1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4ad_logo.png]] |
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3 | 4AD Records is an independent record label from the UK. It started up in 1979 as a sublabel of Creator/BeggarsBanquetRecords, and is still active today as part of the Beggars Group[[note]]which includes other seminal indie labels like Matador and Rough Trade Records[[/note]]. The label is best known for its activity during the 1980s, when it made its name specializing in PostPunk genres like DreamPop, [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] and GothRock. |
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5 | The label was started by two former Beggars Banquet employees, Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent. It was initially named Axis Records, but after it was discovered that an Axis label already existed, it was renamed to 4AD, based on a promotional flyer where "1980 FORWARD" was gradually abbreviated to "4AD". In 1981, Kent left to start the Creator/SituationTwo label and sold his share of the company to Watts-Russell, leaving him sole owner and president. |
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7 | 4AD first became famous in TheEighties as the home of critically acclaimed DreamPop bands such as Music/CocteauTwins, Music/DeadCanDance and Watts-Russell's own collaborative project Music/ThisMortalCoil. These bands helped [[TropeCodifier codify]] the genre's main characteristics, such as a combination between {{Ambient}} production and accessible melodies, complex arrangements, copious EchoingAcoustics, and a distinctive visual identity, courtesy of the label's in-house graphic designer Vaughan Oliver. The identification is so widespread that "4AD" is frequently used as a shorthand for "the classic dream pop sound". |
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9 | However, this wasn't all 4AD had to offer, as was highlighted by its famous 1987 sampler compilation ''Lonely Is An Eyesore''. The label soon expanded into American AlternativeRock, signing Music/{{Pixies}}, Music/TheBreeders and Music/ThrowingMuses, among others, and establishing a UsefulNotes/LosAngeles office in TheNineties, from where a lot of the {{Slowcore}} bands that drove the label that decade operated. |
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11 | Despite a minor hit with Modern English's "I Melt With You" in 1983 and a huge success with M/A/R/R/S' [[{{Sampling}} sampletastic]] "Pump Up the Volume" in 1987, 4AD were always more of a CultClassic UK-focused label, which led them to signing a US distribution deal with Creator/WarnerBrosRecords in 1992. (Prior to the deal, the label negotiated U.S. distribution of individual acts with various labels.) This is considered [[EndOfAnAge a sign of the end of "classic 4AD"]], as many of its flagship bands were leaving or disbanding, and Watts-Russell himself left the label in 1999, but it has remained active. Its importance was recognised by the Beggars Group in 2008 through a reorganisation that merged many of its subsidiary labels into 4AD (including Beggars Banquet itself). |
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13 | !!"Classic" 4AD artists include: |
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15 | [[index]] |
16 | * Music/ARKane |
17 | * Music/{{Bauhaus}} |
18 | ** Music/TonesOnTail |
19 | * Heidi Berry[[note]]Was originally signed to [[/index]]Creator/CreationRecords[[index]], but moved to 4AD in 1989.[[/note]] |
20 | * Music/TheBirthdayParty |
21 | * Clan of Xymox |
22 | * Music/CocteauTwins |
23 | * Colourbox |
24 | ** M/A/R/R/S[[note]]a side-project involving Colourbox and A.R. Kane[[/note]] |
25 | * Music/DeadCanDance |
26 | * Dif Juz |
27 | * Music/LisaGermano |
28 | * Music/HisNameIsAlive |
29 | * Music/{{Lush}} |
30 | * Modern English |
31 | * Mojave 3 |
32 | ** Rachel Goswell |
33 | ** Neil Halstead |
34 | * Music/PaleSaints |
35 | * Music/{{Pixies}} |
36 | ** Music/TheBreeders |
37 | ** Frank Black |
38 | * The Music/RedHousePainters[[note]]Who infamously suffered from Ivo Watts-Russell's ExecutiveMeddling and were thrown off the label in 1996.[[/note]] |
39 | * Music/{{Stereolab}} |
40 | * Music/TheThe |
41 | * Music/ThisMortalCoil |
42 | * Music/ThrowingMuses |
43 | ** Music/TanyaDonnelly |
44 | ** Music/{{Belly|Band}} |
45 | * Music/ScottWalker |
46 | * The Wolfgang Press |
47 | |
48 | !Modern 4AD bands include: |
49 | |
50 | * [[Music/ArielPink Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti]] |
51 | * The Big Pink |
52 | * Blonde Redhead |
53 | * Music/BonIver (only in Europe, Jagjaguwar handles US distribution) |
54 | * Music/{{Deerhunter|Band}} |
55 | * Music/{{Efterklang}} |
56 | * Music/{{Grimes}} (has since departed, currently indepedent) |
57 | * Music/TimHecker |
58 | * Music/IronAndWine (only in Europe, Creator/WarnerBrosRecords handles US distribution) |
59 | * Music/TheMountainGoats |
60 | * Music/TheNational |
61 | * Music/StVincent |
62 | * Music/TuneYards |
63 | * Music/TVOnTheRadio |
64 | * Music/USGirls |
65 | * Tkay Maidza |
66 | [[/index]] |
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