j peter schwalm, born 1970, founded the experimental jazz band slop shop in 1993 before establishing the record label poets club records whose releases include slop shop "makrodelia I", "makrodelia II" and "interpretations" including remixes by jimi tenor, sensorama and brian eno. other recordings include "music for onmyio-ji" together with brian eno (jvc japan, 2000) and "musikain" (musikain records, 2006). peter has enjoyed a long collaboration with the producer brian eno. their many projects together include performances of peter&#180;s former project "slop shop" (also with holger czukay) in bonn, germany, 1998; the album "drawn from life" (virgin uk/astralwerks usa, 2001); a sound installation, 4D music, in the crater of a volcano in lanzarote, (2001); the soundtrack for nicholas winding refn&#180;s film noir "fear x" (2003); and two tracks for brian eno&#180;s new album "another day on earth" (2005). other work includes original music for: "the disneykiller" (state theatre, darmstadt 1995); the ballet "impaired ground" (state theatre, stuttgart,1999); "don&#180;t look now" (lyric hammersmith/sheffield theatres 2007) and numerous television documentaries (arte/spanish/catalan tv). he has toured extensively in portugal, spain, italy and japan and recently completed a remix of "tristan and isolde" by richard wagner (gateway4music, 2006). peter is also a guest lecturer at guildhall school of music and drama. ------- brian eno about playing with j. peter schwalm: when we first played, it was an immediately comfortable and synthetic playing relationship. My biggest problem with improvising with people generally is that they retreat into a safe place too quickly for me, and he didn't do that. Sometimes we would get into rather a strange musical place, some emotion that hadn't really been felt before. -------brian eno about j. peter schwalm&#180;s music: "sometimes you hear something and think: "now this is how the modern world feels to me". peter's music is like that, capturing excitement and speed and ambiguity and even wistfulness and melancholy ...a complex emotional palette which feels to me like real life." ..

Moshi Moshi Records started off as a hobby in 1998. Set up by three friends who had jobs working for major record labels. It was intended as a way of working with the bands that they loved but which didn’t fit in with the agenda of the day-job taskmasters. Early single releases from Zan Lyons, Kathryn Williams & Pedro and J Xaverre earned the label some plaudits. And sold a few records. Over the next five years Moshi Moshi slowly started to build a reputation for interesting, slightly leftfield, low-key releases. Then in 2004 things changed. For a start Moshi stopped being a hobby and became a fulltime job. Very soon after, Hot Chip and Bloc Party arrived and Moshi Moshi quickly became a name known to more than a few. Chart success followed with Yeti and The Rakes and higher-profile album releases from Architecture In Helsinki and Au Revoir Simone helped lift the label onto a new level. Then from 2006 onwards came artists such as Hot Club De Paris, Tilly And The Wall, The Wave Pictures, Slow Club, James Yuill, The Drums, Summer Camp, the list goes on.

In late 2006 the two remaining Moshi Moshi founders decided they wanted to get back to their one-off 7” release roots and the Moshi Moshi Singles Club was born. The intention was to try and release one 7” each month by a new up-and-coming artist. It would be limited to 1000 and only be available in a select group of indie stores. The artwork would be restricted to one colour and be designed by the bands themselves. Now some 40+ releases later the singles club’s roster makes an impressive list – (including) Kate Nash, Late of The Pier, Friendly Fires, Lykke Li, Florence and The Machine, Kindness, Dananananayckroyd. Disclosure. In 2011 Moshi Moshi expanded its remit by partnering up with some very talented young A&R folk to set up the imprints Tender Age, Not Even, Apricot and Dream Beach. Working under the Moshi Moshi umbrella these new labels have already yielded a clutch of exciting releases by artists from as far afield as Kenya and Seattle.

At the same time as running the record label Moshi Moshi Management has been quietly guiding the career of Metronomy and Slow Club as well as producers Ash Workman and Ollie Bayston. From 2012 this side of the business started to expand dramatically and now features a sizeable roster of emerging artists.

Looking back on the Moshi Moshi roster (particularly since the label ‘went fulltime’ in 2004) it’s a collection that bears comparison with any of its peers. For a label run by two people with no financial backing, it’s nothing short of an inspiration.

Transmission / Transmisja: cold wave / minimal wave / synth pop / post punk / ethereal radio show aired biweekly in Wednesday; 20 - 22 (CET) on www.inclubperu.com
 

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