Smalltown Supersound 25 years anniversary mix by Prins Thomas!
Smalltown Supersound, the Norwegian label run by Oslo-based Joakim Haugland, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, the label is releasing The Movement Of The Free Spirit, an epic new mix album of the Smalltown Supersound catalogue by Prins Thomas, out November 30th. As Thomas’s follow up to Paradise Goulash, The Movement Of The Free Spirit is a 3-disc mix comprised of 80 tracks and 3 hours and 40 minutes of music featuring artists including Sonic Youth, DJ Harvey, Studio, Yoshimi
(Boredoms), Kim Gordon, Oneohtrix Point Never, Todd Rundgren, Stereolab, High Llamas, Neneh Cherry, Ricardo Villalobos, Four Tet, Bjørn Torske, Dungen, The Orb, Kelly Lee Owens, Lindstrøm, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Biosphere, Peter Brötzmann, and many more (full track list is below). The mix will be released as a CD box set, digitally (mix and unmixed) and disc 1 will be available as a double LP.
The title, The Movement Of The Free Spirit, was borrowed from a Bruce Russell (of The Dead C) 10” Smalltown Supersound released in 2000. Russell had borrowed it from the book by legendary Situationist activist and author Raoul Vaneigem.
The Movement Of The Free Spirit liner notes
Trying To Be Like SST. Since 1993.
I started Smalltown Supersound in 1993 while in high school in Flekkefjord, a small town of 4,000 inhabitants in the south of Norway. There was obviously no supersound in our small town. It was just an ironic name I came up with to release some tapes with lo-fi/noise/bedroom recordings by my brother and his friends. The name was inspired by my hometown and the catalogue number STS was a homage to SST, a label I deeply admired at the time (and still do). Little did I know that I would have to live with that name for the rest of my life.
I started the label before I knew what a record label was. So I gradually learned it by doing. And it was part of me growing up. It might sound like a cliché, but in many ways the label is the soundtrack of my life. Thomas has now made it into a mixtape.
We all hate to see photos of ourselves when we were younger, the bad haircuts and the strange clothes. It is the same thing when you run a label. You constantly look back on things you regret. This mix makes me see the label from the outside in a way I don’t think I have before. And to my surprise the haircuts and the clothes weren't as bad and strange as I remembered.
I have to admit that I when I listened to it the first time, I was moved. First of all, because of the deep and true love Thomas has put into this mix. Second, because some of these tracks I haven't heard in 20-25 years. It really felt like revisiting the past. And in a very good way.
Thomas has followed the label since the early beginnings. Back in the days I was always thinking: “He’s a house/disco DJ – why does he want my noise records?”. I realize now I wasn't smart enough to understand his scope. I didn't understand it until his mix album Cosmic Galactic Prism, which is one of my favorite mix albums of all time. So for me it was very obvious that Thomas should make the Smalltown Supersound mix. I just couldn't imagine that he would go this beautifully far with it.
Since day one I have tried to have a red thread run through the releases and the label's DNA. Most of the time I am probably the only one who sees it. And many times I don't even see it myself. Now Thomas has found the spiritual unity.
While I have always struggled to describe what the label is, only now – with this mix – I can finally say: this is what it is.
