In a time of great upheaval in the music industry, many mainstream labels struggle to find a role in the fast changing media landscape. This proves even more so for the extremely niche market that is modern chip. The best labels have in common a love of the music they release, firm quality control, and a strong ability to support and promote the artists on their roster.
The nominees are:
Kittenrock – This label celebrates excellence as well as diversity with a flood of great and interesting releases in 2008. Tracks from Silreq, My Two Robodads, and uberkin Stevens were marked not only by a strong experimental leaning, but also superb composition.
Retinascan – An anachronism and a sort of reaction against the glut of me too netlabels, Retinascan delivers hand made cd-rs chosen from some of the greats like Stu, Jellica, our own 8GB, and more. By making the runs short and the tracks great, they created a sort of unique excitement that gave a refreshing alternative to the free data flood that often overwhelms all but the most unique voices in the chip scene.
II – Running roughshod over our collective mp3 devices, this label hit the ground running with an great Linde release and did not let up all year long. Highlights included Animal Style, Disasterpeace’s Level, The Final Chromeledeon reissues, EvilWeezil, Alex Mauer and more. II not only releases great chip music, but music that often transcends many genres, and often of very high quality both in composition, sound design, and overall presentation
Shanshui – The unfortunate reality is most of the focus of the world is on on the western, Caucasian, and American edges of the genre. Shansui appears to be propping the entirety of the nascent Chinese chip community on their backs, organizing tours and releasing excellent records from the greats in theirs and the worldwide community. It seems a surety that if the community is to grow it must become far more diverse and this label is an exciting first step.
8bitpeoples – The venerable (and maybe even stately?) netlabel chugged along with another excellent year of releases. As well as showcasing some of chip’s top artists (in a more or less timely manner), they hosted another Blip Festival and served as an excellent ambassador to the outside world and media time and time again.