What industry crisis? Cult progressive alt-metal label Shelsmusic just hit their 10th anniversary. How? As Alan Partridge once nearly said, the proof is in the pudding. And the pudding, in this case, is a backcatalogue. Thing is, a decade leaves a hell of a lot of intense post-metal and atmospheric folk for a newbie to wade through. So when we caught up with Mehdi Safa, Shelsmusic commander-in-chief, we set him the following poser…
We’ve always had a soft spot for labels who think differently. Shelsmusic – born in the UK, bred in California – has made its name on atmosphere, from tremulous folk and consciousness-expanding walls of sound, to muscle-shredding, gut-pounding metal. Albums from artists as diverse as Black Sheep Wall and Ancients make regular dents our end of year top tens. In recent months, they’ve not only expanded into production, through their Purple Buffalo Studios, but to mark their 10th anniversary, they’re re-releasing Mahumodo’s cult record Waves on vinyl. High time to catch up with label head and *shels frontman Mehdi Safa, we reckoned…
Raz is back in “the studio” for this week’s podcast, where he joins Hugh in looking back at the best albums of 2012 so far. There’ll be bands you’ve heard of, bands you’ve never heard of, and bands you’ve criminally under-rated up until now because they had stupid names. We’ve got the lot.
The Thrash Hits Podcast 004: Albums of the Year (so far)
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