Subconscious Communications

Last updated
Subconscious Communications
Founded1993 (1993)
Founder Dwayne Goettel, Phil Western [1]
Genre Electronic, industrial, techno, experimental
Country of originU.S.
Location Toluca Lake, California
Official website subconsciousrecords.com

Subconscious Communications (originally Subconscious Records) is an independent record label based in Toluca Lake, California. [2] Originating in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, [3] it was founded in 1993 by Dwayne Goettel of Skinny Puppy and Phil Western of Download. [1] The label has been described as a "record label, musician collective, remix team, 32-track digital studio, [and an] analogue synth museum." [4]

Contents

History

Dwayne Goettel and Phil Western founded Subconscious Records in 1993 to release a twelve-inch under Goettel's side project Aduck and Phil's alias Philth. cEvin Key arbitrarily took over control of Subconscious Communications when Goettel died on 23 August 1995. Artists previously involved with Goettel and Key joined him to help with the label. [5]

Under the SubCon 'services' page hides two pages listing the competition results of the 2001 and 2002 Cannabis Cup competitions. [6] The Cannibis Cup was an annual competition that only survived an additional year after its inception in 2001. Since the name contains SubCon, it is assumed that the competition was formed by Subconscious Communications.

Discography

As of 2009, Subconscious Communications has released 44 albums under the label. The numbering of the albums however lists the final one ( The Dragon Experience ) as number 28; this is due to several albums being numbered in pairs, such as 11a and 11b. Logically this is due to the insignificance of the album (for example the limited edition albums of Skinny Puppy's "back and forth" and Tear Garden's "eye spy with my little eye") or a combination of releases, such as with PlatEAU's "music for grass" and "dutch flowers". [7]

Organized alphabetically by author then chronologically (represented by sub value). [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

Skinny Puppy Canadian industrial band

Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial music group formed in Vancouver in 1982. The group is among the founders of the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres. Initially envisioned as an experimental side-project by cEvin Key while he was in the new wave band Images in Vogue, Skinny Puppy evolved into a full-time project with the addition of vocalist Nivek Ogre.

Download is a Canadian electronic music group formed by Dwayne Goettel and Kevin Crompton of Skinny Puppy in 1994. The initial lineup also included Off & Gone's Phil Western and Mark Spybey of Dead Voices on Air, but has since been particularly fluid, with Key and Western being the only constant members following Goettel's death. Download's music has been described as post-industrial, drawing from the band's genesis as part of Skinny Puppy but also sharing common stylistic ground with such artists as Aphex Twin and Autechre. The primary instrumentation common throughout their albums is a blend of synthesizers and sampled instruments; the music is particularly centered on elements of percussion and rhythm.

Dwayne Goettel Canadian musician

Dwayne Rudolph Goettel was a Canadian electronic musician, best known for his work in the industrial music group Skinny Puppy. Starting his career playing for a variety of acts around Edmonton, he joined Skinny Puppy in 1986 following the departure of keyboardist Bill Leeb. A classically trained pianist, he helped to broaden Skinny Puppy's sound with his extensive knowledge of equipment and sampling. He assisted bandmate cEvin Key on a number of side projects such as The Tear Garden and Doubting Thomas, and helped form the experimental electronic group Download. He also created the independent record label Subconscious Communications with friend and colleague Phil Western as a means to release his solo work.

cEvin Key Musical artist

Kevin William Crompton, known professionally as cEvin Key, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, producer, and composer. He is best known as a member of the industrial music group Skinny Puppy, which he co-founded in 1982 with singer Nivek Ogre. Initially a side project while he was with the new wave band Images in Vogue, Skinny Puppy quickly became his primary musical outlet after landing a record deal with Nettwerk Records in 1984.

The Tear Garden Canadian band

The Tear Garden is a psychedelic/experimental/electronic band, formed by Edward Ka-Spel of The Legendary Pink Dots and cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy in 1985 after Key served as a sound engineer on tour in Canada for Ka-Spel. An EP, The Tear Garden, was released that same year. The pair have since released a number of records with the assistance of various guest musicians. Their most recent release, The Brown Acid Caveat, was released in July 2017.

<i>VIVIsectVI</i> Album by Skinny Puppy

VIVIsectVI is the fourth studio album by Canadian electro-industrial band Skinny Puppy. It was released on September 12, 1988 through Nettwerk. Despite tackling controversial topics like animal rights, chemical warfare, and environmental waste, VIVIsectVI was well-received. It spawned two singles, "Censor", which was released on the album as "Dogshit", and "Testure", which was Skinny Puppy's only song to chart on Billboard's Dance Club Songs. VIVIsectVI was followed by a theatrically involved tour with Nine Inch Nails as the opening act.

Phillip Charles Western was a Canadian musician, based in Vancouver and a founding member of the bands Download, PlatEAU, Frozen Rabbit, and Off and Gone.

Doubting Thomas was an industrial band formed by two members of Skinny Puppy: cEvin Key and the late Dwayne Goettel. Although considered a Skinny Puppy side project, nearly all the group's music is instrumental. The band shares its name with an American roots band, to whom they have no relation.

