Немного информации об одном из главных музыкальных лэйблов.

The British indie rock record label 4AD was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records.

It was originally formed as Axis Records, but this was quickly changed to 4AD when it became apparent that the name Axis was already being used by another music company. In 1980 Kent left the company to start another label (also funded by Beggars Banquet): Situation Two Records. Shortly afterwards, Watts-Russell invited the graphic designer Vaughan Oliver to create sleeve art for the label and as a result 4AD quickly acquired a visually distinctive identity which complemented the artful and atmospheric music that it was releasing at that time. Its artists like the Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance developed substantial cult followings in the mid-1980s, but 4AD continued to evolve, and, after resigning to Throwing Muses and Pixies, the label increasingly concentrated on underground American rock music. At the same time, 4AD somehow had a freak UK Number One hit in the early days of House music with the collaged and influential "Pump Up The Volume" by M/A/R/R/S.

In the 1990s, 4AD established an office in Los Angeles and enjoyed success with bands such as The Breeders, Red House Painters, Unrest, and His Name Is Alive. In 1999, Watts-Russell sold his share in 4 A.D. Limited back to the Beggars Group (as it had by then become), but the label continued to release music and add new artists to its roster.

Очень немногие независимые лейблы могут похвастаться таким своеобразием в эстетическом и музыкальном плане, как 4AD. Фирма была основана в начале 1980 г. Айво Уотсом-Расселом (Ivo Watts-Russell) и Питером Кентом (Peter Kent) (оба они тогда работали на Beggars Banquet) после того, как они услышали демо новой группы Modern English.

Cначала лейбл назывался Axis и на нем вышла первая серия синглов таких исполнителей, как The Fast Set, The Bearz, Shox и - что особенно важно - Bauhaus. Но затем во избежание путаницы (компания с таким названием уже существовала) название сменили, и так родился лейбл 4AD. Заем в 2000 фунтов стерлингов у Beggars Banquet помог 4AD сдвинуться с мертвой точки и подписать контракты кроме прочих с такими иcполнителями, как Modern English, In Camera, Mass, Dance Chapter и Rema Rema. Кент вскоре ушел для того, чтобы основать Situation 2; он много работал с Bauhaus, которые затем перешли на Beggars Banquet. Тем не менее фирма 4AD отошла от своей родительской компании, свидетельством чего стали сингл тогда еще никому не известных The The (а позднее и их полный альбом) плюс несколько бескомпромиссных пластинок австралийской группы The Birthday Party; кроме того 4AD приняла под свое крыло бывших членов группы Wire: Брюса Гилберта (Bruce Gilbert), Грэма Льюиса (Graham Lewis) и Колина Ньюмана (Colin Newman).

1981-1982 годы принесли 4AD новых исполнителей - таких эклектичных, как Sort Col, The Past Seven Days, My Captains, Dif Juz и The Happy Family (первая группа певца, известного под псевдонимом Momus), а также работы бывших членов Bauhaus Дэвида Джея (David Jay) и Дэниэла Эша (Daniel Ash)/Tones On Tail и Лидию Ланч (Lydia Lunch) в сотрудничестве с Роландом С. Ховардом (Rowland S. Howard) из The Birthday Party. В это же время происходит еще более важное событие: Айво натыкается на The Cocteau Twins, которые не только становятся ведущей группой лейбла, но и впервые создают ту эфирную, неземную музыку, которая сегодня cчитается отличительным признаком пластинок 4AD; в немалой степени созданию имиджа группы и лейбла способствовало оформление обложек пластинок художественной студией Вона Оливера (Vaughn Oliver) под названием 23 Envelope.

Опорой 4AD стали также Colourbox, олицетворявшие собой экспериментальный подход лейбла к звукозаписи и работе в студии, а также группа готического рока X-Mal Deutschland. В 1983 г. Айво объединился с The Cocteau Twins и другими артистами лейбла для создания своего собственного проекта This Mortal Coil, получившего поддержку критики и имевшего коммерческий успех.

