WA-Musik is a record label for experimental music, a record distributor and a music store. A-Musik is based in Cologne and was founded in 1995.
WAmphetamine Reptile Records is a record label which was founded in 1986 by Tom Hazelmyer in Washington state. The label specializes in noise rock and also released Strap It On, the debut album by alternative metal band Helmet which sold more than 40,000 records. According to Hazelmyer, the success of the album was vital to keeping AmRep going throughout the 1990s, as it "helped support the other things that sold less." The label was the subject of the 2014 documentary The Color of Noise.
WAsthmatic Kitty is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by a community of musicians from Holland, Michigan led by Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. Some were Holland natives, and others had come to attend local colleges and universities. While the original Holland nucleus has dispersed across the country, the community has grown, with new artists and shared projects with other independent labels. The Library Catalog Music Series, inaugurated in 2009, showcases instrumental music by a wide variety of musicians, with eighteen albums in print as of February 2013, and more scheduled for release. Asthmatic Kitty is now based in Lander, Wyoming, Indianapolis, IN and Brooklyn, NY.
WAstral Spirits Records is an independent record label specializing in free jazz, improvisation, and experimental music. Based in Austin, Texas, the label was founded in 2014 by musician Nathan Cross, who started Astral Spirits as a platform for "the new wave of heavy free jazz"; as the breadth of the label's offerings expanded, imprint Astral Editions became the home for its more experimental releases.
WAtypeek Music is an international digital label, which resulted from the association of Go Get Organized (GGO) and Agony. GGO is one of the last French alternative labels. The name of the label Go Get Organized comes from a song by the Redskins; it enhances the commitment of this generation's independent labels. It was founded in 1988 by a group of artists and musicians. The label explored a surprisingly large panel of genres at the time, going through garage rock, hardcore, stoner rock, grunge, noise music, no wave, jazz-core and industrial music. The label soon stands out from other French labels and the alternative music stage by looking for on unusual artists, taking a particular interest in grunge music, American noise rock, experimental and minimalist music such as the work of the very controversial Patrick Dorobisz, Witches Valley, Lucrate Milk, Moodie Black, Dookoom, Genghis Khan, Les Vulves Assassines or Schlaasss. In 1992, the label signs a licensing agreement for Monster Magnet’s first album Spine Of God with Primo Scree. In 1993, the label changes its name and becomes Agony. Agony then became GGO, turning more toward noise rock with bands such as Enablers, Davy Jones Locker, Hint, Condense, Heliogabale or Kill the Thrill before becoming Atypeek Music in 2013. It is also during this year that its previous productions and new artists are shared on digital platforms. Artists released on Atypeek Music: Barbara Panther, Chris Conde, Ben Sharpa, Anne Horel, Palo Alto... Atypeek Music stays under the artistic direction of Christophe Féray. Atypeek Music has taken in artists from partner labels like Disques Futura et Marge, Noise Product, Dokidoki, Solar Flare, Permis de Construire Deutschland (PDCD), micr0lab and RecRec Music. Atypeek Music's distributed on iTunes and all the major digital music distribution stores.
WBreezeway Records is a small, independent record label based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Breezeway works with four artists and has released a total of six records.
WCold Spring is an independent record label based in Northamptonshire, England, specialising in "all forms of extreme media, but particularly: Dark ambient, Neo-classical/Neo-folk, Orchestral, Power Electronics/Noise, Japanese Noise, Minimal, Death Industrial, Dark Soundtracks, Experimental, obscure electronics from Russia, China, Japan, Poland and others."
WDais Records is an American independent record label founded in August 2007 by musicians Gibby Miller and Ryan Martin, based in Los Angeles, California, and Brooklyn, New York. The label has released recordings from artists including Drab Majesty, Cold Cave, Iceage, King Dude, High Functioning Flesh, Genesis P-Orridge, Tor Lundvall, Youth Code, William S. Burroughs and Cold Showers.
WDenovali Records is an independent record label founded in 2005. The program of Denovali covers ambient, electronica, experimental, drone, jazz, modern composition & sound art. Since 2007 Denovali curates and organizes international music festivals. In line with the start of the label activities in 2005 Denovali opened an online record store also featuring records from other record labels.
WDrag City is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. Established in the city in 1990 by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn, its first release was a Royal Trux single. It specializes in indie rock, noise rock, psychedelic folk, alternative country, and experimental music. The label has featured numerous critically acclaimed artists, including Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Bill Callahan, Joanna Newsom, and Silver Jews.
WESP-Disk is a New York-based record company and label founded in 1963 by lawyer Bernard Stollman.
WFake Four is an independent record label based in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded by brothers Ceschi and David Ramos in 2008.
