Mille Plateaux
Encyclopedia
Mille Plateaux is an influential electronica
record label
founded 1993 by Achim Szepanski in Frankfurt
, Germany
. It is known for mostly releasing minimal techno
, glitch music
and other experimental electronic music
.
, which showed both Mille Plateaux and non-Mille Plateaux glitch music luminaries exploring the genre.
In early 2004, Mille Plateaux parent company Force Inc. Music Works went bankrupt due to the collapse of Germany's main independent music distributor, EFA-Medien. Mille Plateaux and other Force Inc. Music Works owned labels were folded at that time.
The label was revived briefly in late 2004 under the name MillePlateauxMedia, with 4 releases.
In 2005, two releases were made by RAI STREUBEL MUSIC S.L. on the label Supralinear with the note "by Mille Plateaux".
In 2006, Mille Plateaux (along with the other former Force Inc. Music Works labels Force Inc. and Force Tracks) was taken over by the Berlin-based company Disco Inc. Ltd., who only released two CD albums.
In March 2008, Mille Plateaux was acquired by TOTAL RECALL, an online store and distributor for used and new music. With new owner Marcus Gabler, known as singer of the band OKAY
as the A&R manager, they aim to close the gap existing since 2003 and continue the original work.
Mille Plateaux relaunched its activities on May 7, 2010, with three new albums.
The name Mille Plateaux was taken from Mille Plateaux
, a philosophy book by Gilles Deleuze
and Félix Guattari
, published in 1980.
Started 1999. Even more abstract and experimental
than the parent.
Started 2010. Releases experimental ambient music
.
Started 2010. Releases less experimental electronic music, typically IDM
.
Some artists released on the label (or its substitutes) between 2004 and 2010:
Some artists released on the label after the relaunch of 2010:
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
founded 1993 by Achim Szepanski in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It is known for mostly releasing minimal techno
Minimal techno
Minimal techno is a minimalist sub-genre of techno. It is characterized by a stripped-down aesthetic that exploits the use of repetition, and understated development. This style of dance music production generally adheres to the motto less is more; a principle that has been previously utilized, to...
, glitch music
Glitch (music)
Glitch is a term used to describe a genre of electronic music that emerged in the mid to late 1990s. The glitch aesthetic is characterized by a deliberate use of glitch based sonic artifacts that would normally be viewed as unwanted disturbances reducing the overall sound quality and are thus...
and other experimental electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
.
History
In 2000, to take advantage of the popularity of glitch music in the electronic music scene, Mille Plateaux released their Clicks & Cuts SeriesClicks & Cuts Series
Clicks & Cuts Series is a compilation series from the German music label Mille Plateaux. It features various experimental electronic artists to give an example of the sound and variety of the glitch music movement of the early 2000's...
, which showed both Mille Plateaux and non-Mille Plateaux glitch music luminaries exploring the genre.
In early 2004, Mille Plateaux parent company Force Inc. Music Works went bankrupt due to the collapse of Germany's main independent music distributor, EFA-Medien. Mille Plateaux and other Force Inc. Music Works owned labels were folded at that time.
The label was revived briefly in late 2004 under the name MillePlateauxMedia, with 4 releases.
In 2005, two releases were made by RAI STREUBEL MUSIC S.L. on the label Supralinear with the note "by Mille Plateaux".
In 2006, Mille Plateaux (along with the other former Force Inc. Music Works labels Force Inc. and Force Tracks) was taken over by the Berlin-based company Disco Inc. Ltd., who only released two CD albums.
In March 2008, Mille Plateaux was acquired by TOTAL RECALL, an online store and distributor for used and new music. With new owner Marcus Gabler, known as singer of the band OKAY
Okay (German band)
Okay is a pop group from Frankfurt, Germany.Their song OKAY! reached #2 of the German music charts in 1988 and #1 of the Austrian charts.They received 2 gold records for this single.-Members:...
as the A&R manager, they aim to close the gap existing since 2003 and continue the original work.
Mille Plateaux relaunched its activities on May 7, 2010, with three new albums.
The name Mille Plateaux was taken from Mille Plateaux
A Thousand Plateaus
A Thousand Plateaus is the second book of Capitalism and Schizophrenia, the first being Anti-Oedipus. Written by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, it was translated into English by Brian Massumi...
, a philosophy book by Gilles Deleuze
Gilles Deleuze
Gilles Deleuze , was a French philosopher who, from the early 1960s until his death, wrote influentially on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus , both co-written with Félix...
and Félix Guattari
Félix Guattari
Pierre-Félix Guattari was a French militant, an institutional psychotherapist, philosopher, and semiotician; he founded both schizoanalysis and ecosophy...
, published in 1980.
Sublabels
- Ritornell
Started 1999. Even more abstract and experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
than the parent.
- Cluster
Started 2010. Releases experimental ambient music
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
.
- Force Intel (Sister label)
Started 2010. Releases less experimental electronic music, typically IDM
Intelligent dance music
Intelligent dance music is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno...
.
