America's premier ambient label, rebooted in 2016. Started officially with the second release (The Haters - In The Shade Of Fire) in 1986. The direction of the label changed in 1988 when label head and founder Kim Cascone helped work on the score of the movie Twin Peaks in the UK with the sound editor Jay Boekelheide.
In 1991, Kim started the distribution company Pulse Soniq after releasing the first CD on Silent. Then, in 1993, three imprints were created for different genres. Flask (beat-oriented ambient), Furnace (hard industrial, industrial dance), and Sulphur (alternative rock, noise, fusion, experimental electronics, found sound).
In 1996, Silent and its distribution company were left to an employee so that Cascone could work as a sound designer for Headspace, a company founded by Thomas Dolby. Silent lived on for another two years as a completely different label, focusing on house music and other beat-oriented dance music, including co-releasing some vinyl with other companies, but the label was shuttered in 1998.
NOTE: all sub-labels of Silent include the same catalog-number format as its parent. Be careful when submitting music that strays far from ambient on the Silent label.
Info could previously be found at silentrecords.net and chillbase.org/labels. Both sites are inactive.
Starting early in 2016, the original label founder, Kim Cascone, has resurrected the label as a Bandcamp site (URL below), and is also DJing a soma.fm site focused on Silent Records releases (URL also below). Though most of the current label's albums are re-releases from the previous catalog, there are two new entries for the From Here To Tranquility series, Vol. 6 and 7.
In 1991, Kim started the distribution company Pulse Soniq after releasing the first CD on Silent. Then, in 1993, three imprints were created for different genres. Flask (beat-oriented ambient), Furnace (hard industrial, industrial dance), and Sulphur (alternative rock, noise, fusion, experimental electronics, found sound).
In 1996, Silent and its distribution company were left to an employee so that Cascone could work as a sound designer for Headspace, a company founded by Thomas Dolby. Silent lived on for another two years as a completely different label, focusing on house music and other beat-oriented dance music, including co-releasing some vinyl with other companies, but the label was shuttered in 1998.
NOTE: all sub-labels of Silent include the same catalog-number format as its parent. Be careful when submitting music that strays far from ambient on the Silent label.
Info could previously be found at silentrecords.net and chillbase.org/labels. Both sites are inactive.
Starting early in 2016, the original label founder, Kim Cascone, has resurrected the label as a Bandcamp site (URL below), and is also DJing a soma.fm site focused on Silent Records releases (URL also below). Though most of the current label's albums are re-releases from the previous catalog, there are two new entries for the From Here To Tranquility series, Vol. 6 and 7.
djmonolith
December 23, 2002