WFirst Terrace Records is an independent record label founded in 2016 by Alex Ives & Joseph Summers.
WThe Flenser is a San Francisco-based record label specializing in experimental music. The Flenser's risk-taking ethos has been rewarded with notoriety in the international heavy metal music community. Notable bands that work with or have worked with The Flenser include: Have a Nice Life, Botanist, Deafheaven, Wreck and Reference, Bosse-de-Nage, and Planning for Burial. In 2019, The Flenser began publishing literature, with their first full-length novel, To Sing of Damnation, being released in 2020.
WFred Records is a British independent record label created in 2002 by the English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith to re-release his own back catalogue of recordings and previously unreleased material. It is an independent company working in co-operation with Chris Cutler and Recommended Records, utilising Recommended Records' distribution network.
WGramm was an Icelandic record label created by Ásmundur Jónsson and Einar Örn Benediktsson in 1981.
WGravity is an underground independent record label from San Diego. It was formed in 1991 by Matt Anderson, a member of the influential underground band Heroin. It has been central in developing and promoting the "San Diego sound" – an idiosyncratic form of post-hardcore with loose, chaotic musicianship and vocals, initiated by Heroin, Antioch Arrow, and Clikatat Ikatowi, as well as Mohinder from the Bay Area and Angel Hair from Colorado. The sound is associated with the first wave of screamo, and the label played an important role in the development of post-hardcore in the 1990s. Gravity has also branched out into other forms of experimental or independent music, releasing seminal early works by Unwound, Black Dice, The Rapture, and a full-length from Man Is The Bastard.
WGringo Records is a British independent record label based in Nottingham, England, which was founded in 1996. It is known for releasing experimental rock and its DIY ethic.
WHomestead Records was a Long Island, New York-based sublabel of music distributor Dutch East India Trading that operated from 1983 to 1996. The label was known for not paying its artists and not spending any money on promotion.
WImportant Records is an American independent record label based in Groveland, Massachusetts. The idea behind the label is to be like a good record store, with releases from diverse artists and genres.
WJoyful Noise Recordings is an independent record label from Indianapolis, Indiana. The label was founded in 2003 in Bloomington, Indiana by Karl Hofstetter, who also played drums on many of the label's first releases. Joyful Noise currently has a roster of 20+ bands of various musical styles, though according to the label, each artist "in one way or another bridges the gap between pop and noise."
WThe Knitting Factory is a nightclub that was opened in New York City and that featured eclectic music and entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United States.
WKuckuck Schallplatten is a German record label founded in August 1969 by Eckart Rahn, Mal Sondock and the advertising agency ConceptData in Munich, growing out of his music publishing company E.R.P. Musikverlag which was founded on April 1, 1968. It was distributed by Deutsche Grammophon (Polydor). It is the first German progressive rock-label. It is now the longest-surviving independent label in Germany. Most of its recordings have been reissued on CD, and all are now available as downloads.
WL.A.Y.L.A.H. Antirecords is a defunct Belgian record label, started by Marc Monin, notable for releasing early work from several renowned industrial/experimental artists such as Coil, Nurse With Wound, Current 93 and Laibach.
WThe Looking Glass Workshop (LGW) is an indie/underground music label and art collective. The Looking Glass Workshop has put out underground acts, mainly in the Philadelphia area, including Echo Orbiter.
WMikroton Recordings is an independent record label for experimental electronic music, founded by Kurt Liedwart and based in Moscow, Russia. Mikroton works with a wide range of musicians working in the field of electronic music like sound artist Günter Müller, laptop improviser Christof Kurzmann, electronic musician Jason Kahn and pioneer of tabletop guitar Keith Rowe, turntablists Dieb13 and eRikm, sound artists Stephen Vitiello, Thomas Lehn, Marcus Schmickler, homemade electronics performer Norbert Möslang, guitarist Burkhard Stangl, composers of electroacoustic music Jérôme Noetinger, Angélica Castelló and others. It usually publishes drone, ambient, electronic, experimental music and works with mixed electronic and acoustic instrumentation, trying to research a land between electronic and acoustic fields. The label released two seminal compilation recordings for Austrian group of artists known as klingt.org, who work in the fields of electroacoustic, experimental music and free improvisation, and Echtzeitmusik scene from Berlin. Mikroton Recordings also hosts concerts in Moscow and worldwide and ran Teni Zvuka, Swiss Noise and Mikroton Mikroten festivals. In 2021 the record label was rebranded to TON editions.