В середине 80-х фирма 4AD почти не заключала контрактов с новыми артистами (не считая Dead Can Dance, Xymox, Richenel и The Wolfgang Press), а сосредоточилась на работе с исполнителями из уже существовавшего списка. С другой стороны, конец 80-х указал на определенную переоценку ценностей: с лейбла ушли Colourbox, и были подписаны контракты с такими новыми американскими группами, как Throwing Muses, The Pixies из Бостона и Ultra Vivid Scene из Нью-Йорка. На короткое время на 4AD пришли влиятельные, но часто недооцениваемые A.R.Kane; их появление привело к возникновению одноразового проекта с участием членов группы Colourbox - M.A.R.R.S.'s "Pump Up The Volume". Cтавший в Великобритании No.1, этот сингл был, вероятно, первым успешным сцеплением белого рока с танцевальными ритмами, подготовив почву для коммерческой и художественной революции в британской танцевальной и независимой музыке. После значительного коммерческого успеха The Pixies новое десятилетие началось с атаки гитарных групп Lush и The Pale Saints. По пятам за ними пришли The Breeders - проект с участием членов The Pixies, Throwing Muses и некоторых других групп. Шагая по туго натянутому канату между финансовым благополучием и художественной чистотой, 4AD предлагали и предлагают впечатляющий и разнообразный список исполнителей на всем протяжении 80-х и даже 90-х годов. Так в середине 90-ых на лейбле появились исполнители, играющие мягкий, мелодичный рок, широко использующие акустические инструменты: Red House Painters, Lisa Germano, Kendra Smith. Среди новых групп лейбла конца 90-ых - Tarnation, Air Miami, The Amps (новый проект бывшей участницы Pixies и Breeders Ким Дил), Scheer, Mojave 3, The Paladins и, конечно, Gus Gus, играющие не столь обычную для 4AD музыку, но тем не менее ставшие сенсацией 1997-го года.

http://www.feelee.ru/label.php?show=labels.world.4ad

List of 4AD groups:

Air Miami

The Amps

A. R. Kane

Daniel Ash & Glenn Campling

The Birthday Party / Lydia Lunch

Frank Black

The Breeders

Michael Brook

Budd / Fraser / Guthrie / Raymonde

Lisa Gerrard & Pieter Bourke

B. C. Gilbert / G. Lewis

The Glee Club

Gus Gus

Rene Halkett / David Jay

Han Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard

Rowland S. Howard / Lydia Lunch

Pieter Nooten / Michael Brook

Almost all of the musicians in the current 4AD stable of artists have pretty good and regularly updated official sites. Be sure to visit these sites to get all the latest news and join their individual message boards for intimate discussion of band-centric topics. Many of the sites offer MP3s too!

Blonde Redhead
The Breeders
Celebration
Tanya Donelly
50 Foot Wave (excluding the US)
Lisa Gerrard
Rachel Goswell
Neil Halstead
Kristin Hersh
The Hope Blister
Johann Johannson
The Late Cord
Magnetophone
Cass McCombs (excluding the US and Canada)
Minotaur Shock
Mojave 3
The Mountain Goats
Brendan Perry
Emma Pollock
Sybarite
TV On The Radio (excluding the US and Canada)
M. Ward (excluding the US and Canada)
Wolf & Cub (excluding Australia and New Zealand)

RECORD COMPANIES

4AD
Official homepage of 4AD featuring news, tour dates, sound samples and an online store.

Beggars Banquet
Parent label of 4AD and gateway to their impressive family of labels.

Beggars Banquet US
For details on what the Beggars Banquet labels are doing in the United States.

Beggars Group Canada
The official site for Beggars Group in Canada was launched February 11, 2002.

Beggars Group Germany
For details on what the Beggars Banquet labels are doing in Germany.

Spin-Go! Italy
For details on what the Beggars Banquet labels are doing in Italy.

Remote Control Records Australia
Home of the Beggars Group labels in Australia and New Zealand.

Everlasting Spain
Where 4AD and the other Beggars Group labels call home in the country of Spain.

Time Stereo
Official home to all things His Name Is Alive and Detroit based Time Stereo label related.

Bella Union
Homepage of the label created by former Cocteau Twin members Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie.

Creation Records
Unofficial but officially endorsed site of another great UK label, home to Primal Scream and Oasis.

Factory and Les Disques du Crepuscule
The authoritative information source dedicated to two amazing labels that rank among the best labels of the world.

Pop Tones
You can't keep former Creation boss Alan McGee down and PopTones is proof of that!

Eighteenth Street Lounge Music
The official site for 4AD's Thievery Corporation and their Washington, DC based label ESL.

TeenBeat Records
Official site of TeenBeat Records run by Mark Robinson who used to be in 4AD's Unrest and Air Miami.

Alternative Distribution Alliance
4AD and Beggars Banquet's primary US distributer.

Pleasantly Surprised
An unofficial but easily most comprehensive of sites about the mysterious label that all 4AD fans should know about.

VARIOUS RELATED SITES

AV Deck
The official online streaming radio station of the Beggars Banquet Group.

Sweet Fool The Mouth
Featuring transcriptions of interviews that appeared on the AV Deck internet radio program.

PlayLouder
4AD's editorial and music downlink partner.

