Volcanic Tongue
Encyclopedia
Volcanic Tongue is a record shop, distribution company and record label located in Glasgow
, Scotland
. It specialises in underground music from the UK, US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. They describe their remit as "free folk, psych, Japanese underground, noise, avant-garde, free jazz, blues, experimental, garage punk/DIY, minimal synth, drone, Industrial, sound poetry, prog, american primitive, private press, acid folk, classic 60s/70s rock, basement scum & assorted outsider modes" It was founded by David Keenan
and Heather Leigh Murray in late 2004. Initially existing as a mail-order list and website, they opened their shop in February 2006.
Interviewed by Stylus
in late 2005, Keenan described the rationale behind Volcanic Tongue's foundation as follows : "[T]he UK underground didn’t really have any focus or any point from which you could get underground music, nothing that really pulled all that stuff together. I wanted to combine the music I like from around the world with some of the UK underground stuff...it felt right that we became a part of that, to help disseminate it".
They are unusual amongst retail/distribution outlets for being dictated by the personal taste of the founders rather than by market forces. Keenan explained that "it’s not just a record shop; we have a really tough filter and will not stock anything that we don’t like....I don’t want to sell a copy of a record that I don’t want in my collection."
Recently, they have expanded their label beyond small-run art editions of their own music (Scorces/Taurpis Tula/Heather Leigh Murray) to issue albums by Thurston Moore
's Dream/Aktion Unit and Zaimph.
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It specialises in underground music from the UK, US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. They describe their remit as "free folk, psych, Japanese underground, noise, avant-garde, free jazz, blues, experimental, garage punk/DIY, minimal synth, drone, Industrial, sound poetry, prog, american primitive, private press, acid folk, classic 60s/70s rock, basement scum & assorted outsider modes" It was founded by David Keenan
David Keenan
David Keenan is a Scottish author, critic and musician. He is the author of England's Hidden Reverse, a biography of Coil, Current 93 and Nurse With Wound, a regular contributor to The Wire since 1995, and proprietor of Volcanic Tongue, a shop, distributor, record label and mailorder business that...
and Heather Leigh Murray in late 2004. Initially existing as a mail-order list and website, they opened their shop in February 2006.
Interviewed by Stylus
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
in late 2005, Keenan described the rationale behind Volcanic Tongue's foundation as follows : "[T]he UK underground didn’t really have any focus or any point from which you could get underground music, nothing that really pulled all that stuff together. I wanted to combine the music I like from around the world with some of the UK underground stuff...it felt right that we became a part of that, to help disseminate it".
They are unusual amongst retail/distribution outlets for being dictated by the personal taste of the founders rather than by market forces. Keenan explained that "it’s not just a record shop; we have a really tough filter and will not stock anything that we don’t like....I don’t want to sell a copy of a record that I don’t want in my collection."
Recently, they have expanded their label beyond small-run art editions of their own music (Scorces/Taurpis Tula/Heather Leigh Murray) to issue albums by Thurston Moore
Thurston Moore
Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label...
's Dream/Aktion Unit and Zaimph.