Boom! Records label info

BooM! Records - music for the mind, body and soul.
Words: freaky bob (www.peakmagazine.com)
Date: 24.10.01

The role of record label is, by definition, quite narrow. Find nine killer
tracks three or four times a year and release them, then spend the rest of
the time relentlessly promoting them through tireless DJ schedules
throughout the world. As such, since 1996, BooM! Records have consistently
released both compilation and artist albums which have promoted their
particular and very defined philosophies and have always hit the right spot

at the right time. I use reviews and sales as my benchmarks here - the only

two real outside indicators of success. For Matt though, with his keen ear
for the ’right sound’, the step into label management seemed a natural one.

As a DJ he was always keen on finding the psychotropically unusual and
interesting, so the move to then convert those coveted dat’s into a
convenient and commercially available cd format was an easy one for him to
take.

Visiting the BooM! Records flat/office is an experience itself. The train
journey from Amsterdam takes over three hours, but it is your legal right to

smoke dope on the train, making it pleasant if somewhat confusing as to
where to sit. On arrival in Groningen, a further meander through the cobbled

maze eventually takes you to their street and from there it is obvious where

to go.. find the techno jungle which softly oozes psychedelic beats and
throbs with the multitude of flashing lights and two parrots who at first
are wary of strangers, but when they get to know you become very bold and
attempt what can be best described as ’fly-bys’.

So there I was, in the midst of this insane techno jungle with at least one

parrot constantly trying to find out what I was up to, sometime at the
beginning of the summer. My reasons were three fold: interview Matt and
Remko; party and play with the dedicated and friendly Groningen psychedelic

trancers at the first ’illegal’ outdoor event the area has seen in years;
and to have a rifle through the treasured BooM! dat/CDR bags... And over the

course of two and a half days we talked, partied, and listened to music.
Unfortunately the outdoor party was cancelled at the last minute
necessitating an immediate change of venue, ’a blow to democracy’ as Matt
cynically put it, but confirmed in my mind that irate farmers are the same
the world over.

The first thing you realise about BooM! Records is not to be fooled by the
overt lethargy. It is easy to conclude that it is all coffee, snacks, and
high-grade hash, but the fact that since 1996 they have released and
promoted ten successful albums, five of which have featured single artists
and as such been directly instrumental in pushing these unique and talented

people onto the worldwide scene, namely Quadra, Cosmoon, Battle of the
Future Buddhas, Mind Warped and Ubar Tmar indicates they are everything but

lethargic. Matt has also DJ’d at locations as far flung as Japan (where he
was screamed at with ecstasy for the whole duration of his first DJ set
here, an experience which he found a tad mindblowing if the email after the

event I received is anything to go by), Mexico, Canada, Switzerland and
Belgium to name a few. Indeed they have recently set up a division of BooM!

Records in Japan where the entrance boasts a brass plaque, something that
even the founders, Matt and Rem, do not have outside their entrance in
Holland.

In my mind what sets BooM! Records apart from the multitude of psychedelic
labels that are around now is its resolute dedication to a simple
philosophy, something that both Matt and Remko feel very passionately about,

passionately enough for Matt to stop a telephone conversation in mid
sentence to make himself clear: "bass for the feet, mid for the body and

high tones for the soul". The rhetorical question that Remko followed
through with further summed it up: "When did the psychedelic disappear
from
the music?" As such BooM! are not a label of fashion, for they do not follow

fickle fashions; they are a label of style, for they believe in the
fundamental principles of the psychedelic style and as such look for sounds

which are ’hard and melodic’. This was a point about which we talked at
length and through which the dislike of tech-trance was very self evident
within both Matt and Remko where they were staunch in the fact that as BooM!

they wish to simply ’give people music to jump to’. At the end of the day
parties are about the celebration of life and if people want to listen to
techno then they should go to a techno rave, and not water down the pure
psychedelic elements with such influences.

To me, BooM! Records are pioneers into a new world, not far removed from the

Nordic warriors of times gone by who were obsessive in the quest to push the

boundaries of the known world further and further. Not only did BooM! adopt

the CD format as the only medium to release on from the beginning thus
setting a standard (only the Quadra album, Digital Stimulant has had a vinyl

outing), they have also tirelessly promoted the twisted psychedelic sounds
of the Netherlands through their five compilation albums where some of the
titles have played with Nordic references. BooM! are also always open to new

artists giving everything they receive a fair hearing, but they never forget

what has happened - talk of a dat classics album was raised during the time

I was there. BooM! have also embraced the internet culture 100% and have
done so now for quite a few years - the three apple macs between two people

is testament to that. Both Matt and Remko are confirmed internet junkies
where a large sprinkle of inspiration both for the label and life (if you
can distinguish between the two for them) come from.

So what does the future hold for BooM!? More of the same, there is to be no

glitch in their fundamental principles - no journey’s into minimalism or
tech-trance or break-beats that is for sure. No, the next 12 months will see

at least another four confirmed full-on psychedelic releases: a second
Cosmoon artist album ’Damnation Generation’, a second Fractal Glider artist

album ’Parasite’, a third ’Psychoactive Scandosounds’ compilation, and
’Ice-o-lator’, a further label compilation dedicated to promoting all that
BooM! believe in, and of course the oh so important promotion that they
engage in constantly around the world.

Music for the mind, body and soul? You got it and don’t ever let it stop.

originally published at www.peakmagazine.com

Matt Boom! will play at the party Sonic Boom 29.12.2001 - club Pod Homolkou,
Beroun (a city very near to Prague), Czech Republic
Click here for more info.