Top 5 On Friday – My Favorite Heavy Rock Record Labels
The underground heavy rock and metal scene would be nothing without the help and support of the record labels. In today’s post, I would like to highlight five excellent labels that I follow, who sign and support the artists that create the heavy riff rock music that I write about. Without these excellent record labels, a lot of bands would suffer and fail to gain traction on releasing and promoting their music. Most of my album reviews come from one of these five labels. I do review stuff on other labels too and self releases, but the ones provided here are my go to labels for high quality heavy rock music. I decided not to rank these in order of favorites because I like them all equally. I decided to put them in alphabetical order for sake of convenience. Each of these fine labels offer unique features with their respective releases but they are all fantastic. Some have been around for quite some time and others are fairly recent. I will give a brief history and overview of each one. Starting next week, I will rate my top five favorite 2024 albums from each label (one for each week) that will extend into the end of January. Please support these labels and buy vinyl records, CDs, T-shirts, and whatever else you can. I will provide links to their webpages for everyone to check out. Thank you for reading!
BLUES FUNERAL RECORDINGS
Blues Funeral Recordings is a label formed by Jadd Shickler (from the band Blue Heron) and Peder Bergstrand (from Lowrider). They both started MeteorCity Records in the early 2000s. Blues Funeral is a fairly recent label that started in 2018, with an emphasis on vinyl records. The label created a PostWax subscription series in exclusive colors and test pressings. It provides in depth liner notes and extras on certain releases, and is available months before the official release date, in some cases. Some of the excellent bands that have worked with Blues Funeral and returned from substantial layoffs are Lowrider, Dozer, Solace, Acid King, Mammoth Volume, and Josiah. They have also worked with Elder, Domkraft, Howling Giant, Big Scenic Nowhere, Blue Heron, The Obsessed, among many others. Blues Funeral continues to release high quality material each year.
https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com
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HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS
Heavy Psych Sounds is a label based out of Italy, run by Gabriele Fiori from the band, Black Rainbows. It began in 2007 and started off as a platform to release albums by Black Rainbows. They also promoted other bands in the Italian heavy rock scene. The label has since grown into a worldwide entity, signing bands from various parts of Europe and the United States. The label is very active and releases a slew of diverse bands and records every month. It gained huge traction working with big names in the desert scene such as Brant Bjork, Nick Oliveri, Yawning Man, Nebula, Kylesa and Bongzilla to name a few. Most recently the label is working with Pentagram and Dead Meadow, who are definitely pioneers in the heavy rock music scene. Some of the other excellent bands that work with Heavy Psych Sounds are Duel, Isaak, Acid Mammoth, Spirit Mother, Slower, Child, Sun and Sail Club, and Geezer, to name a few. The label also hosts mini-festivals in Europe and The United States known as Heavy Psych Sounds Fest.
https://www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
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MAGNETIC EYE RECORDS
Magnetic Eye Records is a label from New York which started in January 2011. Mike Vitali (from the band Ironweed) started the label to showcase a wide range of doom, stoner, shoegaze, post-rock and much more. Along with hosting various bands from all over the world the label has also gained notoriety for their “album tribute” compilations, taking classic bands or albums and re-imagining them with modern doom, stoner, sludge and psychedelic artists. To date, Magnetic Eye has released the following tribute compilations: Electric Ladyland Redux (2015), Best of James Marshall Hendrix (2016), Meantime Redux (2016), The Wall Redux (2018), The Best of Pink Floyd Redux (2018), Best of Black Sabbath Redux (2020), Vol. 4 Redux (2020), Dirt Redux (2020), Back In Black Redux (2021), The Best of AC/DC Redux (2021), Superunknown Redux (2023), Best of Soundgarden Redux (2023), Aqualung Redux (2024), The Best of Jethro Tull Redux (2024). Some of the great bands on the Magnetic Eye roster are Greenleaf, Psychlona, Leather Lung, High Desert Queen, Howling Giant, Domkraft, and High Temple, and more.
https://us.merhq.net/index.php?cl=start
https://magneticeyerecords.bandcamp.com
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RIPPLE MUSIC
Ripple Music is a record label located in San Ramon, CA. Founded in 2010 by Todd Severin and John Rancik, they specialize in retro-70’s heavy rock, heavy psych, stoner, sludge and doom. Birthed from a successful music reviewing blog known as The Ripple Effect (started in 2007), Ripple Music strives to bring to you “The Best Music You’re Not Listening To.”