Notable artists
Some artists released on the label prior to 2004:- Alec EmpireAlec EmpireAlec Empire is a German musician who is best known as a founding member of the band Atari Teenage Riot. Also a prolific and distinguished solo artist, producer and DJ, he has released well over a hundred albums, EPs and singles and remixed over seventy tracks for various artists including Björk...
- Kid 606
- AkufenAkufenMarc Leclair, better known by his stage name Akufen, is a Canadian electronic musician. His music is electronic music that is often described as minimal house, minimal techno, glitch, or microhouse....
- Alva NotoAlva NotoAlva Noto is a stage name of sound artist Carsten Nicolai who uses art and music as complementary tools to create microscopic views of creative processes. Another alias he uses is Noto...
- Frank BretschneiderFrank BretschneiderFrank Bretschneider is a German electronic musician. He works primarily with sine waves and white noise as his source material. He also releases material under the name Komet....
- Twerk
- Thomas KönerThomas KönerThomas Köner is a multimedia artist whose main interest lies in combining visual and auditory experiences. He's been noted for his use of low frequencies...
- Luomo (aka Vladislav DelayVladislav DelayVladislav Delay is one of the pseudonyms of Sasu Ripatti , a Finnish electronic musician. He has also recorded as Luomo, Sistol, Uusitalo and Conoco.-Background:...
) - snd
- Terre ThaemlitzTerre ThaemlitzTerre Thaemlitz is a musician, public speaker, and owner of the record label. His work critically combines themes of identity politics - including gender, sexuality, class, linguistics, ethnicity and race - with an ongoing critique of the socio-economics of commercial media production...
- Porter Ricks
- Stewart WalkerStewart WalkerStewart Walker is a US born electronic music producer who lives and works in Berlin. Walker's forté is live performance, a rarity in the world of beat-driven electronic music, and he is known for contributing to the development of minimal techno with his 1999 album Stabiles.Walker played at the...
- Ultra-redUltra-redUltra-red are a sound art collective founded in 1994 by two AIDS activists. Originally based in Los Angeles, the collective has expanded over the years with members across North American and Europe...
- Cristian VogelCristian VogelCristian Vogel is an experimental electronic musician.-Biography:Cristian Vogel was born in Chile and moved to England in the mid 1970s. Vogel first began working with electronic compositions in the late 1980s with the Cabbage Head Collective...
- Curd DucaCurd DucaCurd Duca is an Austrian musician, composer and producer of electronic music.-Life and Work:He has played in the experimental groups “Auch wenn es seltsam kingen mag / even though it may sound strange)“,“8 ODER 9 / 8 OR 9“ and “Skin“...
- Wolfgang VoigtWolfgang VoigtWolfgang Voigt is an electronic music artist from Cologne, Germany, known for his output under various aliases on a plethora of record labels, including Warp, Harvest, Raster-Noton and Force Inc...
(best known as GasGas (musician)Gas is a project of Cologne, Germany-based electronic musician Wolfgang Voigt. Voigt cites his youthful LSD experiences in the Königsforst, a German forest situated near his hometown of Köln, as the inspiration behind the project...
) - OvalOval (band)- Work history :The band's original members were Markus Popp, Sebastian Oschatz, and Frank Metzger, although Oschatz and Metzger left the group in 1995. All three are regarded as pioneers of glitch, a genre of music that embraces the sound of damaged audio produced by the failure of digital...
- MicrostoriaMicrostoriaMicrostoria is an experimental electronic ensemble from Düsseldorf, Germany.Microstoria was founded in 1994 by Markus Popp and Jan St. Werner . Their first full-length arrived in 1995, released in Europe on the Mille Plateaux label and reissued in America on Thrill Jockey...
- Marvin AyresMarvin AyresMarvin Ayres is a british composer / cellist / violinist and producer. He has composed and recorded a diverse selection of minimalist albums, incorporating spatial soundscapes and psycho-acoustics and latterly 5.1 Surround Sound...
- Andreas TillianderAndreas TillianderBerndt Andreas Tilliander is a Swedish producer who significantly contributed to the evolution of the 'clicks & cuts' genre with his first albums 'Cliphop' and 'Ljud' . He has recorded several albums under just as many names and worked with some of Europe's influential electronic music labels...
Some artists released on the label (or its substitutes) between 2004 and 2010:
- Thomas KönerThomas KönerThomas Köner is a multimedia artist whose main interest lies in combining visual and auditory experiences. He's been noted for his use of low frequencies...
- Edith Progue
- Ran Slavin
- Bizz Circuits
Some artists released on the label after the relaunch of 2010:
- Ametsub
- Craig Vear
- Gultskra Artikler
- Kabutogani
- KliveKliveKlive is an Icelandic electronic musician, Úlfur Hansson . Klive's first album, Sweaty Psalms, was released in May 2008. It was recorded and written over two years, self-released but distributed by Kimi Records locally. The record received outstanding reviews in local newspapers and webzines, for...
- Wyatt Keusch
- Pleq