| Wall of Sound | |
|---|---|
| Founder | Mark Jones |
| Distributor(s) | PIAS |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Official Website | http://www.wallofsound.net/ |
Wall of Sound is an independent record label based in London, England. It is part of the [PIAS] Entertainment Group, a European independent music company.
The label was founded by Mark Jones in 1994 and started out producing electronic music genres such as big beat before diversifying into a broad range of musical genres.
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Wall of Sound stemmed from a collaboration between Jones and Marc Lessner when Lessner hired Jones to work at south London distributor Soul Trader. From there they put together and released the first Wall Of Sound compilation, Give `Em Enough Dope, in 1995, a collection of tracks by new artists of the time that they were distributing, including Kruder and Dorfmeister, Howie B, Mekon and The Wiseguys. Further compilations would feature Pressure Drop, Larry Heard, The Ballistic Brothers and Basement Jaxx with label signings Akasha, Les Rhythmes Digitales and Propellerheads.
The label started a club night at London's Blue Note called "Back To Mono" at which a Bath-based duo, Propellerheads were causing a stir. Their ensuing single "History Repeating" with Shirley Bassey and the album Decksanddrumsandrockandroll were release by Wall of Sound in 1998 and topped the charts in the UK and many other countries across the world.
The success of the Propellerheads was soon followed up by The Wiseguys whose single "Ooh La La" was used in a beer commercial and went on to sell half a million singles. The label gained international recognition and residencies were set up in cities around the globe including a yearly summer residency at Ibiza's "Manumission" (an annual club party[1]).
In 1999 Jacques Lu Cont aka Les Rythmes Digitales made his second album for the label called Darkdancer which featured guest vocalists such as Nik Kershaw, Shannon and Thomas Riberio.
Zoot Woman also released their debut album on Wall of Sound.
After the first initial years of success, Jones decided to set up sub-labels:
Norwegian electronic luminaries Röyksopp were signed to the label and their debut album Melody AM was released in 2001 and went platinum.
A bi-monthly residency at London's Fabric started with DJ and live talent booked by the Wall of Sound team and it became one of the hottest club nights in the city for the next 5 years.
In 2003, to celebrate its 10th birthday, the Glastonbury Festival gave Wall Of Sound control of programming of its dance tent for a day, an honour never before or since bestowed to a label.
In 2006 Wall of Sound merged with [PIAS]. In the same year The Infadels released their debut album, We Are Not The Infadels which featured the rock/dance crossover sound that became popular and successful in the following years.
A chance meeting with Jon McClure brought Reverend and The Makers to the label with the release of the single Heavyweight Champion of The World.
Grace Jones released her first album in 10 years, Hurricane on the label in 2008.
Human League released their first album Credo for Wall of Sound in 2011. In September they will be releasing the album on vinyl.[2]