A Different Angle

The early September release and subsequent acclaim for Balam Acab's richly impressionistic debut album WANDER/ WONDER was not only an achievement for the talented 20-something Pennsylvanian, it was the latest in a string of successes for Tri-Angle Records, a year-old music label that has quickly established itself at the vanguard of the most forward thinking, substantive electronic music being produced today.

With a talent roster that includes How to Dress Well, Holy Other, oOoOO, Clams Casino and Balam Acab, it's obvious the New York City-based company is broadcasting on its own spectral frequency.

"I think we are all interested in presenting something that isn't easily analyzed or defined," says 25-year old, UK-born label founder Robin Carolan, who runs the operation by himself from a small office with a determined, minimalist DIY approach.  "I'd rather people make their own judgments. When you're truly confident in what you're releasing, you can let the music speak for itself."

Carolan made his name in the independent music world through his work with the UK-based mp3 blog 20 Jazz Funk Greats. During the summer of 2010 he casually began asking around for advice on running a record label. Within a week of inquiries, he was offered a pressing and distribution deal.

"Before I started Tri-Angle I never had any experience of running a label or even working at one, so seeing things progress forced me to learn shit quickly," says Carolan. "It was sink or swim, basically."

But in that first whirlwind week, Carolan managed to stumble upon the minimal two-song MySpace page of a 19-year-old electronic musician in Mechanicsburg, PA. After listening to the atmospheric, dubstep track "See Birds," Carolan knew Alec Koone, otherwise known as Balam Acab, would be the first artist for his nascent label.

"The fact that I couldn't really get a handle on what I was listening to excited me massively," says Carolan. "The music seemed to inhabit its own, very private world and 'See Birds' seemed like parallel universe pop classic to me. I knew I had to work with him."

The "See Birds" single was released in August of 2010 and was followed by four releases over the next nine months by four artists that came to establish the Tri-Angle Records sound: the witch-house disco of oOoOO's EP, the dubstep-infused R+B of How to Dress Well's Love Remains, the harrowing club bangers of Holy Other's With U EP, and the avant-garde instrumental hip-hop of Clams Casino's Rainforest EP.

And now, WONDER/WANDER brings the label full-circle in its first year of existence for Carolan (who admits he cryied the first time he listened to the album), capping a remarkable run of released music. But while year one may have focused mostly on EP releases and distinguishing Tri-Angle Records from an endless sea of like-minded independent labels, Carolan promises coming months for the upstart label will see the production of more full-length albums, all done via the minimalist, abstract approach at the heart of Tri-Angle.

"I often think about horror movies when I think about my aesthetic approach to the label,"  says Carolan. "The horror movies that have the most impact, the ones that haunt you longest, are the ones that never totally reveal the identity of the evil at the heart of the story."