A burgeoning pair of wisdom teeth can play serious havoc in any post-pubescent’s dental structure. The seemingly huge bones force their way through like the creeping roots of an old oak tree, and often lead to discomfort or just plain inconvenience.
The Wisdom Teeth label, however, has had no trouble slotting into the UK dance music scene. And, as its name suggests, it have handled things in an incredibly mature and informed way. With four top quality releases since mid-2014, and more in the pipeline, it is adding a new shape to bass music, though they are far from restricted to this genre, foraying into bits of brain bending techno and IDM.
We are thrilled to be hosting a showcase of the label heads, Bristol-based Facta and Leeds’ K-Lone, along with a couple of friends, the first Wisdom Teeth event in Leeds for two years. To hear more about the night and goings on in the label’s camp, we spoke to Facta aka Oscar Henson.
Who is involved in running the Wisdom Teeth label? How did you meet?
Facta: The label is run by me and my mate Joe (K-LONE). We met growing up in London – when we were about 12 I think.
What was your idea when starting the label? Was there any musical agenda?
F: We’ve always messed about with projects together, and always talked about setting up a label at some point. So eventually all that chat turned into some doing, and that led to WSDM001.
Which labels do you admire? And how have you been influenced by what they do?
F: Growing up we were proper dubstep trainspotters. So Tempa, Hyperdub, early Hotflush, Hemlock, Hessle. Lots of grime and garage too.
In terms of new dance music, I’ve been returning regularly to labels like Not So Much, Whities, BH, Timedance, Ternasc, Honest Jons. And have been enjoying digging back through labels like Klang, Mindtours and the early bleepy Warp stuff.
Which club nights have been influential in what you do?
F: Growing up in London, it was all about FWD and DMZ. Those nights set the standard. The crucial thing about those parties was the feeling that you were directly participating in something entirely new. You were hearing new, unreleased dubplates straight from the source alongside a crowd of people who also followed the music to the point of obsession. It felt like a cult or something. Always a full dance floor and an empty smoking area: the holy grail! It’s something I feel quite rarely in clubs nowadays.
How does having a link between Leeds and London help you? What do you like about the two cities?
F: Joe is based in Leeds, I’m based in Bristol, but we’re both rooted in London. So it’s a pretty perfect combination – spread across three of the UK’s best cities for electronic music. Leeds has so much going on, and a really nice variety of venues and spaces, plus some really committed promoters. It seems like there’s a pretty healthy clubbing scene there. Returning to London, I find there’s loads going on and still lots of great music coming out of the city, but it’s almost too much. There don’t seem to be many nights with a such a dedicated following anymore.
The first Wisdom Teeth release has picked up some serious value, and this is bound to increase even more with time. Could you have predicted this? What do you make of record culture and ‘Discogs prices’?
F: There’s a big difference between how things are priced on Discogs and what people will actually pay! But the fact that 001 sold well and is still sought after is really humbling. Our decision not to repress at the moment has nothing to do with hype. We’re a self-financed and self-distributed label, so have very little time or money to make things happen. Repressing at this stage would slow down the rate at which we can release new music, and that’s our priority at the moment!
One of the benefits of buying a record is that you get a full material experience. This is definitely the case with your releases. Tell us about the artwork on your latest release.
F: The art on WSDM004 was designed by our friend and illustrator, Cressida Djambov. She’s super talented and we’re really happy with how the record turned out. As the label grows, we’re able to explore more and more interesting options when it comes to design and presentation. We do everything ourselves and are finding our aesthetic as we go, which is a pretty fun process.
Tell us about who you’ve got playing at Wire on 9th April.
F: We’ve invited Bruce and Batu to join us. They’re two of the most exciting producers in the UK, and are wicked DJs too. Expect a whole lot of forward-thinking, psychedelic and sub-heavy dance music.
Find tickets HERE.
Oliver Walkden