Melodica started life as an idea for a radio show by Chris Coco. The idea is simple, to present the best new music that Chris has found in a given week, music that reflects his broad, eclectic taste - beautiful music that can loosely be termed Balearic, which means it can't be categorised, it just has something special about it. Music that is informed by but not limited too the development of ele
ctronica and computer based sounds, music that knows all about house music and club culture but doesn't always need to jump up and down. Music that likes to dance sometimes and just be sometimes. So that means post - dubstep electronica but it also means dub and reggae, acoustic songs, slo mo disco, proper house, and the odd quirky left field classic. The first radio station to take the show was Ibiza Sonica, so there's a link there, but it's not all Ibiza music, Chris lives in London and soaks up all the influences of that most cosmopolitan of cities. The show has been running for two years now and Chris has built a dedicated following for his intimate style of delivery and his passion for new, varied sounds. Check the archive at:
http://www.mixcloud.com/chriscoco/
Melodica the record label is a natural progression from Melodica, the radio show. it will reflect Chris's taste, present a broad range of sounds with an emotional depth and raw beauty. The releases won't fit easily into one musical genre, but after a few releases some sort of thread will emerge, there will be a sound, we're just not quite sure what it's going to be yet. There's an adapted logo too, specially designed by renowned artist She One. The logo is a digital dubplate, it looks like a record because we like the feel of old vinyl. The Rules
Because it's a record label there have to be a few rules to make sense of all this creative chaos. Singles, whether they are digital or physical, will be singles, imaginary 7s if you will, with a definite a-side and a definite b-side. The a-side will be the song or the hooky thing that you want to play again and again, the b-side will be something more experimental, maybe something the artist loves, maybe a tune you will end up loving forever once the impact of the a-side has worn off. Albums will be albums, a creative statement, about 12 track long, and less than an hour in length. That way the listeners won't get bored and the artists will have do some real thinking about what to put on and what to leave off. And they will look good with specially commissioned artwork from cool visual people, and the artists will be encouraged to write sleeve notes and lyric sheets, so there's something to flick through (physically or virtually) while you're listening to the music. Of course there will be remixes and re-versions too, they are part of who we are now, they have been part of electronic music culture since the invention of the 12" single, and they are an opportunity for more cross-genre experimentation and entertainment. And the final rule is, of course, that the rules can be broken but only in extraordinary circumstances to make something really cool. Melodica - Good music. Good people. Good times.
