J.C. Dennison founded the Louisville record label auralgamiSOUNDS along with Matt Dodds. They both played in Lucky Pineapple together and shared an affinity for "local and weird music". J.C. says "It was a natural step for us to take what we'd learned playing in bands and being on small labels and spend our energy trying to keep Louisville music challenging and strange and independent". We asked J.C. about celebrating their one year anniversary, their roster of artists, and plans for the label's future.
1. What is auralgamiSOUNDS and how did it come to be?
J.C. Dennison: auralgamiSOUNDS is an independent music imprint. It started with the release of several CD's by another7astronauts. We now predominantly release Cassettes w/ digital downloads, and we are in the process of releasing our first full-length vinyl record.
2. How many artists are on the label and who should we watch out for in 2016?
J.C.: There are around 12 artists or so on the label: A7A, Dominic Republic, the WRISTS, Insect Policy, Cher Von, WATTER, Curio Key Club, Bodycocktail, ATOMO, Cereal Glyphs, Tony Robot, Softcheque, and some other artists who will be joining our roster soon.
We are releasing a brand new retrospective cassette by Bodycocktail and a new CD by Curio Key Club for our 1-year anniversary. We also have a vinyl record by Softcheque called 'Sand in Your Mind' coming out soon. And there are some really great artists' releases we'll be involved with this year including some by Tony Robot, Yoko Molotov, Douglas Lucas, and more.
3. I understand you're about to celebrate an anniversary. What plans do you have to do so? J.C.: This is our one-year anniversary as an official label. We are calling it PAPER ANNIVERSARY 1 for reasons that are both obvious and completely cryptic. We are celebrating with 6 shows at 6 different venues over 4 days:
Thursday, Feb 4, the festivities kick off at Kaiju. Cereal Glyphs, Bodycocktail, and Cher Von will be performing. Additionally, Bodycocktail's new cassette 'Audiobiographical Dynasty: 1996-2015' will be released that night. As its title implies, it is a retrospective spanning 20 years of music released on over 250 releases by Mr.Zan Hoffman. It is a 90-minute cassette w/30 songs and some other surprises.
Friday, Feb. 5, things happen at Zanzabar. Cold Brew & Tonic, Curio Key Club, ATOMO, and Tony Robot perform. Additionally, we are releasing the brand new self-titled CD by Curio Key Club. There is an afterparty that night at Nachbar featuring Insect Policy and Pleasure Boys.
Saturday, Feb. 6 takes place at Dreamland first. Softcheque performs along with the always excellent Idiot Glee from Lexington. Also, we are showing the documentary 'The Great American Cassette Masters' which features Zan Hoffman.
The afterparty that night is at Decca and features performances by the Wrists and WATTER DJ's.
Sunday, Feb. 7, we are having a 'Thank You' celebration at the Cure. Dr. Girlfriend, Legs Akimbo, and Trashcat will perform. All young bands who hold the future in their hands!!!
There will also be specially curated beers chosen by the bands and provided by Dauntless Distributing AND Guestroom Records is raffling off a $50 gift certificate to anyone who buys a 3-day pass at the store.
4. Where can people get more information and hear the artists?
J.C.: People can check out all of our music at auralgamisounds.com. They can check out info and updates on Tumblr, our Instagram account, and our Facebook page.
