Room40

Room40
Founded2000 (2000)
FounderLawrence English
GenreExperimental music
Country of originAustralia
LocationBrisbane
Official websiteroom40.org

Room40 is an Australian independent record label founded by Lawrence English.

The label has released work by Australian and international musicians such as Erik Griswold, Chihei Hatakeyama, Mike Cooper, Ben Frost, and Beatriz Ferreyra. They have had over 300 releases since 2000.[1]

Room40's first releases didn't arrive until 2002, with the albums Powerhouse Sessions and A Picturesque View, Ignored.[2] Both were recorded live at Brisbane Powerhouse in 2002 and released December of that year.[3][4][5]

Initially releasing music on CD, Room40 has also issued music on vinyl, lathe records, digital audio files, DVD, and cassette tapes. In 2016 they released a sound box with an album of generative music by Spyros Polychronopoulos, meaning each time the listener presses play they will hear something new.[6] The sound box sold out within four hours of being announced.[7]

They released their first book in 2010, Lawrence English's Site-Listening: Brisbane.[8] The book features maps to 17 locations around Brisbane, with essays by David Toop, Nick Earls and English, and recordings from the locations on a 3" CD.[9]

In 2005 Room40 started Open Frame, an annual music festival held in Brisbane, with later events held in Sydney and London.[8][10][11] The most recent festival was held in 2019,[12] with the 2020 festival cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[13]

  1. ^ "Room40". Discogs. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  2. ^ Fischer, Tobias (2012). "Room40: Label Profile | featured Australia Experimental". Tofaki. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  3. ^ "Powerhouse Sessions, by DJ Olive Meets I/O3". Bandcamp. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  4. ^ "A Picturesque View, Ignored, by David Toop, Scanner, I/O3". Bandcamp. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  5. ^ Tangari, Joe (2003). "A Picturesque View, Ignored". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  6. ^ "Spyros Polychronopoulos Live Electronic Music | Exclaim!". Exclaim!. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  7. ^ "Live Electronic Music". ROOM40. 2016-12-05. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  8. ^ a b Zuvela, Danni (2010). "RealTime Arts - Magazine - issue 97 - 10 years of room40: privileging the ears". RealTime Arts. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  9. ^ Ciociola, Chiara. "Lawrence English, Site-Listening: Brisbane | Neural". Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  10. ^ Starr, Lucinda (2015-07-30). "Behind Australian Record Label Room40 with The Necks' Chris Abrahams". Concrete Playground. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  11. ^ "Room40's Open Frame festival to include Jim O'Rourke, Grouper and more - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  12. ^ "Carriageworks' Annual Festival of Transgressive Experimental Music Is Back". Broadsheet. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  13. ^ "no such array". John Chantler. 2020-10-28. Retrieved 2022-02-25.