Upper Class Recordings | |
---|---|
Founded | 2005 |
Founder | Orly Bohbot |
Distributor(s) | Universal Music Canada RedEye Distribution EMI Music Canada |
Genre | indie pop, hip hop music, dance music |
Country of origin | Canada |
Location | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Official website | http://www.upperclassrecordings.com |
Upper Class Recordings is a Canadian independent record label founded in 2000 in Toronto, Ontario. The electronic music-based Upper Class roster includes The Russian Futurists, Cadence Weapon, DVAS, Christien Summers and The Cansecos.
Upper Class Records was born at the turn of the millennium; its first album release was the debut LP by The Russian Futurists - The Method Of Modern Love. [1] Since 2000, Upper Class formalized as Upper Class Recordings and has released four albums by The Russian Futurists, two albums each by The Cansecos and Cadence Weapon and single albums by girlsareshort (Al-P from MSTRKRFT) and Food For Animals. UC Artists became known for making albums in their bedrooms and ending up not just in the underground music media. [2] but into the mainstream eyes of massive publications like The New York Times [3] and The Guardian. [4]
In 2006 Upper Class began a distribution partnership with EMI Music Canada [5]
In 2010, Nettwerk One Music, the publishing arm of Vancouver's Nettwerk Music Group, announced that it is representing the publishing works of Upper Class Recordings worldwide. [6]
In 2016, Kobalt Music Publishing began representing Upper Class Recordings worldwide.
The Upper Class label has become synonymous with the unique and exciting Canadian electronic music sound revolution. Lost At Sea Magazine describes, "Canadian label Upper Class has struck gold. Its roster seems to produce blissed-out electronic pop masterpieces like an assembly line" [7]
Upper Class Recordings, through licensing partnerships, has seen its releases picked up by Anti-/Epitaph Records, [8] Ninja Tune/Big Dada Recordings, [9] Memphis Industries, and Cooperative Music. [10]
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initially a blend of avant-garde electronics experiments and punk provocation". The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by members of Throbbing Gristle and Monte Cazazza. While the genre name originated with Throbbing Gristle's emergence in the United Kingdom, artists and labels vital to the genre also emerged in the United States and other countries.
Capitol Records, LLC is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note in the United States in 1942 by Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva, and Glenn E. Wallichs. Capitol was acquired by British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary in 1955. EMI was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012, and was merged with the company a year later, making Capitol and the Capitol Music Group both distributed by UMG. The label's circular headquarters building is a recognized landmark of Hollywood, California. Capitol is well known as the U.S. record label of the Beatles, especially during the years of Beatlemania in America from 1964 to 1967.
Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk Management, and Nettwerk One Publishing.
Clock DVA are a musical group from Sheffield, England, whose style has touched on industrial, post-punk, and EBM. They formed in 1978 by Adolphus "Adi" Newton and Steven "Judd" Turner. Along with contemporaries Heaven 17, Clock DVA's name was inspired by the Russian-influenced Nadsat language of Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange. Dva is Russian for "two".
Roulette Records was an American record company and label founded in 1957 by George Goldner, Joe Kolsky, Morris Levy and Phil Kahl, with creative control given to producers and songwriters Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Levy was appointed director.
Remission is a 1984 EP by Canadian electro-industrial band Skinny Puppy, their record label debut and first release with Nettwerk. The 12-inch EP originally featured six tracks, then, a year later in 1985, it was released on cassette with five additional songs that lengthened the release to a full album. This expansion became the default version of Remission.
Nowell Rhys Fulber is a Canadian electronic musician and producer. He is a member of Front Line Assembly and Delerium, along with Bill Leeb. He also records under his own name and under the name Conjure One.
Priority Records is an American distribution company and record label known for artists including N.W.A, Ice-T, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Big L, Silkk the Shocker and Westside Connection. It also distributed hip hop record labels including Death Row Records, Hoo-Bangin' Records, No Limit Records, Posthuman Records, Rap-A-Lot Records, Rawkus Records, Roc-A-Fella Records, Ruthless Records and Wu-Tang Records. According to Billboard, "few record labels were as important to the rise of West Coast hip hop as Priority Records."
