Music / Friendly Records
Friendly Records launch music label
In late 2020, North Street’s Friendly Records extended its offerings.
Friendly Recordings, a music label and integral new part of the shop, is an extension of the wide tastes of the shop and of its customers.
“Friendly Recordings is a shop-based label, an integral part of our thoughts and conversations; the shop exists as a meeting place for the local community, record heads, our Bristol and wider musical communities,” says Benny, righthand man to the store’s founder, Tom.
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“The label is another strand, like our bar next door, SWU radio residency and the various live events we’ve hosted across the city.
“It gives us another fantastic opportunity to explore what we love and live on: musical conversations and a chance to bring others into this and take it further.”
The label’s debut release is full of the drum breaks, mystery, double bass and unknown of Claude Cooper, an elusive Bristol producer.
While the origins of the partnership are lost in a haze of jam sessions and production nights, Benny and Tom wanted to ensure the label’s first release was created by someone of Claude’s “calibre and mystique”.
“We went with the notion that it was the sort of music one would expect to unearth in the hallowed backroom of a record shop and ours is particularly chaotic but full of promise,” says Benny.
“Claude’s disc is a double A-side single in constant motion that resists any defining constraints; this was significant for us in representing the shop’s own expansive tastes and our desire to explore widely with the new label.”
Tangerine Dreams and Two Mile Hill are an homage to both the Bedminster store and to Bristol itself, saying “it’s important for us to platform the artistic expression” of the city, with Benny adding that “Two Mile Hill is a fitting title for a brooding, cinematic bass and trumpet heavy instrumental”.
The initial, limited edition run of 300 orange vinyl singles sold out in less than a week.
The final run of 7” vinyl, hand printed and made in Bristol, will release on February 12 in a new colour.
The pair have big plans for 2021. Currently working on projects that will come to fruition in summer, several reissues are also likely to be released on the label.
A compilation of cassette recordings from North Africa are in the research and curation stages and Benny says that they are always welcome to contributions.
Main photo: Alexia Kirov
Read more: Bristol’s independent music venues spotlighted in new Idles video
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