Netlabel Profile: Introduction
On this episode of Netlabel Profiles we’re going to dip our toes into the catalog of a label that describes itself as being “…for experimental music…” based in a country where getting caught speeding often carries a more serious fine than getting caught with drugs. However, if you are caught drinking and driving it’s a mandatory 30 day jail sentence, and your license is revoked.
Of course, this is also the country where you can have the wrong clothing. The weather is never bad.
It’s also a country that has voted against joining the EU several times, but has enacted more EU directives than any member state.
Talking to strangers on the bus is considered rude.
However, the capital of this country is over half forest, and despite being one of the largest capitals in Europe has one of the smallest populations.
What is this label? And where world are they? All will be revealed as Netlabel Profiles continues after this track…
Mars Melons Profile
That was Scuba, by Dueling Ants from the Mars Melons Netlabel, in Oslo, Norway.
Originally the label was conceived during Christmas of 2008 when Morten Dilevski Molthe re-discovered a trove of weird music that he and his friends had made. He decided that it would be a shame to not release the music and make it available to his friends.
The label officially launched on July 10th, 2009.
Over the years they have developed the philosophy:
No sound is too small. Weird music is fun. We want to be an arena for people to showcase their music, however strange their music may sound. We’re also psyched about preserving our time’s “folk music” – music made by “regular people”. Music made for the pure pleasure of making music.
At the time this profile was written, Mars Melons has ninety-five release in their catalog. All of their releases are under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial license and are not available for commercial use, following their philosophy.
We heard a track from Duelling Ants during the opening of the show. During the remainder of the show we’ll hear music from: Boblebad, Eddie Tambongo, Hamstern & The Pepsikids, Harvey Steel & The Harvey Steel Tribute Band, stegan, Stjerna, The Southern Halos, Lamek, The Secret Sound and a few more artists.
Let’s dig into this labels eclectic catalog of curiosities…
Netlabel Profile Closing
Thanks for joining us for Netlabel Profiles featuring the Mars Melons netlabel. If you enjoyed the music on this how, be sure to check out Mars Melons at http://www.marsmelons.com/
This show is released under a Creative Commons, Attribution, Non-Commercial Share Alike license. All of the music from Mars Melons is released under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial license.
Be sure to check out the enhanced version of this show on The CerebralRift (http://cerebralrift.org). The posting on The CerebralRift includes:
- Additional tunes from the Mars Melons catalog
- Links to all the music played on this show
- Links to the references used in preparing the profile of Mars Melons
- Links to the Mars Melons website, and social media sites
- A printed version of the profile
- And an exclusive printed interview with Mars Melon founder Morten Dilevski Molthe
Thanks for joining us for Netlabel Profiles. This is your host SndChaser signing off, and wishing you the best of free listening!
Mars Melons Links
Label Mars Melons
Email mail_at_marsmelons.com
Website http://www.marsmelons.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/marsmelonsrecords
Twitter @marsmelons
SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/marsmelonsrecords
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/MarsMelonsRecords
Mars Melons Interview
1. Please introduce yourself.
I’m Morten, I’m 30, live with my girl and cat (and very soon a baby) in Oslo, work as a type of nurse during the day, run the label on the side. I make music myself, mostly electronic stuff (I have a massive modular that I’ve assembled over the last couple of years). Big fan of Tottenham Hotspur FC, a vegetarian, I like to draw, also into ice-hockey and floorball, love being out in nature.
2. How did you decide that you wanted to run a netlabel?
We were at a friend’s cabin recording a silly jam when I decided it would be cool to make a “fake” label for below par music that would present itself as serious music as a sort of gag (I keep getting annoyed by music writers that write very pompously about music). So I wanted to write super pompously about the music and see if people would get that it was a joke or not. So it started out as a gag, but once the label got started it became obvious to me that we had quite a lot of good music to release (pretty much every person I know turned out to be into making music). The over-the-top presentations are still there as a sort of gag, but (most of) the music that’s been released since the first 3-4 releases is “real” music, and quite a lot of it pretty good, in my opinion.
3. Why did you decide to release your works under a Creative Commons license?
It was a natural thing, really. It’s in the main philosophy behind the label, we make music because it’s something we enjoy and want to share with other people, not (primarily) because we want to make money off of it.
