Skam Records
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Skam Records, based in Manchester, is an Electronic/IDM record label founded by Andy Maddocks around 1990.
Skam's first 12-inch single is rumored to have never been officially released, only distributed as a promo. The self-titled debut from Lego Feet (SKA001) is now commonly known to be the pioneering duo Autechre. Approximately 100-150 copies are believed to exist.
The label followed with two 12" records from a project known as Gescom, whose members vary between each release. It is widely believed that Sean Booth and Rob Brown of Autechre are staple members, however. Other early Skam releases came from the likes of Freeform, Bola, Jega, and Boards of Canada.
The first ten label releases are commonly regarded as classic electronic records, during which Skam was at its prime. With the exception of Boards of Canada's reprinted Hi Scores EP (SKA008) and Gescom's reprinted Keynell (SKA007), the early releases still fetch high prices on the collector's market.
Skam entered the full-length market in 1998 with the release of Soup by Bola (SKALD/P2) and Music Has The Right To Children by Boards of Canada, the latter being jointly released with Warp Records (SKALD/P1, WARPCD/LP55), both of which have praised by the IDM community as classic recordings.
Skam is renowned for its multiple series of records within the label, all of which are an anagram of "SKAM". Skam's early 12" compilation "MASK" records are now extremely rare and valuable. The first three records were produced in conjunction with Musik Aus Strom, and the latter two by Skam alone.
Up until the 2004 release of Mr 76ix's Hits of 76ix, the label produced a 7" single for each full-length album; the 7" catalogue numbers began with the letters "KMAS". Boards of Canada's rare single for Aquarius, for example, is KMAS001. Skam has since stated on its website that future KMAS releases will feature purely exclusive tracks to complement full-length recordings of the same number.
In 2001, Skam began the "SMAK" series. Each SMAK 12" showcased two artists, one per record side. Some SMAK artists, like Quinoline Yellow (SMAK09), have gone on to become full Skam musicians. NMB Allstars (SMAK07, "North Manchester Bedroom Allstars") went on to become part of the sublabel 33, which Skam has been known to refer to as "a part of the family." Others, like Ola Bergman (SMAK05) and Posthuman (SMAK01) went on to set up their own record labels: New Speak and the poor man's Skam Seed Records respectively. Also, some artists, such as Made (band) (SMAK03), are renowned Skam live acts. In October 2004, Skam gave birth to the "AMKS" series with Supermechamaximegamegablast by Mortal Chemist, which is, as the catalogue number may suggest, a mix.