Joakim Haugland Oslo, August 2018
The Movement Of The Free Spirit Tracklist:
Part 1
1. Echo Troopers - Fred Astaire Session (intro)
Deathprod - Orgone Donor
Yoshimi & Mats Gustafsson - Soundless Cries With Their Arms in the Air Yuichiro Fujimoto - Little Sun
2. Bendik Giske - Hole
Supersilent - 13.1
Biosphere - Aura in the Kitchen
Supersilent - 13.1
Elektro Nova/Electro Nova - T03
Bruce Russell - The Movement of the Free Spirit (The 1st Movement)
3. Carmen Villain - Safe
Alexander Rishaug - Time and Place
4. Monopot - Scena Napoletana
5. Continental Fruit - Dear Heart
6. Biosphere - Wyll and Purpose
Lindstrøm - Call Me Anytime (Oneohtrix Point Never Remix)
Deathprod - Orgone Donor
Arp - V2 Slight Return
Monopot - Dronningen
7. Monopot - Dronningen
Jaga Jazzist - Plym
Todd Rundgren - Anything (vocal outtake)
8. Todd Rundgren - Anything (vocal outtake)
9. Todd Rundgren, Emil Nikolaisen & Hans-Peter Lindstrøm - Wrap Your Arms Around Me (Stereolab vs High Llamas Remix)
10. 120 Days - Sleepless Nights
11. Carmen Villain - The Moon Will Always Be There
Continental Fruit - The Moon Was My Only Witness
Mats Gustafsson & Sonic Youth - Part 3 (Contrabass Sax)
12. Erik Wøllo - Ody At Sea
Alexander Rishaug - Satellites
Prins Thomas - B (Sun Araw Saddle Soap Remix)
13. Prins Thomas - B (Sun Araw Saddle Soap Remix)
Bjørn Torske & Prins Thomas - Arthur's Return (long unreleased)
Serena Maneesh - Introspection
Serena Maneesh - Leipziger Love Life (ancient mix)
Mats Gustafsson & Sonic Youth - Part 4 (Voice)
14. Wildest Dreams - Off The Lip
Part 2
1. Lindstrøm & Christabelle - Lovesick (Four Tet Remix) 2. Dungen - Franks Kaktus
3. Idjut Boys - One for Kenny (Bjørn Torske remix)
Idjut Boys - One for Kenny (Idjut Version)
4. Dungen - Alberto Balsam
5. Prins Thomas - H (The Orb Remix)
Bjørn Torske & Prins Thomas - Arthur
Kjetil D. Brandsdal - Komboloi
Lindstrøm - No Release (Owen Pallett Remix)
6. Lindstrøm - No release (Owen Pallett Remix) Diskjokke - Cold Out
Yoshinori Hayashi - Bit of Garden
7. Yoshinori Hayashi - Bit of Garden
Diskjokke - Cold Out
Meanderthals - Andromeda (Basic Idjut Version)
Arp - The Past (Version by Studio)
Meanderthals - Andromeda
8. Prins Thomas - C (I:Cube Remix)
9. Lindstrøm - Another Station
10. Bjørn Torske - Se Torsken (Mungolian Jetset Remix) Dan Lissvik - Airwalk
Dan Lissvik - G
11. Neneh Cherry - Slow Release
Bjørn Torske & Prins Thomas - K16
12. Bjørn Torske - Totem Expose
13. Kim Hiorthøy - Door Opens Both Ways
14. Toy - Don't Be
15. Lindstrøm - Raakost (Unknown Mortal Orchestra Version)
Part 3
1. Lindstrøm - The Contemporary Fix (Bjørn Torske Remix) 2. Matt Karmil - Morals
Biosphere - With Their Paddles in a Puddle
Andre Bratten - Minor Misconception
Carmen Villain - Planetarium (Gigi Masin Remix) 3. Andre Bratten - Minor Misconception
Carmen Villain - Planetarium (Gigi Masin Remix) Brian Reitzell - Ozu Choral
4. Carmen Villain - Planetarium (Gigi Masin Remix) Mungolian Jetset - Mush in the Bush
Bjørn Torske - Langt fra Afrika
5. Kelly Lee Owens - CBM
Carmen Villain - Obedience (Bjørn Torske Remix) Elektro Nova/Electro Nova - Phase One
Elektro Nova/Electro Nova - Phase Two Part 3 Brian Reitzell - Honeycomb
6. Prins Thomas - C (Ricardo Villalobos King Crab Remix) Bendik Giske - Adjust
Elektro Nova/Electro Nova - T03
Prins Thomas - C (Ricardo Villalobos Knödel Prince Dub) Mungolian Jetset - Shelton's on a Bender
7. Neneh Cherry - Everything Is Everything (Villalobos & Loderbauer: Vilod High Blood Pressure Mix)
8. Bjørn Torske - Furu
9. Andre Bratten - Pax Americana
10. Lars Horntveth - Kaleidoscopic
11. Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet - II (Performed by Joe McPhee & Ken Vandermark)