Family Tree Records is an exciting new digital label from Nikki Acute and Tom FamilyTree aiming to bring fresh new music to the electronic music masses. Together with its sister label Synchronicity , they offer a variety of genres and styles to suit all types.
With their first release out this month, we caught up with label co owner Nikki Acute to find out a little more.
What were your motivations behind starting the label?
Through our experience in music, both Tom and I know of so many talented producers about that are currently 'undiscovered', ‘diamonds in the rough’ you might say, so we decided to create an outlet for their talent.
We’ve set up sister labels, Family Tree and Synchronicity – both catering for different styles to suit all. Family Tree releases will be perfect for the dance floor whereas Synchronicity is about the deeper, more sentimental style of listening. This gives us the freedom to release material of both types, we both enjoy our music so much and understand that we wouldn’t necessarily listen to the same music at home chilling as we would on a night out.
How would you describe the processes involved in creating your own imprint and what advice would you offer to someone thinking of following in your footsteps?
The process has taken a lot longer than both of us initially thought it would, there are so many things you need to consider that take time whether it’s setting up with our distributor, Finetunes or sending and receiving contracts. All the ‘setting up’ processes are now in place though so future releases will be a lot smoother. Each step closer to our initial release has been more exciting than the last and we can’t see that feeling dulling whatsoever.
The main piece of advice we’d say is, although a basic knowledge of the way things work such as sampling, contracts etc. is necessary, it’s not compulsory to know everything right at the beginning as you’ll learn new things every day whilst setting up and running a label, just keep your eyes and ears open, learn from those around you who are more experienced, yet keep a fresh perspective and always release music that you truly believe in.
What would you say is the ethos/mission statement of Family Tree Records and Synchronicity? What sets you apart from other digital labels?
We’ve purposely stated that both Family Tree Records and Synchronicity are not solely one genre labels, we like to say we are open to Dubstep/Electronica/Experimental styles of music as it’s becoming more and more rare that a listener pigeon holes their musical taste into one genre, the main quality that connects our releases is quality.
We’re different as we’re open for taking a risk, we’re not looking specifically for the track that’s going to hit the mainstream because it fits with what’s about at that time, it’s more about putting out talented producers’ tracks and doing our best to get it out there to teach people that there are amazing, different styles out there that they haven’t necessarily heard before.
Tell us a little about your current releases and artists...
Our first release on Family Tree is titled ‘Lift Dub’ and is from Side-Projekt, a fresh producer from Leeds. The recognisable glitchy synths he’s used in the track make it stand out tremendously. We were lucky enough to have Fused Forces on remix duties, which is released on the flip – they’ve kept the original idea of the track alive yet beefed up the bottom ends making it a more sub heavy version. Both versions have had amazing support from Rod Azlan on Choice FM to Chefal on Rinse and the thumbs up from the likes of Mary Anne Hobbs.
We’re proud to say that our 002 release is from producers named ‘The Squadron’ and Ed Cheeno. The Squadron have a long history of releases in the Drum and Bass world under different aliases with labels such as Renegade Hardware and Metalheadz, they’ve recently began making tunes like ‘Stay True’ which is their debut Dubstep release with us. Accompanying Stay true is ‘Gold Card Soul’ from Ed Cheeno who is a strong newcomer also from Leeds. Both tracks have a Summery feel to them, you’ll see what we mean as soon as we upload to our Soundcloud.
Our debut release on Synchronicity is an EP from a very talented producer named ‘Blacksmif’ – his tracks were so beautiful that we couldn’t decide on just two, it makes sense to put four of them out together as they’re all equally strong tunes. All are such organic and intricate soundscapes that encourage deep levels of listening, you’ll understand more when we release further information very soon.
What are your plans for the future?
Our plans are to continue as we’ve started, seeking fresh talent and teaming it with current artists who’d like to put out something a little different to their normal sounds whilst staying true to the quality and originality of our previous releases. Also, in the not too distant future we’ll also be organising club nights so our listeners can witness our artists’ style firsthand.
Anything else we should know?
Lift Dub is out Friday 27th May on all good digital stores!
And as we’ve mentioned, we’re always going to be looking for fresh material so producers can send their tracks to us via our Soundcloud dropbox (http://soundcloud.com/familytreerecords/dropbox)
Catch us online:
Joanna Ranson
The Year of The Rabbit 
Comments