Crack

Aphex Twin’s ‘Selected Ambient Works Vol. II’ seemed an expertly chosen soundtrack to accompany an interview over warm cups of tea with DJ, producer and record label head honcho Laurie ‘Appleblim’ Osborne.

Applepips, the Bristol-based label, has pushed genre-dodging releases from the likes of Appleblim himself, Rooted Records’ Peverelist, Will Saul, Ramadanman, Martyn and an array of producers from across the world, despite the label’s humble size and setting.

Applepips’ origins can be traced back to Appleblim’s long and twisted affair with music. Growing up largely in Nottingham and Plymouth, Appleblim moved with like-minded musicians to the sexier prospect of London’s music scene in 1994, aged eighteen.
His erstwhile band, Monsoon Bassoon, did relatively well and sold releases in their thousands, even being tipped for greatness by NME. They eventually disbanded when members’ babies began to appear after what had been a relatively arduous stint.
Whilst in London, however, electronic music offered a wholly new experience, “I was inspired by the whole scene in London: free parties, squat parties, soundsystems and everything. I became really interested in drum and bass. As someone coming from a different sound, it was mind-blowing”.

Continued involvement in clubbing, promotions, record labels, club nights and the like led Appleblim to Tempa records at the inception of Croydon dubstep’s London-to-UK-to-worldwide expansion. A bassist by trade, writing music had previously consisted of simply arranging and working music around the creations offered by his former band’s guitarist and songwriter: “Raw creation wasn’t my thing”, he explains. “It was time to learn how to do things solo”.

Enrolling at a creative music technology course at Bath Spa Univeristy was the next logical step, a course matriculating the likes of Headhunter, Wedge and Gatekeeper.
The first major step on the road to Applepips was founding the Skull Disco record label in London with producer and friend Shackleton. The label encouraged Appleblim to connect with the European electronic music scene as many in Amsterdam and Berlin took notice of the strange, dark and syncopated sounds emanating from the label:
Appleblim further explains, “Shackleton’s very distinctive sound definitely helped us progress as Skull Disco, and later as individuals”.

Shackleton is a true creator… “I still don’t see myself as a producer in the sense of Skream or Mala or Benga, or anyone really. I see myself as inspired by music and trying to add a little bit to it. I’ve first and foremost been a collector and spreader of music”.

A move to various addresses in Bristol - “a much more relaxed place than London”, always relatively close to Rooted Records, led to the foundation of Applepips. With prior experience promoting Skull Disco and good links with the London dubstep scene, Appleblim started Applepips “to put out music that wouldn’t really suit Skull Disco” - largely music for off-the-wall and interesting DJs, for the dance floor, rather than for bedroom listening in the darkest hours of the early morning.

Applepips is doing well. The label however, is well aware of the fickle nature of modern electronic music… “one minute something is in vogue, the next it’s not…it’s so hard to keep up to date with everything these days”.

Interestingly, piracy is not a major concern as far as Applepips’ financial viability is concerned. As Appleblim explains, “You can’t really control it. As long as I’m getting by, I don’t really mind”. He believes that sharing of free music probably creates more exposure for artists and more opportunity to pursue live performance and Djing - Appleblim’s “bread and butter”; than would otherwise be possible. “After all, dubstep”, he points out, “grew through file sharing on the Internet”.
Indeed, the internet has enabled Applepips to host an international repertoire and led producers, including Appleblim himself, to play popular nights in the US, Amsterdam and especially Berlin - a city which Shackleton and many other established music makers are beginning to call home.

“I personally feel more of a connection with Berlin now than the UK, just because I know more people there than in London. I’ve made good friends with people from Berlin’s Hard Wax Shop and it’s likely I’ll move the label to Berlin at some point… but not for a while yet”.

The label can look forward to steady growth, driven by increasing interest for its cross-over dubstep-techno sound. Appleblim is rather animated in his hopes for the future and wishes for more than just a 12” one-off release – “I want to facilitate the promotion of the music of people I know who are really talented, over a longer period of time”
“The label is a way of giving something back to people who’ve helped me along the way - a way of pushing and supporting the people that I find inspiring. In the past it has included music from all over the world… If I’m honest, I don’t understand the London club scene anymore because I’m rarely there, and likewise with Bristol, as I’m away at weekends performing elsewhere. But in future releases you should see support for our little creative group here”.

Appleblim himself is set to “have a play about and see if anything happens” in Shackleton’s new studio in Berlin and has hinted at future collaborative releases with the likes of Guido and Ramadanman. Furthermore, an Applepips podcast is in the pipeline - its release only delayed by Appleblim’s self-confessed “disastrous organisational skills”.



Tune: Within

http://www.myspace.com/appleblim

Words: Jon Wiltshire

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