Eyesore
An exhaustive and detailed yet slightly out of date look at 4AD in a database style.

Rare (Authorized mirrors: UK dead?, USA)
A new song every week in this ongoing series exposing hard-to-find 4AD music in MP3 format.

The Hope Chest: A 4AD Trading Forum
Much like the buy/sell forum at the official 4AD site but it seems you can list any 4AD item new or old.

The 4AD Web Ring
Offering more sites with extensive details about all things 4AD and label related...

4ad-l FAQ
The (neglected yet still informative) companion site to the now defunct 4AD mailing list.

4AD: The First 20 Years
A beautiful site featuring sleeve scans and info of all 4AD releases from 1980 through 1999.

4AD Compilations: The Unofficial Index (Abridged)
Another beautiful and informational site from the maker of "4AD: The First 20 Years".

Emiel's Concert Photography
Original author of The Other Site offers us some neat 4AD and related concert photography.

4AD: The Perfect Antidote
Another fine discography and information site with current listings and news.

St. Ann's Press
Home of former 4AD CEO Robin Hurley's publishing venture of photography oriented books.

Simon Larbalestier
Official homepage of photographic artist best known for his work on early Pixies releases like "Doolittle".

Vaughan Oliver
About as close to an official v23 site as you'll get, with empasis placed on the works of Mr. Vaughan Oliver. (In Swedish)

Driving @ Light: 4AD Promo Catalogue
A site devoted to the seemingly endless promotional releases from 4AD over the years from Ian. Also visit Ian's 4AD blog!

Beestung.com
Catch up on rare Throwing Muses, Kristin Hersh, Belly and Tanya Donelly MP3 files.

Beestung.net
Another great Kristin Hersh/Throwing Muses online resource with extensive lyrics among other stuff.

4AD Chat
Very unofficial live text chat about the label known as 4AD.

4AD at Yahoo! Groups
Where you can meet with other fans of 4AD in a friendly, interactive setting and join their mailing list.

Supernova Sugar Rush
She's not really that evil at all but that's what site creator Beth likes to call herself. She's a wonderful and talented friend of mine.

ARTIST SITES

Vinny Miller
The final signing by 4AD label co-founder Ivo Watts-Russell - and boy is he a vanguard! Not anything like you've heard of before!

Throwing Muses
The official site of Throwing Muses, Kristin Hersh, Lakuna and Hersh's latest band called 50 Foot Wave.

Blonde Redhead
Excellent fan site with up to date tour and news about one of 4AD's excellent new signings.

Kingdom Of Blonde Redhead
Another fine fan site for the band with this particular one based in France.

Laure Barreteau Blonde Redhead page
A second and also very fine, regularly updated, French-based fan site dedicated to Blonde Redhead.

Kazuality.com
This is an Italian-based fan site serving up lyrics to the songs of Blond Redhead.

Scott Walker at pHinnweb
A very good and regularly updated fan-created page for 4AD's new signing Scott Waler.

Scott Walker
Nice discography and biography info for Scott Walker can be found at Chad's site. He has a few other cool music sites here too.

Throwing Muses Discography
A new site that aims to cover all the various releases from Throwing Muses, including cover scans and great archived details.

Glory Weed: All About 50 Foot Wave
The new power trio from Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses now has a comprehensive and reliable information source.

Pixies Music
New site dedicated the the freshly back from the dead Pixies, who continue to sell out concerts and sell stacks of albums.

Harold Budd
A new site dedicated to the man who formed one quarter of the band that created the 4AD album "The Moon And The Melodies" by Budd, Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde (aka Cocteau Twins).

Kuchen
An info page about former Pale Saints member Meriel Barham and her new project Kuchen.

Andersen M Studio
The official site of v23 collaborator Martin Andersen who produced several recent classic sleeve designs for 4AD.

Timothy O'Donnell
An impressive designer and illustrator whose work for 4AD speaks for itself. Thank you Roy for the above two links!

Dead Can Dance Info
A brand new site devoted to Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard's band that helped define the 4AD label sound.

The Wolfgang Press
New site dedicated to 4AD's uber dark horses The Wolfgang Press.

The Wolfgang Press Homepage
Older but still quite good Russian site with lyrics and a good discography.

Scotty's Tanya Donelly Site
Another new site that compliments the existing official and unofficial portals for Tanya Donelly info.

Lisa Germano
The official site of Lisa Germano, complete with lots of free MP3s and your chance to buy exclusive Germano CDs.

Lisa Germano Online
The site has finally returned and you can access it via its new lisagermano.org link.

Lisa Germano Guillotine Love
Another current site that earns points by archiving a lot of articles, interviews and media that you may not have seen.

