Check Dis Out!

I was somewhat startled to receive a license request (as in a request to license music) in the info@audiodamage.com email in-box this morning. Actually “confused” would be a better word. We get a lot of license requests, operating a record label and all, but they usually come to my wife, or to my @positronrecords.com address. So to get one in the info@ad mailbox caused some sort of Eddie in the Space-Time Continuum for me, especially since I just woke up.

What was extra confusing was that it was a request for a song we don’t appear to own or control the copyright for (as if that was even possible in this day and age, har, har, har…) called “Check Dis Out” by an artist named Kid Massive. I spent several minutes basically stuttering and spinning around in my chair before I figured out what was going on.

It appears this Kid Massive (the name of whom brings to mind a big giant baby more than anything else, and who has a minimal web presence here) wasn’t happy with his Soundslike Records imprint, and started a new “recording label and DJ tour” company called “Audio Damage Records.” (It also appears occasionally as “Audiodamage Records.”) This seems to be something that happened, like, last week.

He’s only got one release, “Check Dis Out,” which is a not-bad traditional house track (check dit here), although a little old-school (and not the good kind of “House Your Body” old school, but rather that tragic c. 98 low-point-of-house-music old school). He has a residency at several clubs around the UK which he does as an “Audio Damage Records Presents…” kind of thing. I assume “Check Dis Out” gets lots of play. Dude, do you have any Marshall Jefferson to go with that? (As an aside, I just remembered that Marshall produced Ten City’s excellent “That’s The Way Love Is,” as made re-famous by Poi Dog Pondering. Now, _that_ is a house music anthem.)

As if that weren’t enough for just about anybody (thank all the Interweb Gods for Google) there is actually MORE THAN ONE Audio Damage Records. Oh, yes. There’s these fellows from Leicester/ Liverpool/ London (which we all know actually means “Leicester.” It’s like saying “Naperville/Oak Park/Chicago” when you actually mean just plain ol’ Naperville.) These guys “will be releasing futuristic dance floor sounds with a focus on originality and HIGH production standards.” I don’t know when they plan to do that, because the tracks on their Myspace page are basically distorted gabber-fests consisting largely of samples of other peoples’ music.

I know that labels like this come and go with the wind, so I’m not terribly concerned about this, and if European DJ pools masquerading as distributors want to send me money to P&D some middle-of-the-road house track, I’m all for it. Just make sure the contract is for Euros and not dollars, as those greenbacks ain’t worth fuck all these days. Any other Audio Damage companies trading off our good name out there? Just so you know, this page is gonna come up first in all Google searches for your label, so you better put out some original shit if you want a link that doesn’t come with a snarky comment.