artists entitled Middle Pillar Distribution. Kevin Dunn and James Babbo established Middle Pillar Presents to showcase artists unable to get signed elsewhere. The British independent label 4AD served as an inspiration to the founding of Middle Pillar Presents. [1] Middle Pillar Presents was established with the goal of releasing only "dark" music. [1] In an effort to maintain musical continuity the sub-label Hell's Hundred Records was established to sign bands of other styles, such as "punk, gothic horror rock, [and] psychobilly." [2]

Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. A form of slow instrumental music, it uses repetitive, but gentle, soothing sound patterns that can be described as sonic wallpaper to complement or alter one’s space and to generate a sense of calmness. The genre is said to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual", or "unobtrusive" quality.

Gothic rock is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted towards dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus, and the Cure.

Experimental music is a general label for any music that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilites radically opposed to, and questioning of, institutionalized compositional, performing, and aesthetic conventions in music. Elements of experimental music include indeterminate music, in which the composer introduces the elements of chance or unpredictability with regard to either the composition or its performance. Artists may also approach a hybrid of disparate styles or incorporate unorthodox and unique elements.

Contents

Roster

Middle Pillar Presents

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Hell's Hundred Records

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References

  1. 1 2 McCutchan, Laura. "Middle Pillar Presents". Morbid Outlook. Retrieved 2008-04-29. I like the idea of putting out just a lot of really great dark music that audiences can follow, like the glory days of 4AD. (Kevin Dunn)
  2. "Hell's hundred Records" . Retrieved 2008-04-29.
Discogs Website and crowdsourced database about audio recordings

Discogs is a website and crowdsourced database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are located in Portland, Oregon, US. While the site lists releases in all genres and on all formats, it is especially known as the largest online database of electronic music releases, and of releases on vinyl media. Discogs currently contains over 11 million releases, by over 5.4 million artists, across over 1.1 million labels, contributed from over 456,000 contributor user accounts — with these figures constantly growing as users continually add previously unlisted releases to the site over time.