If it comes as a surprise to hear that Andrew Weathers’ delightfully scattered Full Spectrum Records is celebrating its 10th birthday, you’re in good company. “We are just as astonished as you are,” writes Weathers in the email that accompanied the release. “If we’re being honest, there was never any real ‘plan’ when we started pushing CD-R releases out of a Greensboro, NC apartment all those years ago. Frankly, we still don’t have one.”
Weathers is being a bit self-deprecating there. Still, it’s a refreshing sentiment at a time when big data drives even bigger planning. As this 12-track, two-hour package makes abundantly clear, there is a distinct Full Spectrum aesthetic behind its success.
His artists make independent music for people who love it, but who are tired of cliché-riddled rock and roll and general narrow-mindedness.
“[A]fter years of stumbling evolution and searching creative detours,” he writes, “our humble imprint functions both as a multi-faceted community that reaches across geographic barriers and a self-defensive barrier against a broken, exploitative music industry. In a world that actively seeks to isolate us all, the Full Spectrum catalog is the thread that ties the label’s artists together, weaving bonds across our disparate hometowns and music scenes.
“Where some might perceive a sprawling and aesthetically confusing mess, we see bright lights glinting off the surface of a dense and textured mosaic. Put bluntly: fuck a highly curated aesthetic.”
This weekend’s edition of The Moderns will feature three tracks from the collection: “the death of everything new” by more eaze & claire rousay, “Test Field” by Chrisman/McLaughlin/Feeney and “Longwhiling” by CJ Boyd & Shanna Sordahl. (You can find ep. 64 archived on Mixcloud, beginning Sunday.)
Hearing these beautiful pieces together is a neat illustration of how valued the Full Spectrum label has become. Weathers may take a laissez-faire approach to curation, but that’s not to say he doesn’t have a terrific ear for talent.
In addition to the digital download, Full Spectrum will offer a limited edition double cassette of the collection.
The Moderns, vols. 1 and 2, by Kevin Press are available exclusively from Amazon.