1AD

This month I have a slew of jumbo projects that somehow all fell into April. No sense bushing around the beat...might as well plunge right into this new mess. 

A dive into 4AD..

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The influential 4AD label set the mood for an entire generation of music lovers in the 80s. The label was started in 1980 by music enthusiasts Ivo Watts-Russsell & Peter Kent while working at a Beggars Banquet record shop. Kent left after a year to start Situation 2 Records. Throughout this entire story, 4AD maintained the almost entirely uninterrupted sense of integrity up until the mid 1990s. But even Watts-Russell was unable to preserve this sense of purity much beyond a decade & a half. The reason he called it a day was the usual, familiar, eternal problem: making art usually requires money, & making money usually destroys art.

Originally calling their label Axis, the two released an initial series of four 7" singles before finding out that the name Axis was already being used by another label. Having to quickly come up with a new name, the partners noticed the following bit of typography that their graphic designer had put on a flyer announcing the Axis releases:

1980 FORWARD
1980 FWD
1984 AD
4AD

So 4AD it was.

Here are the first four 7" singles from Axis. 

 

The Fast Set - Junction 1, Axis AXIS 1, 1980.
all decryption codes in comments

Side A - Junction 1
Side B - Children of the Revolution

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bearz - She's My Girl, Axis AXIS2, 1980.

Side A - She’s My Girl
Side B - Girls Will Do

 

 

 

 

 

Bauhaus - Dark Entries, Axis AXIS 3, 1980.

Side A - Dark Entries
Side B - Untitled (Dark Entries demo)

 

 

 

 

 

Shox - No Turning Back, Axis AXIS 4, 1980.

Side A - No Turning Back
Side B - Lying Here

 

 

 

 

 

note: Because of the depth of the 4AD label & the length of time they have been around, I would like readers to chime in with any request they might have for anything I have not shared. If I have it I will share it in a final 4AD Requests post.

Enjoy,
NØ