4. How much time do you spend on running your netlabel?
It depends. It’s a periodical thing. It used to be a hell of a lot of work. It’s basically just me running it, and I spend probably about 3 hours on every release (but it used to be more). I’ve tried to streamline the process of getting a release out now, and it’s been working quite well so far. I’ve tried to get people to help me out with marketing (which I suck at), but no luck so far. All in all though, I’ve probably spent close to a 1000 hours on it (web-designing, uploading, writing, making covers, contacting people, writing mails back and forth etc) since the label started back in the summer of 2009.
5. Have there been any projects (ie netlabel related, but not necessarily about a release, like maybe you set up a concert / festival / etc.) that are especially memorable to you?
We’ve had a few gigs and a couple of festivals. I’d say the outdoor festivals in someone’s backyard have been the best experiences.
6. Is there a long-term goal for your label?
We just want to continue releasing our time’s folk music – which in this case is just music made by people I know. That’s kind of a stupid criteria for getting a release out, haha, but if you know me some how, then there’s a chance of a release. We were accepting demos at one point, but it was just waaaay too much too handle. Everyone and their grandma is making music. The goal is to keep preserving our music, archive it.
7. Are you involved in anything else other than producing music?
We have a few t-shirts for sale, yes. Also, a lot of the bands and artists are making videos. The Harvey Steel Show is kind of a traveling theater of weirdness.
8. Any cool stories about projects / releases?
Yeah, let’s see. We’ve been a featured label on an Hungarian radio station, had a couple of hours of air play down there. A piece of music I made a few years ago (as Happy League Cactus) has recently been featured in a documentary series about eagles that have gotten quite popular over here over the last couple of months (it had like 100k viewers in April alone). Lamek recorded large parts of his record with The Wailers on an afterparty after a Wailers show in Oslo a few years back – that’s pretty damn cool.
9. What is your take on the future of music?
It’s hard to say. I think Spotify and the likes are doing a better job in getting good music out to the masses than most radio stations are, for instance. I’d love for someone to figure out a way for artists to get paid fairly for their music, obviously, but people will continue to make music regardless, so I’m not exactly worried about “the future of music”. If someone doesn’t want to make music because they won’t make any money on it, then good riddance.
10. Any upcoming projects / releases / events you would like to mention?
There’s quite a lot of releases in the pipeline. Reggae from Wild Man Riddim (they’re big in Oslo), punk-rock from Lord Panzer & Møkkamennene, electronic stuff from Fruktnött (they started out way back in 2002 or something, and they’re awesome), I think we have another West Bank Robbers record on the way (another great punk band), Eddie Tambongo will have some of his trademark kraut-hip-hop out soon too, and we’ll probably hear more from Phlu soon – possibly under a different moniker – he’s crazy productive, keeps pumping out hits. And I have a host of stuff of my own, which I’m in the process of sorting through.
We’d like to get some more shows/concerts going, but nothing set just yet.
Research / References
- Wikipedia Olso Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo
- Top 10 facts about Oslo: http://www.globalblue.com/destinations/norway/oslo/top-10-facts-about-oslo
- 10 Interesting Facts About Oslo: http://www.sk.uniglobeactiontravel.com/post/view/10-interesting-facts-about-oslo
- Strange and interesting facts about Norway: http://blogs.transparent.com/norwegian/strange-and-interesting-facts-about-norway/
- 22 Interesting Facts About Norway: http://truenomads.com/2013/04/22-interesting-facts-about-norway/
Playlist
Duelling Ants Scuba
Boblebad Boblebad
Eddie Tambongo Dusty Days
Hamstern & The Pepsikids Jeg Reiser Meg
Harvey Steel & The Harvey Steel Tribute Band Jupiter Ascending
Stegan No One Forced James
Stjerna 3
The Southern Halos If Pigs Could Fly
Lamek Lås Og Slå feat. Dizzet & Kaliber
The Secret Sound Enter Into And Out
Muffa Grange Silent Snow
West Bank Robbers Lokfører
U Trip Here We Go *
Skiftende Bris While I’m Still Breathing *
