Leaving Records 15Yr Anniversary
Leaving Records is an artist-and-community-centered entity — most recognizable as a prolific LA-based record label — With an emphasis on spontaneity, interdependence, economics of care, and community activation, Leaving Records balances its unwavering commitment to artists’ rights with the production of highly-curated, quality, left-of-center physical and digital releases.
L.A.-based musician and Leaving Records founder, Matthew “Matthewdavid” McQueen is credited on Andre 3000’s debut solo album, New Blue Sun, as providing “mycelial electronics.” The 39-year-old founder of the record label and music collective released Mycelium Music in April, an album inspired by the interconnected networks of fungi and produced in large part using an open-source, script-based instrument called Norns, which allows users to create and manipulate sounds by breaking apart and stretching samples into grains or bits. When he got the call from New Blue Sun co-producer Carlos Niño — a longtime friend and supporter of the label — to meet Andre 3000 for a session, Niño told him to bring his “little music computer.” That session would eventually lead to “Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity And Beyoncé,” a three-minute sonic excursion that unfurls like a shimmering curtain gently introducing the album’s second half.
McQueen founded Leaving in 2009 as a cassette label releasing music from L.A.’s emerging beat scene. Over time, the community around the label would expand into all genres, building a reputation as a space for experimental and broad-reaching styles of music. Its nearly 15-year history seemed to culminate in this latest collaboration. “I just feel lucky that there does seem to be a gained interest, attraction, but it’s not blown up on this hype factor thing. I feel like it’s authentic and it’s people just really trying to connect with themselves and others,” he says. “Right now, I think people are facing a lot personally, globally. And this kind of alternative community really speaks to a lot of people. And we believe that it’s powerful, so we keep pushing.”
- Matthew David McQueen, excerpt from Rolling Stone by Jeff Ihaza
Tuesday, April 9th - The Regent Theater
Doors: 8:30PM | Show: 9:00PM | All Ages | $22
featuring:
SURYA BOTOFASINA, NATE MERCEREAU, CARLOS NIñO, ARUSHI JAIN, TEEBS, GREEN-HOUSE, MATTHEWDAVID