In 2010, the company debuted its initial releases Acid Blues Is The White Man’s Burden by JPT Scare Band, a re-issue of Let Me In the 1972 early metal classic by Poobah, and Trails Out Of Gloom an album of dark, mysterious modern prog rock from Vancouver’s Fen. Ripple Music releases albums in vinyl, colored double vinyl, CD, and digital formats. Due to the high quality of Ripple Music’s initial releases, the label garnered immediate national media attention and eventually solidifying themselves as a notable label in the stoner scene by the end of the decade.
In 2015 the label would begin a split series known as The Second Coming Of Heavy, showcasing a duet of bands with each volume in the heavy rock scene. In 2017 RippleFest would begin to host small-scale festival events known as Ripple Fest. Along with hosting at SXSW, Ripple Music would host RippleFest events in California, Texas, Sweden, Germany and England. Some of the Ripple Music artists include: 1000 Mods, 10,000 Years, Kind, Cortez, Curse The Son, Fireball Ministry, Foster Mother, Freedom Hawk, The Obsessed, Rifflord, Temple Of The Fuzz Witch, Ape Machine, Hermano, and Luna Sol, among many others. They continue to pump out releases regularly throughout every month.
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com
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SMALL STONE RECORDS
Small Stone Records is a label based in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in 1995 by Scott Hamilton. The label has released a number of stoner rock compilation albums, as well as releases by Greenleaf, Dozer, Five Horse Johnson, Los Natas, Halfway To Gone, Solace, Throttlerod, Puny Human, Brain Police, Milligram, Sasquatch, Lo-Pan, Iota, Gozu, Roadsaw, and many others. Hamilton claims he mostly started the label to put out records by friends and his favorite bands such as Big Chief, The Laughing Hyenas, Mule, and Slot. Hamilton started the label with a $5000 loan and named it after the Small Stone effects pedal made by Electro-Harmonix. The label’s first release was a single by 36-D, which had members of Big Chief, Born Without a Face, and Slot. The label’s first album release was a 1995 compilation titled Detroit Rust City, which sold 1,000 copies the first week, and featured Kid Rock and Big Chief. The label initially featured a number of different rock genres but soon began focusing on the blues, psychedelic, and stoner rock genres, and what Hamilton dubs “heavy rock.” Small Stone released a number of stoner rock compilations including their first, Right in the Nuts: A Tribute to Aerosmith, and was released in 2000. In January 2002, the label released Sucking the 70s, a two disc collection of 1970s songs covered by stoner rock bands. In 2006, the label released a second compilation, Sucking the 70’s – Back in the Saddle Again, which was a follow up to the original. According to Hamilton, early on the Small Stone bands relied on networking with other bands on the label to organize tours and musical projects. In 2006, Small Stone began issuing the lost recordings of the band Slot, whose founder and guitarist had recently died. The band Luder was formed from members of Slot and Five Horse Johnson, also with Hamilton himself on guitar. Small Stone Records was sometimes referred to as the “new home” for Man’s Ruin bands. Artists like Acid King, Los Natas, Dozer, Sons Of Otis, Tummler, and Men Of Porn were picked up by Small Stone after the demise of the Man’s Ruin record label. I discovered and still listen to many bands from Small Stone Records, dating back to 2004. They have been an essential source of new music for me since then and continue to release top quality albums. Some of the latest bands on their roster include Black Elephant, Shun, The Electric Mud, Robots Of The Ancient World, and Free Ride.
https://smallstone.bandcamp.com
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Well, there you have it. These are my five current favorite record labels. I would also like to give props to Fuzzorama Records, Majestic Mountain, and Tee Pee Records. There are a lot more wonderful labels that are doing their part in supporting the artists of underground music. For all of those labels, I thank you very much.