WNew Amsterdam Records is a record label in New York City that was formed in 2008 by Judd Greenstein, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and William Brittelle to promote classically trained musicians who fall between traditional genre boundaries. Often abbreviated as NewAm, the organization has been hailed as a central force in creating the "indie-classical" scene., and was granted 501(c)(3) status in 2011 with the mission of "supporting and representing the post-genre new music community."
WNinja Tune is an English independent record label based in London. It has a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More, better known as Coldcut and managed by Peter Quicke and others.
WNoh Poetry Records is a San Francisco, California-based independent record label founded by musician Don Falcone and graphic artist Karen Anderson in May 1987. The label is dedicated to electronic, experimental, space rock and psychedelic music.
WPAN is a Berlin-based record label founded in 2008 by Bill Kouligas. The label is known for its interdisciplinary approach to the fields of contemporary art and music, and has collaborated with institutions such as London's ICA. PAN has signed and distributed records by a number of acts including Yves Tumor, Amnesia Scanner, Anne Imhof, Arca and Eartheater.
WPharmafabrik is an independent record label based in Slovenia and founded in 1993, most noted for their comprehensive and critically acclaimed Fabriksampler compilation albums with artists Final, Lull, KK Null, Alexei Borisov, Nordvargr, Surgeon, Eraldo Bernocchi, Franck Vigroux, Mike Browning, PureH, Chris Wood, Psychedelic Desert, Pharmakustik, P.C.M., Daniel Buess, The Cherry Blues Project and others.
WPIAPTK Recordings is an American independent record label founded in Olympia, Washington in 2006 by Michael Dixon and based in Tucson, Arizona.
WProject Mooncircle is an Independent record label based in Berlin, Germany. Focusing on organic and electronic music.
WPTP, also known as Purple Tape Pedigree, is an American artist collective and independent record label based in New York City. PTP has been called "New York’s experimental incubator", and the collective has released recordings named among the best in new experimental, hip hop, metal, avant-garde, and electronic music. Pitchfork noted that "PTP's mission seems to be to annihilate genre boundaries and revel in the brilliant debris", and VICE has called PTP "home to some of the most boundary pushing music being made".
WRecommended Records (RēR) is a British independent record label and distribution network founded by Chris Cutler with Nick Hobbs in March 1978. RēR features largely "Rock in Opposition" and related music, but it also distributes selected music released on other independent labels.
WRelative Pitch Records is an American independent record label specializing in free jazz and avant-garde jazz, free improvisation, and experimental music. Relative Pitch has been ranked among the top jazz record labels in The New York City Jazz Record and DownBeat year-end lists, and praised by publications and organizations including The Guardian, NPR Music, and The Brooklyn Rail.
WRitual Productions is a London-based independent record label launched in 2010.
WSacred Bones Records is an American independent record label founded in 2007 and based in Brooklyn, New York. The label has released recordings from artists including Zola Jesus, David Lynch, John Carpenter, Blanck Mass, Crystal Stilts, Marissa Nadler, the Men, and The Soft Moon.
WSYUN was a Japanese record label founded by Susumu Hirasawa in 1994. Hirasawa created the label to be able to have freedom to release some of his less commercial works ; the label was named after Syun, Hirasawa's experimental sampler unit, the label's logo is the cover of the Syun album SHUN・4, which was designed by Quiyoshi Inagaki. Distribution was handled by DIW Records, an independent label owned by the music store chain disk UNION. It released music sparsely, always in a pair of two, which were sold in record stores and through mail order. Hirasawa's direct releases were mostly material that was created years before it was released. The label eventually stopped after Hirasawa/P-MODEL signed with Nippon Columbia and later on formed the Chaos Union company, giving himself more freedom to release what he wants. Hirasawa eventually released the Ashu-on [Sound Subspecies] in the solar system and HALDYN DOME box sets, reissuing most of the SYUN catalog, with most of the remaining releases being out of print since their release under the SYUN label.
WTrident Studios was a British recording facility, located at 17 St Anne's Court in London's Soho district between 1968 and 1981. It was constructed in 1967 by Norman Sheffield, drummer of the 1960s group the Hunters, and his brother Barry.
WTzadik Records is a record label in New York City that specializes in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995. He is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases. Tzadik is a not-for-profit, cooperative record label.
WV.I.S.A. is a French independent record label created in 1982 by Thierry De Lavau and Yves Lecarpentier.
WWestern Vinyl is an independent record label founded in 1998 and based in Austin, Texas. The imprint was formed by Brian Sampson and Ryan Murphy originally to release their lo-fi indie rock projects as Win Foster and Havergal.
WWorld Serpent Distribution was a British record label and music distribution house formed in the 1990s by David Gibson, Alan Trench and Alison Webster. Douglas Pearce of Death In June coined the company name in 1991, World Serpent being another name for Jörmungandr.