Great Lake Swimmers is a Canadian folk rock band from Wainfleet, Ontario, and currently based in Toronto.
Roland "Rollie" Pemberton, better known by his stage name Cadence Weapon, is a Canadian-American rapper based in Toronto, Ontario. Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Pemberton released his first album, Breaking Kayfabe, in 2005 with positive reviews. He subsequently signed with the American record label ANTI-, releasing the albums Afterparty Babies in 2008 and Hope in Dirt City in 2012. In 2009, Cadence Weapon was named Edmonton's Poet Laureate. His first book Magnetic Days was published by Metatron in 2014. Cadence Weapon released a self-titled album in 2018.
The Russian Futurists are a Canadian indie pop band based in Toronto. Their music can be described as lo-fi, indie-electronica fused with a twee-pop temperament. The band started as a solo project of Matthew Adam Hart, and later expanded into a band for live performances.
Breaking Kayfabe is the debut album by Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon, released in 2005 on Upper Class Recordings. It was also released in the United States by Anti-Records on March 13, 2007. Breaking kayfabe is a professional wrestling term for "breaking character".
Afterparty Babies is the second album by Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon, released on March 4, 2008, by Anti-Records and Upper Class Recordings in the United States and Canada and March 10, 2008, by Big Dada in the United Kingdom. After signing with U.S. label Anti- and the re-release of his debut album Breaking Kayfabe, he spent eleven months in his hometown of Edmonton to work on new material for his next record.
DVAS is a Canadian electronic dance music group formed in 2003 in Toronto. DVAS signed to Upper Class Recordings, the Toronto-based label responsible for notable artists The Russian Futurists, Cadence Weapon, Girlsareshort and The Cansecos in 2009.
Girlsareshort was an electronic pop group from Mississauga, Ontario, formed in 1998 by Alex Puodziukas, a.k.a. Al-P, Daniel Zabawa and David Regan. Girlsareshort released the 9-track album Contact Kiss in 2002 on Hi-Hat Recordings and the 14-track album Earlynorthamerican on Upper Class Recordings in 2003. The latter album included snippets of untrained youth choirs and samples of people giggling, contributing to its theme of what Exclaim! described as an "ode to summertime bliss and childlike innocence".
Alex Puodziukas known by his stage name Al-P, is a Canadian musician, record producer and recording engineer, best known for being part of the electronic music duo MSTRKRFT along with Jesse F. Keeler. Al-P was producer for Black Cat 13, Death from Above's album You're a Woman, I'm a Machine and The Sick Lipstick's Sting Sting Sting.
The Cansecos is a Canadian electronic music band from Toronto formed in 2003. The band's debut self-titled album The Cansecos was released in 2003 on Upper Class Recordings, followed by second studio album Juices! in 2008. In addition to their two studio albums The Cansecos have created a full-length remix album Juiced!, a disco mix Showers, and epic disco-electro remixes of Black Kids "Hurricane Jane" and Sally Shapiro "Hold Me So Tight",
Madrid is a Canadian electronic music group from Toronto, Ontario. The band consists of Adam Perry, Duncan Christie and Eric Lightfoot (drums). Their music is a combination of Electro, Shoegaze, and Psychedelia.
The Valerie Collective was founded as a musical cooperation in Nantes, France, in 2007 by David Grellier and his friends and colleagues. Various acts in Valerie include The Outrunners, Minitel Rose, Anoraak, Maethelvin, all from Nantes as well as Russ Chimes from London and DVAS from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Other artists included Keenhouse and Electric Youth. The hymn of the collective is "West Coast Valerie", a remix of the TV series Côte Ouest.
Hope in Dirt City is the third album by Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon. It was released on May 29, 2012 on Upper Class Recordings.