Celluloid Records
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Celluloid Records, a French/American record label, operated from 1976 to the late 1990s, and produced a series of eclectic and ground-breaking releases, particularly in the early to late eighties, largely under the auspices of de facto in-house producer Bill Laswell.
Label founder Jean Karakos had previously run a chain of record shops in France (under the name Jean Georgakarakos) with partner Jean-Luc Young. In 1967, the pair formed jazz label BYG/Actual, which collapsed in the mid-70s. Karakos also produced albums such as Sonny Sharrock's “Monkie-Pockie Boo”, and managed acts such as Gong and Magma.
Celluloid began by releasing American no-wave and French avant-garde pop by artists such as Métal Urbain (who were signed to London's Rough Trade Records in the UK), Mathematiques Modernes, James Chance and Alan Vega. It also licensed tracks from other artists and labels, (with varying degrees of legality, according to some, notably Throbbing Gristle), releasing tracks by Soft Cell, The Names, Cabaret Voltaire and Tuxedomoon among others. In the early eighties, Celluloid had a business relationship with Michael Zilkha and Michael Esteban's Ze Records; artists including Was (Not Was), Alan Vega, Suicide and Lydia Lunch released tracks on both labels, sometimes simultaneously, and at least one LP (Vega's eponymous debut) was released with both Celluloid and Ze logos on the sleeve!
However, by 1982 their catalogue had expanded to encompass early hip-hop artists such as B-Side, Fab 5 Freddy, Grandmixer D. St., Phase II and Tribe 2. Much of the hip-hop material was produced by the group Material, who had already recorded a number of sides for Celluloid, and whose prime mover Bill Laswell would play an increasing role in the label's fortunes for the next five years. Celluloid also released an album of "futuristic funk" by punk/funk performer and cyberpunk writer John Shirley, "John Shirley's Obsession", featuring guitarist Sync66 (Chris Cunningham) and Bassist Jerry Antonias (aka Jerry Agony) both of whom also played with James Chance (aka James White).
Increasingly sought out to produce artists on major labels (such as Nona Hendryx, Yellowman and Herbie Hancock, for whom he produced the Grammy-winning “Rockit”), Laswell still found time to produce and play on Celluloid albums by Massacre (a power trio comprised of Laswell, Fred Frith and Fred Maher) and his own group Material (whose “One Down” of 1983 featured a young Whitney Houston alongside Archie Shepp, Brian Eno, Bernard Fowler and Chic's Tony Thompson). Karakos next persuaded Laswell to helm the production suite for Celluloid recordings by African artists such as Toure Kunda, Mandingo and Manu Dibango. At the same time he was asked to remix Fela Kuti's “Army Arrangement” for Celluloid, the first of many such ventures (he would later remix Bob Marley, Miles Davis and Carlos Santana for major labels).
Celluloid's prolific output continued throughout the mid-eighties. As well as funding Laswell-related productions by Praxis, Time Zone, Shango, B-Side, Deadline, Last Poets, and even a resurrected Jimi Hendrix (appearing posthumously with Lightnin' Rod on the bluesy 12 inch “Doriella Du Fontaine”), Karakos also started a number of associated labels. OAO Records released much of Material's early output as well as albums by the aforementioned Golden Palominos and Cuban percussionist Daniel Ponce. Moving Target catered for the niche post-rock/reggae market, releasing material by Sly and Robbie, Yellowman, Dennis Bovell, Blurt, the Fleshtones and, incredibly, The Flying Pickets. The short-lived Mercenary Records, meanwhile, released straight-ahead rock albums by Goo Goo Dolls, Victory and SplatCats. An equally-short lived partnership with Morgan Khan, head of Street Sounds, saw albums by B-Side. Manu Dibango and Mandingo licensed for release in the UK on Khan's Streetwave label.
By 1986, increasing demands on Laswell's time (including work on major label albums by Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger, Motorhead and PiL) meant that his work for Celluloid became more sporadic, though he did produce Horses and Trees for Ginger Baker (whom Laswell had tracked down in Italy and persuaded to play on PiL's “Album”) and contributed to the Golden Palominos' albums “Blast of Silence” and “A Dead Horse”, as well as recording with Last Exit and releasing an album with Peter Brotzmann for Celluloid. The label, meanwhile, continued to release records that didn't involve Laswell; this eclectic selection included Eric Dolphy's “Iron Man” and “Conversations”, John McLaughlin's “Devotion”, and “Welcome To Dreamland”, a compilation of Japanese pop overseen by Fred Frith. African music also featured heavily in Celluloid's mid to late eighties output: Kassav, Toure Kunda, and Fela Kuti all released albums through the label. Karakos also kept up his interest in the post-punk scene by releasing a solo album by Television guitarist Richard Lloyd (Real Time, 1987), and found time to start up two new offshoots, Braziloid and Skaloid, which released, unsurprisingly, Brazilian and ska music.
In the nineties, the label seemed to run out of steam. Laswell had decamped to become a producer for hire (and would later found Axiom, under the auspices of Island's Chris Blackwell, which continued Celluloid's avant-garde musical policy), and Celluloid's heyday was long gone. It continued to licence music for compilations on other labels, notably MauMau and Charly, while releases were sporadic at best, and largely aimed at the French market. The year of its demise as a label is unclear, as is the ultimate fate of the master tapes. The rights to Celluloid recordings passed to John Matarazzo, who's association with Laswell started and ended with the Subharmonic and Strata labels. Despite the confusion, much of Celluloid's output is now dubiously finding its way onto CD store shelves through labels such as Charly and Collision. Unconfirmed reports say no royalties are being made by the original musicians, though the terms of the original recording deals are unknown.
