Constellation Records
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Constellation_Records_Logo.jpg
Constellation Records logo
Constellation Records is an influential Montreal, Quebec independent record label known for its contributions to post-rock and its strong anti-capitalist stance. It is most famous for releasing the albums of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, A Silver Mt. Zion, and Do Make Say Think
The label was founded in 1997, operating out of a loft in Montreal's inner city. Its founders had intended to begin by providing a live performance space for the musicians of Montreal's thriving underground music world, with the label to follow, but bureaucratic difficulties put an end to this plan, and the stage was skipped. Instead, the label and the live performance series—entitled Musique fragile—began concurrently. The label later moved to larger quarters in Montreal's Mile End district where it resides as of 2004.
Constellation is fiercely anti-corporate, anti-capitalist, and anti-globalist; its mission, according to its founders, was to "enact a mode of cultural production that critiques the worst tendencies of the music industry, artistic commodification, and perhaps in some tiny way, the world at large." It also hoped to recover and rebuild an independent music ethic that it saw as commodified and corporatized. To this end, Constellation tries to avoid selling its music through large corporate chains such as HMV and Virgin Records, preferring instead to deal directly with small and local businesses.
The packaging of Constellation's music also reflects this ethos; they eschew the ubiquitous jewel cases and ship their albums in unique hand-designed cardboard packages, which are made, as far as is possible, by local artists and artisans. The package of the Godspeed You! Black Emperor album Yanqui U.X.O. was especially noteworthy, containing an extensive chart which demonstrated the links between four major record labels—AOL Time-Warner, BMG, Sony, Vivendi Universal—and various arms manufacturers. The band later apologized for some extensions of the chart, conceding that some of their research had been inaccurate. This chart accompanied a photograph of falling bombs.
The music on the label is usually categorized as post-rock (a label which Constellation abhors, regarding it as an invention of "hipper-than-now taste-makers"). Artists include:
- 1-Speed Bike
- A Silver Mt. Zion
- Black Ox Orkestar
- Do Make Say Think
- Elizabeth Anka Vajagic
- Exhaust
- Fly Pan Am
- Frankie Sparo
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor
- Hangedup
- Hrsta
- Polmo Polpo
- Re:
- Sackville
- Sofa
Releases
- CST001/SIS001: Sofa, New Era Building 7", 1997
- CST002: Sofa, Grey, 1997
- CST003: Godspeed You Black Emperor!, f#a#∞ [1995-1997], 1997
- CST004: Exhaust, Exhaust, 1998 (CD: 2000)
- CST005: Do Make Say Think, Do Make Say Think, 1998
- CST006: Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada E.P., 1999
- CST007: Sackville, The Principles of Science 10", 1999
- CST008: Fly Pan Am, Fly Pan Am, 1999
- CST009: A Silver Mt. Zion, He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts Of Light Sometimes Grace The Corner Of Our Rooms..., 2000
- CST010: Do Make Say Think, Goodbye Enemy Airship the Landlord is Dead, 2000
- CST011: Fly Pan Am, Sédatifs en fréquences et sillons, 2000
- CST012: Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Lift your skinny fists like antennas to heaven, 2000
- CST013: Frankie Sparo, My Red Scare, 2000
- CST014: 1-Speed Bike, Droopy Butt Begone!, 2000
- CST015: re:, mnant, 2001
- CST016: Hangedup, Hangedup, 2001
- CST017: Frankie Sparo, Arena Hostile, 2001
- CST018: A Silver Mt. Zion (as The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band), Born Into trouble As The Sparks Fly Upward, 2001
- CST019: Fly Pan Am, Ceux qui inventent n'ont jamais vécu (?), 2002
- CST020: Do Make Say Think, & yet & yet, 2002
- CST021: Exhaust, Enregistreur, 2002
- CST022: Hangedup, Kicker in Tow, 2002
- CST023: Frankie Sparo, Welcome Crummy Mystics, 2003
- CST024: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Yanqui U.X.O., 2002
- CST025: Do Make Say Think, winter hymn country hymn secret hymn, 2003
- CST026, Polmo Polpo, Like Hearts Swelling, 2003
- CST027: A Silver Mt. Zion (as The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band with Choir), "This Is Our Punk-Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather +Sing, 2003
- CST028: Elizabeth Anka Vajagic, Stand with the Stillness of this Day, 2004
- CST029: Black Ox Orkestar, Ver Tanzt?, 2004
- CST030, A Silver Mt. Zion (as Thee Silver Mountain Reveries), The "Pretty Little Lightning Paw" E.P., 2004
- CST031, Fly Pan Am, N'Écoutez Pas, 2004
- CST032: re:, alms, 2004
- CST033: A Silver Mt. Zion (as Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band); Horses in the Sky, 2004
- CST034: Hangedup, Clatter for Control, 2005
- CST035: Elizabeth Anka Vajagic, Nostalgia/Pain EP, 2005
- CST036: Hrsta, Stem Stem in Electro, 2005
- CST1COMP: A Silver Mt. Zion, Frankie Sparo, Re:, Exhaust, Hangedup, Sofa, Fly Pan Am, 1-Speed Bike, Sackville, Do Make Say Think, Music Until Now, 2002
- CST2COMP: Elizabeth Anka Vajagic, Do Make Say Think, Exhaust, Hangedup, Black Ox Orkestar, Sackville, Silver Mt Zion, Sofa, Polmo Polpo, Re:, Fly Pan Am, 1-Speed Bike, Frankie Sparo, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Song of the silent land, 2004
See also
External links
- Official site (http://www.cstrecords.com)
- Interview with Constellation's founder (http://www.deepfrybonanza.com/access_content.php?pa=showpage&pid=64)
- Chart from Yanqui U.X.O. packaging (http://www.cstrecords.com/html/uxo.html)