(thing) by station23 Mon Dec 10 2001 at 13:53:24
Austrian record label, owned by Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister. Created in 1993, the label is famed for chilled out, laid-back music, heavily influenced by drum & bass, trip hop, and acid jazz. Kruder and Dorfmeister themselves are certainly the most famous act on the label, and many of the other acts are pseudonyms or alternate projects for the duo (for example Tosca, which is a Dorfmeister project). However, the label does release other acts, which are almost always very high-quality and well produced (since these acts have to satisfy the ears of Kruder and Dorfmeister themselves, this is no surprise...). In Britain, Gilles Peterson has championed the label, and new releases are often played on his radio show pre-release.

Despite the critical acclaim the label has received, and Kruder and Dorfmeister themselves becoming essential listening for anyone aspiring to be 'trendy' and cutting-edge, they still produce quality tunes, fairly independently of the market forces. In fact, they go out of their way to avoid the big bucks, and the associated media circus.

This philosophy is probably summed up best in an extract from an e-mail exchange between the G-stone record label and a producer wanting to use their music in a new film, which is reproduced in 'The G-stone book':

'a disco scene set to a chilly, slo-mo track? this maybe filed under 'artistical freedom' obviously, but still i believe taking 'worn out' k+d stuff as film music in 2000 can only be - attention!- irony! - the choice of fifty years+ directors who wear trainers and heard this music for the first time when they had sex with the teenage script girl (who adores k+d), while their wifes are taking yoga lessons, cause they are feeling so empty inside'

Couldn't agree more.

The one consistent criticism I have heard of the label is that much of the music sounds so similar. Clearly, this divides people into two camps - those who think that this shows a lack of originality, and those who think that the 'G-stone sound' is so perfect that it couldn't be improved anyway... The reality is probably somewhere in between. While it is unfair to label all their music as 'the same' (Compare the 'Bug powder dust' remix, dark, threatening quasi-hip-hop, to 'Chocolate Elvis', a cheeky up-lifting, get-your-ass-on-the-dance-floor kind of track...), it is true that sometimes it becomes a little predictable over the course of an album (Tosca's Suzuki might even contain, (dare I say it?), filler...)

Overall, an important label, that is moving music forward in new and exciting directions, and looking damn cool while doing it. Just be aware of the mesmerising effects of too much G-stone...

Complete list of G-stone releases/remixes/productions 1993-2000
Taken from 'The G-stone book'.

I like it! 1 C!

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