Hello to all friends of free music culture,
This was an exciting, eventful and thrilling year for our small netlabel “aaahh-records”, which spread its wings to different countries, took new artists on board and received fabulous press feedback from all over the world. Throughout the year we matured, spread word and music in the neverending spheres of netculture and reached the attention of numerous media and countless fans of independent music!
The turn of the year into the second decade of our century is a suitable occasion to look back and re-experience major events in the retrosperspective of a yet short but intensively and vividly lived history of our label- existance. Not only our inner structure changed but predominantly development took place in our repertoire, our heart and soul, our commitment: the bands.
2009 was our first full year of labelwork and after clearing and getting rid of certain issues in communication, slight differences in the fine-adjustement of our concept we could devote ourselfes even more to the one thing, that connects us all, no matter if in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne or Bielefeld: the music and the fun being attached to it’s free distribution and promotion,
For the first release of the year we could win the German-based band Ne:o and did not only enrich our catalogue with yet another great album but moreover received a wider musical variety by including them, the 5 young man love fiddling around with electronical equipment and juggle innovatively with genres like Jazz, Postrock and electronic Pop. Their album “Illoj” took three years in the making before finding it’s way into the public ear and it proves Ne:o’s precisely handled creativity and their tendency to an athmospheric perfectionalism.
For one of our artists 2009 was the year of constant success and reputation, the second album “Hydrophobia” from our output-miracle Julia Kotowski aka Entertainment for the braindead flooded the blogs of the continent already in 2008 and induced even established media to write praising reviews, invite her for interviews and last but not least: Livegigs.
Julia packed her suitcase for various countries and travelled along with her guitar, flutes, her new toy the banjo and her loopmachine through Poland, Germany and finally to the oversea-stages of the Loopfestival in California. She provided the music for a documentary on the German radio station “Deutschlandradio”, her tracks were creatively renewed through dozens of remixes and almost along the way the artstudent from Cologne amazingly comes up with extraordinary concepts. In the summer Julia went to the woods for recording a few songs in the peace and quietness of the nature for her “Raw Timber”- EP. Far away from citynoise and distraction she focused on the simpleness of guitar and her voice, leaving the usual cable tangle and the technical gadgets behind.
Again our friends and very first Aaahh-band, the folk- duo “The Wind Whistles” have been extremely active, their will and appetite for travelling and producing is not to be stilled and brought us a wonderful summertour and a brandnew and in many matters surprising album. “Animals are people too” is not only a manifest of their love for folk any longer but refers to Liza’s and Tom’s affection for Punk and Grunge, being more band-orientated and purely, more rock than folk. All those changes however are always made carefully under the assumption that the duo can still operate with acoustic instruments when being on tour.
In addition to their new album The Wind Whistles provide us with another one being accessible for those nice people who decide to support the band with a donation.
In late summer we could finally release what we have spotted a long time ago: Emilie Lund, another young member of the unfailing swedish talent factory. The singer/songwriter became part of our aaahh-family and treats us with her self-titled EP of empathetic lo-fi indiefolk, coming directly from Emilie’s musical inspiration and place to rest: the beautiful fields and meadows of Sweden.
A definitive highlight in the labelhistory of all time is the novembertour of 2009, where we send two of our bands on the way to bring music and joy to the people in German cities, so Ne:o and Keyboard Rebel from Manchester kicked off a week of entertainment, motivation and unshakable joy to play music- which in the end compensated the hassle we had with booking the gigs. The experiment to bring the two bands together merged into the development of friendships, the audiences became fans. An awesome experience which has to be repeated in the future.
Needless to say that aaahh not only moved and processed on a – for the public visible level. In cause of the months a few members spread into the world, Bielefeld, the former capital and initial point of aaahh lost two founders of the label, Christian moved to his home city Berlin and Henning was swept away to the country of his nostalgic dreams: Sweden. Other locations of our in the closest meaning of the word – globalist netlabel are Leipig and Belfast and despite emerging difficulties with a regular communication we were able to happily toast onto the birthday of our collective baby: aaahh-records became one year old in may!
Not only the bands but as well us as the operators attracted the notice of the media, on the “Cologne Commons” Christian took up the cudgels for creative commons licenses and provided an insight of the work in a netlabel, moreover we were guests at the Netaudo festival in Berlin, took part in the music fair “Pop-Up” and were portrayed as an example for free netculture by the German TV-programme “Deutsche Welle TV”.
At this point we think there should be space and time to give our regards and our deepest thanks to the many many bloggers, mediapeople and especially to all the lovely folks who daily take part in the concept and idea of aaahh and creative commons; who download the music and share it, buy CDs, donate money and help our bands to keep up their work and maintain free music culture by coming to the Livegigs. We feel chuffed and honoured by the support and had a most exciting and great year as a label, thus we want you to collect a present, which we come up with nearly spontaneously just after New Years Evening! Once again we found a intriguing band from another country, which will not only offer you music! The first release of the new year will be a interdisciplinary art project, ready for you to pick up just after floating into 2010!
A happy new year!
your Aaahh’s: Anna, Christian, Henning, Jochen, Patrick, Judith
