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The LandOf - Label Feature | |||||||||||||||||||||
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 Based in Brooklyn, New York, The LandOf seeks to find artists who explore the beauty in everyday sounds. The label started off as an outlet for My Fun, a project by Justin Hardison. It’s now started to grow, featuring artists from across the US and beyond. The LandOf’s releases are published as both handmade and digital editions, with cover design and illustrations created by Kimberly Hall. 
The Land Of’s first release, My Fun: The Quality of Something Audible (LND001), set the precedent for the label’s stylistic focus: deeply textured and glitch-based retaining an uncharacteristically human touch. Although the tracks tend to explore distorted sonic territories, they still feature recognisable song structures. Looped and manipulated instruments are brought to the foreground, as demonstrated beautifully by the third track, Wide Awake. Other tracks, including Alghero, have a more ambient and atmospheric quality, staying on single thematic fragments. However, the CD has a consistent and evolutionary feel to it, giving one the sense that Hardison is a master of his craft. 
The third release, Darren McClure’s Softened Edges (LND003), continues the label’s exploration of the human-side of glitch. Like My Fun, Darren McClure incorporates samples that feel like field recordings blended with more instrument-based sounds. Unlike My Fun, McClure relies on largely digital instrumentation. The opening track, Let Your Eyes Go, is a great example of this—at times it feels like it owes more to 90s ambience than contemporary experimental electronic music. The juxtaposition of electronic ambience with more natural-sounding effects and manipulation makes Softened Edges a great addition to the label’s collection. 
Asher – Intervals (LND004), the most abstract of The LandOf’s releases so far, comes in wonderful handmade packaging, created by label designer Kimberly Hall. The front of the paper CD sleeve is covered with an essay that discusses the concept of time and our perception of it. The essay is split into numbered sections that wrap around the packaging, taking you into another inner CD sleeve wherein lies the conclusion. Asher’s essay suggests that the CD is played on shuffle with gapless audio enabled, thereby creating a “vast array of aural configurations”. Intervals combines subtle, lowercase instrumental recordings with field recordings, creating a sense of journey through different environments. Asher intentionally drops hints to inspire this by using field recordings naturally associated with different times of the day. As I listened it struck me that unlike most CDs, the beginning and end of Intervals are both created by the listener rather than the composer. This is largely because the sense of a “beginning” is muted by the understated nature of the recordings, and similarly the “end” occurs naturally. 
The Green Kingdom’s Laminae (LND005) is the newest release on the label. Created by Michael Cottone, a graphic designer and sound artist based in Michigan, Laminae explores the point at which soundscape, acoustic and electronic meet. Thematically diverse and reminiscent of Rune Grammofon, Laminae is a great addition to The LandOf’s catalogue that stays true to the label’s direction. The minimalism of Fuji Apple and depth of Late Summer make it a compelling release for anyone interested in contemporary electronica. If you’d like to listen to The LandOf catalogue, their last.fm page has full previews for each release. My Fun: The Quality of Something Audible is available for download on thelandof.org. To get the complete The Land Of experience, however, get hold of the CDs – Asher’s Intervals in particular. Interview with Justin Hardison We recently interviewed label founder, Justin Hardison, about the history of the label, how they produce their physical releases and future directions. furthernoise: When did you found The LandOf? Justin: The LandOf was started a few years back as a web based music magazine. After simply not having enough time to run the site, read reviews and chase writers I decided to use the site as an outlet to promote my own music which then turned into the label. furthernoise: What inspired you to start The LandOf? Justin: I’ve always wanted to have a label for as long as I can remember. It started with cut-n-paste mix tapes and hand made covers when I was a kid to producing techno 12” a little later. In a way things haven’t changed much from those days but now I’m investing a lot more time and money into the projects we release. furthernoise: What do you look for in artists for the label? Justin: I’m really looking for artists that keep with the theme of the label. They utilize simple everyday sounds that are around us all the time and incorporate these into their work. Usually the material tends to be minimal, is very focused and has a strong emotional element. I like work that feels personal and can cross the lines between pop music and sound art. furthernoise: What’s the motivation behind doing the handmade and digital releases? Justin:I want our releaes to be easily available and to be heard by as many people as possible which is why we offer both the physical and digital formats. The limited edition CDrs are how we would prefer the releases to be experienced as I think they can add so much more to the feel of the project. Kimberly Hall does all of the art & design (her site is nottene.net), and she works to create a visual component that complements the audio. All are either silk screened or created with our home built letterpress and have printed artwork on the CD as well. Since fewer people are purchasing CDs in general, this really allows us to run smaller editions that can be of more intricate design, use less material resources and create packaging that compliments the music and hopefully make a connection with the listener. The digital versions allow the music to be always be available and heard by everyone no matter their location. furthernoise: What about live sets? Justin: We haven’t actually done any live sets, but it’s something we are definitely working on for the future. The shows we listed on the site are just shows that were booked by the artists but we tried to help with the promotion. Review by Alex Young
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