<i>The Process</i> (Skinny Puppy album) 1996 studio album by Skinny Puppy

The Process is the eighth studio album by Canadian industrial band Skinny Puppy. Released by American Recordings on February 27, 1996, The Process was the band's final album before it reformed in 2000 and released The Greater Wrong of the Right in 2004. Skinny Puppy's keyboardist, Dwayne Goettel, died near the end of The Process' recording, and the album experienced difficult production and record-label intrusion.

<i>Back and Forth 06Six</i> 2003 compilation album by Skinny Puppy

Back and Forth 06Six is an album of previously unavailable Skinny Puppy material released through cEvin Key's Subconscious Communications in early 2003. The CD had two releases, each with different artwork and cases though the audio content was the same. Both releases were limited to 1500 copies.

<i>The Eyes of Stanley Pain</i> 1996 studio album by Download

The Eyes of Stanley Pain is an album by Download.

<i>Puppy Gristle</i> 2002 EP by Skinny Puppy

Puppy Gristle is an album released as a part of cEvin Key's subscription-service "From the Vault" in 2002, under the Skinny Puppy name. This was planned to be a limited-edition, subscription-only release of 1,000 copies available exclusively through the label's mailorder. It was eventually re-issued in larger quantities as a digipak in 2002/2003.

Skinny Puppy discography

The Canadian electro-industrial band Skinny Puppy has released twelve studio albums and two extended plays along with a number of live albums, compilations, and singles. The group formed in 1982 and released its debut EP, Back & Forth, in 1984. Later that year, Skinny Puppy was picked up by Nettwerk and released another EP, Remission, in December 1984. The band's first studio album, 1985's Bites, was its last with the original lineup of vocalist Nivek Ogre and producer / multi-instrumentalist cEvin Key; Dwayne Goettel joined in 1986, and the band released its next two albums, Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse and Cleanse Fold and Manipulate, in 1986 and 1987 respectively.

<i>Paradigm Shift</i> (album) 1997 compilation album by various artists

Paradigm Shift is an album by various artists and recorded under the Nettwerk and Subconscious Communications record labels. It is Subconscious Communications' tenth release. The album also contains unreleased tracks that artist Dwayne Goettel never lived to see produced.

Wild Planet is a compilation album released under the Nettwerk and Subconscious Communications record labels. The various artists throughout serve as some relation to cEvin Key, of Skinny Puppy, and were also compiled on the album by Key himself. A majority of the tracks are exclusive to this release, and have not been released before or since then.

Track 10 Song by Skinny Puppy

"Track 10", originally titled "Left Handshake", is a song by Canadian electro-industrial band Skinny Puppy created for its 1992 album Last Rights. The track was meant to close Last Rights, but it was ultimately cut due to threatened legal action from the owner of a sample that appears in the song. "Track 10" did not see individual release until August 20, 2000, when it was sold at Skinny Puppy's reunion performance in Germany.

<i>Back & Forth Vol7</i> 2007 compilation album by Skinny Puppy

Back & Forth Vol7 is an album by industrial music group Skinny Puppy, consisting of outtakes from Last Rights and The Process. It was released through cEvin Key's Subconscious Communications in 2007. It was the only Vault release issued during the Mythrus tour.

<i>Helicopter</i> (album) 2009 studio album by Download

Helicopter is the seventh studio album by the post-industrial electronic band Download. Much like Download's previous release, FiXeR, Helicopter features a guest appearance by former vocalist, Mark Spybey. It also puts a prominent focus on analogue equipment, using the oldest machines that Subconscious Studios had to offer.
Initially given a limited release as part of Subconscious Communications' Beyond The Vault series, Helicopter eventually sold out and, in 2011, was given a second pressing and a wider release through Metropolis Records. This re-release is retitled Helicopter + Wookie Wall, and features three additional tracks. According to Simon Paul, designer of the Helicopter's original album art, the art of this re-release will be an amalgamation of the album's original artwork and the artwork he submitted for the proposed Wookie Wall EP.
The song "Message From Gort" is a reference to the PlatEAU album Gort Spacebar, which was also a Key and Western project and released as part of the Beyond The Vault series.

References

  1. 1 2
    • CDBaby.com states, "Phillips first release - which came out on the pairs label Subconscious" thus providing debate as to whether Phillips actually started the label with him, or was merely one of the first contributors. In an interview with cEvin Key in 1997 he stated "Dwayne and Phil actually started the original version of it by putting together a 12-inch, "Power."", thus the duo did in fact create SubCon together.
  2. http://www.allrecordlabels.com/db/2/11992.html - also see http://www.subconsciousstudios.com/download/inform.htm for confirmation from SubCon (bottom of the page).
    • Thirdwavecollective.com list of record labels, including Subconscious Communications. It notes the origination from Vancouver B.C. Canada.
  3. Skinny Puppy
    • Cannabis Cup results from 2001 and 2002 (place your cursor over the elevator numbers).
  4. 1 2
    • SubCon's listing of released albums, chronologically ordered.