Label Love #11: Correspondant

Music

Correspondant is the ongoing aural endeavour of Jennifer Cardini. It's constantly alerted our ear drums since it manifested itself back in 2011 with its forward thinking releases and an attention to detail.

The elegant aesthetic of the label was inspired by the downtempo, cinematic mixing of Cardinis warm-up sets at Rex. With their rather special second compilation about to drop featuring a plethora of greatness we thought it high time we caught with Jennifer for a run down on the label and to highlight our distinctly bad grasp of French spelling.

Jennifer, what's the Correspondant manifesto? Why did you decide to set it up and what are its guiding forces?

We want "sweat off the walls", may curiosity and passion be our guiding forces.

How have things developed since you started?

Good, so far we released 25 EPs and 2 compilations. Weve released music from Barnt, Daniel Maloso, The Asphodells, Kasper Bjorke, Daniel Avery and Justin Robinson, Rebolledo, Naum Gabo and music from our home based artists Carreno, Offset, Javi, Demian. All pros in making the walls sweat!

Why Correspondant? Assuming it wasn't simply a mis-spelling, what made you decide this would be the right name to work under?

No its not a mis-spelling, its French. The label is named after my long time residency at Parisians club Rex. Its seemed logical for me to keep the name, as it is the music and the guests that played at the party that inspired me to create the label. Somehow our artist became our correspondents, bringing us new music for far places.

How do you go about sourcing the artists for the label? Do they submit their work to you or do you actively seek new names?

Both, I receive demos from unknown artists or from friends and I seek for new names or contact people whose remixes and records I have played a lot.

Who or what was your biggest inspiration for taking things into your own hands?

The Kompakt crew was very inspiring and I wanted to impress my girlfriend so she would stay with me forever!

How did you go about choosing the logo and artwork for the label?

I asked Stephane Jourdan who was already making posters for the Correspondant nights to work on it. I wanted something simple, that can change with time but keeps a fix Id. Something chic, a bit Frenchy maybe. Also, if the music business crashes totally we could still use the logo to brand our own wine

Has setting up the label had a significant effect on your music? Are you finding it easy to balance live shows with your label commitments?

Im more demanding on the sound quality and the narration of a track, the thrill My taste is getting more and more shaped by my work on the label as I listen to an outstanding amount of music. I work all week for the label or in the studio and Im DJing every weekend so since the last 2 years I work 24 / 7 day with no breaks or holidays, but at the same time Ive never been so happy.

How do you fund your label? Are label parties important to keeping the whole thing afloat or do you do it purely through sales?

Yes and No, we dont produce every Correspondant parties. Sales can be tricky sometimes when we release slow mo weirdo 105-bpm dirty music J

Describe the label in the form of a haiku.
Is there a deadline for this answer?

What's the best thing about running your own label?

Wow thats so f+++ amazing, lets do it

And the worst

Please listen to my tech house demo and all the paper work (still have to catch up on a lot of it)

If you could sign any musician from history to Correspondant, who would you choose? What would be the first track of theirs you released?

I would not sign musicians weve got enough talents but I would hire Shep Pettibone or Martin Hanett

Do you think the current climate within the music industry helps or hinders independent labels?

Both.. But I think that the situation is better than a few years ago, weve adapted to the new rules and found ways to survive and to put out great music!

As a label boss, do you now feel as though you have a greater level of control over your music or have you always been able to produce the sounds you want?

In terms of my own production the answer is yes. Talking and exchanging ideas with other artists made me progress as an artist. In the past few months Ive spent a lot of time with one of my favourite producers, David Shaw on our own project, Cardini&Shaw. Working with him is very inspiring and the freedom we feel together probably has to do with Correspondant as well.

What's been relentlessly gracing your eardrums so far this year?

The album of C.A.R, Rouge Mecanique, Red Axes, the new Juju and Jordash, Metronomy, Saada Bonaire, DZ Lectric + Anthon Shield, Pional I find everything very exciting at the moment..

?Where next for the independent music industry?

I think nothing can beat Tims answer for his crime of the future label love feat:

"I think people are gonna give up actually making music and just look at pictures of each other's ' analogue ' equipment on Facebook."

What will we be hearing from the label in 2014?

The Compilation of course, then we will release the first Man Powers first EP, Cardini&Shaw, Agent of Time and young Spanish talent Carreno is LB will be back as well as Javi Redondo, Offset and Demian!

Describe the label in:

Five words…
Sexy, versatile, sincere, optimistic, loving ……

Five images