Jenny Toomey
One of indie rocks most charming and dedicated artists is former Tsunami, Liquorice and Simple Machines label honcho.

Louise Rutkowski
The amazing singer from This Mortal Coil and The Hope Blister now has a slick looking site online!

Piano Magic
The official site of 4AD's recent signings with a comprehensive discography and biography.

Cuba Website 1
Originally planned as a new feature here at Facing the wrong way, now its own website.

Bettie Serveert
The official site of one of 4AD's finest bands who only released their debut album via 4AD's Guernica offshoot label in 1992.

Elizabeth Fraser
A very good site designed for former Cocteau Twin vocalist Elizabeth Fraser.

Elizabeth Fraser
A second site devoted to Elizabeth Fraser which is also very well worth checking out.

Cocteau Twins
Endorsed by the band themselves, this is a very comprehensive source of info for this popular 4AD group.

cocteautwinsforums.com
The official discussion forum for all things relating to the Cocteau Twins and the individual band members.

CocteauFest
Started in 2003 as a way for Cocteau Twins fans to meet in person, the CocteauFest proved very popular and will spawn more meetings in the future. A must-attend event for fans!

Cocteau Twins
Another excellent Cocteau Twins site full of all the detailed information relating to the band.

Cocteau Twins
A fine site by the lovely UK-based Erinn featuring a wealth of information in a nicely designed format.

Violet Indiana
Everything you need to know about former Cocteau Twin member Robin Guthrie and his new band.

Simon Raymonde
Another former Cocteau Twin member with his very own informative and detailed website.

This Mortal Coil
If looking for information on Ivo Watts-Russell's musical enigma then this is the site for you.

This Mortal Coil
Another site devoted to Ivo's musical project from the ceator of the new Harold Budd site.

Michael Brook Breakdown
Very informative and current site detailing all his solo work and other current projects.

Dead Can Dance
A fine site for Dead Can Dance with info on Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard.

Lisa Germano
Compiles a lot of information about Germano including some very good interviews.

Mojave 3
An unofficial Mojave 3 site with lots of information related to one of 4AD's best bands.

Stew's Tanya Donelly Site
A very nicely designed and regularly updated site dedicated to former Throwing Muses and Belly artist.

Colourbox
One of 4AD's most criminally ignored bands now has a fine unofficial site.

Colourbox
Another site devoted to Martyn and Steven Young's musical enigma that deserves to be acknowledged by the masses.

Lazlo's Colourbox Discography Machine
Impressive site with detailed discography and list of samples used by the band.

Ultra Vivid Scene Archive
Another great unofficial site for a classic 4AD group known as Ultra Vivid Scene.

Limehouse Outlaw
Previously in The Wolfgang Press, Andrew Gray is now solo and creating interesting sounds.

Barging Into The Presence
A superb unofficial site dedicated to another brilliant 4AD group called Pale Saints.

Gus Gus PolyNet
A French site (in English) devoted to Iceland's unique performance collective called Gus Gus.

Petony
It's sheep rawk for the masses from this Ontario-based band that kicks ass and makes you laugh too.

Titania
One of Canada's best kept musical secrets, formerly known as The Sensualists before another band stole the name.

STORES

Stormy Records
Great Detroit area music store with lots of rarities from His Name Is Alive and Time Stereo.

Art Books
Buy 4AD related books from Vaughan Oliver/v23, Tom Baril and Shinro Ohtake here.

Amazon
One of the largest online retailers has a pile of 4AD stuff, some at pretty good prices too.

Esprit
Where you can buy ultra rare 4AD items but expect to pay a premium however. Good place to hunt for rarities.

ONLINE ZINES

Warped Reality
With special attention to 4AD related bands, Warped Reality is a must-bookmark site you'll return to again and again.

jennatonic
If you live in the Austin, Texas area and love music then this site for you. Run by a genuine music lover named Jenna.

The Big Takeover
Jack Rabid's amazing music magazine with in depth interviews and articiles.

Dewdrops
Once a 4AD fanzine and now a label offering uncommon music that deserves to be heard.

Comes With A Smile
Superb UK fanzine that offers a lot of 4AD related content and a freebie compilation CD of great music.

Sense Music Zine
A great English language version of the 4AD and related music hard copy zine from Greece.

Losing Today
A glossy magazine dedicated to the shoegaze scene but has since expanded its scope slightly.

AUCTIONS

4AD Auctions at eBay
Rare and not so rare 4AD releases can be found at this popular auctuion site, often very inexpensively too!

LUSH / LAST.FM

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Saint-Petersburg , Russia ... 2006 , WRITE ME