HOLODECK was started in April 2012 by Adam from S U R V I V E, Justin & Matt from Thousand Foot Whale Claw, Austin from Pure X, and myself (Jon from Silent Land Time Machine) in Austin, TX. The idea to start the label came up sometime in 2011. Most of us had been working on various projects, collaborations, or solo efforts for several years by that point, so multiple records were being wrapped up in Summer and Spring of 2011, thus, we were all beginning to think about how to actually get our records “out there”, etc., so “label” concerns started coming up more regularly. As 2011 progressed it became increasingly clear that there was a critical mass of genuinely intriguing and boundary-pushing releases that were definitely worth putting out, but, no label to handle it all. Naturally, we began hypothesizing about starting a label, especially since a large body of the work was the product of a relatively small group of people collaborating immediately around us (Geddes is the one exception to this, at the moment). All of the artists on HOLODECK are people we have long-standing interpersonal relationships with, who are good friends, and who are making, in our opinion, intensely arresting pieces of genre-defying music that deserve be heard – so, HOLODECK was made as an interface to spread those recordings beyond the ears of local audiences.
Fast forward to January 2013: we've released 9 tapes total, with 6 due out before March, and, we are releasing our first vinyl LP, Troller's s/t Troller (HD003LP/LLR007, released collaboratively with LIGHT LODGE) this month. It's a reissue of Troller's tape from our first batch, HD003, an intoxicatingly heavy slab of chthonic-pop – funny enough, it's the only release of the 15 that features any kind of lyrics! The vinyl came out really sweet and is “out” on January 22 (heads up to those on the West Coast – Troller & Thousand Foot Whale Claw are on tour Jan 24-27):
Our next batch of tapes, HD010-015, will be available in March 2013 (literally going through the test tapes as I type this) which I'm very excited about. HD010 is JU4N's Vaporware, a cleansing debut of honed “new age” synth & sample interplay from our friend Johnny Cisneros. HD011 is Sungod's Contackt, a highly charged and volatile prog / psych / poly-rhythmic freak-out of a record – these guys have been killing it during shows in town for a while now, so, it's really exciting to hear their energy put to tape. HD012 is our good friend, and our ever-reliable HOLODECK mastering & recording engineer Dylan Cameron. We'll be releasing his thumping double album Samsara: Causes and Conditions (recorded simply as Dylan C), which exhaustively explores deep house and experimental 2-step on each side, respectively. HD013 is the tape reissue of Thousand Foot Whale Claw's LP Dope Moons Vol. 1, which saw a vinyl release by Monofonus Press back in July of 2012, and catches them in a more psych-kraut-groove than their last two releases on HOLODECK. HD014 is the second installment of Smokey Emery's immaculate Soundtracks for Invisibility series, a captivating tape-collage full-length of abstract yet evocative pieces that span effortlessly across drone, ambient, and minimalist territories. HD015 is a tape reissue of S U R V I V E's full length LP – killer album, we'll be making 200 of these instead of our usual 100!
Below you can check out our past releases (NOTE, 5 of these are already sold out). HD005-009 were released in Sept. 2012, and HD001-004 in April 2012:
L-R, top to bottom: S U R V I V E – HD009 (HD009), Silent Land Time Machine – I am no longer alone with myself and can only artificially recall the scary and beautiful feeling of solitude (HD008), M. Geddes Gengras – Beyond the Curtain (HD007), AMASA•GANA – Untitled (HD006), Thousand Foot Whale Claw – Time-Brothers (HD005), Lumens – Lumens (HD004), Troller – Troller (HD003), Thousand Foot Whale Claw – Lost in those Dunes (HD002), Smokey Emery – Soundtracks for Invisibility Vol I: Youth Burnt While Traveling (HD001)
As for HOLODECK's future, we're already beginning to talk about our fourth batch of tapes, a cassette/VHS release with our friend Symbol (Chris King from This Will Destroy You, AMASA•GANA), more vinyl releases in 2013, and unofficial SXSW plans (we throw an annual thing called SLOW PUMP, this will be year three). We try to keep ourselves busy, and, there's more than enough material to keep an iron, or five, in the fire at all times.
Here is a mix of tracks from all of our releases, including our 6 new tapes, from the albums:
TROLLER, Troller (out JAN 22 2013)
S U R V I V E, HDXV (Reissue of Manequinn Records' MNQ026)
SMOKEY EMERY, Soundtracks for Invisibility Vol II: You Take the High Road (HD014)
THOUSAND FOOT WHALE CLAW, Dope Moons Vol I (Reissue of Monofonus Press' LP)
DYLAN C, Samsara: Causes and Conditions (HD012)
SUNGOD, Contackt (HD011)
JU4N, Vaporware (HD010)
SILENT LAND TIME MACHINE, I am no longer alone with myself and can only artificially recall the scary and beautiful feeling of solitude (HD008)
M. GEDDES GENGRAS, Beyond the Curtain (HD007)
AMASA/GANA, Untitled (HD006)
LUMENS, Lumens (HD004)
