I wish I could say this was a particular surprise. As far back as Fall 2019, Colour Haze guitarist/vocalist and Elektrohasch Schallplatten label head Stefan Koglek was talking about shifting focus with the long-running imprint to focus less on other groups’ output and more on his own. The announcement below, which makes the release yesterday of the new Colour Haze album, Sacred (review here), somewhat bittersweet, seems like not much more than a re-confirming of the same.

And the last few years have borne it out as well. Perhaps somewhat obscured by the pandemic, the turn on Elektrohasch‘s part to centering Colour Haze was already underway by the time lockdowns started. The label’s last new release for another band was We Here Now‘s 2019 outing, The Chikipunk Years (discussed here), which as a multinational experimentalist conglomerate and a record with “punk” in the title that wasn’t at all punk, was always going to be a hard sell. Apparently it turned out to be exactly that.

But if this is an official “the end” for Elektrohasch as a label that might dig a band and put out their record, the legacy and catalog left behind are remarkable. Significant. Consider it was Elektrohasch who either first picked up and/or offered releases from My Sleeping Karma, Josiah, The Machine, Hypnos 69, Cherry Choke, The Kings of Frog Island, Sungrazer, Rotor, All Them Witches, Saturnia, Been Obscene, Causa Sui, Sgt. Sunshine, Gas Giant, Phased, UGH! and a slew of others. In addition to Colour Haze‘s landmark catalog, many of these artists continue to have an effect on the scope and direction of heavy psych and heavy rock, especially in Europe but by no means limited to those borders or any others.

I’ll miss trusting Koglek‘s taste while approaching a new Elektrohasch release, knowing that the label’s logo on back meant that wherever the record in question actually went, it would be a work of substance meant to last longer in the mind and heart of the listener than that first playthrough on the turntable.

And in committing to use Elektrohasch as an outlet for Colour Haze and related projects, Koglek essentially leaves the door open to reigniting the label at some future date for other bands as well. Hard to imagine someone getting that email from Koglek with an offer to release their album and saying no. You know, unless their head is up their ass or something. I guess that happens sometimes.

But this struck me as a moment worth marking since the announcement came through in a newsletter that also welcomed Sacred and plugged Colour Haze‘s upcoming Fall tour dates. They’re doing festivals and more. So, things move forward. And if you need me, I’ll be checking out the discounted CD catalog.

Here goes:

Elektrohasch Label

With my last new artists – We Here Now, Public Animal, Carpet, Saturnia… – my taste aparently didn‘t meet yours. That especially such a great, stylisticaly independent album like We Here Now – The Chikipunk Years – a group apart from the usual European/North American origin was sold just 60 times made me think.

I stopped signing new bands therefore since quite a while – also because I didn‘t got too much interesting offered recently (well for my taste…).

My initial plan was to concentrate on my own band but keep your favorite Elektrohasch-classics in stock – such as My Sleeping Karma, Rotor, Sungrazer, The Machine or Hypnos 69 , etc…

Unfortunately pressing vinyl is such a pain in the ass these days and furthermore became so exspensive I simply can‘t afford anymore to repress and store 500 copies of records which will sell slowly over coming years.

Well – there is a time for everything.

I want to thank all artists, record enthusiasts, customers, retailers, friends for the trust and the interest in Elektrohasch the last 19 years! Thank you very much!

For farewell I‘ll release a remastered reprint of the Sungrazer LP.

Otherwise I will sell off my stock.

Many CDs are in the webshop for sell-out prices now! Have a look! What you don‘t want to have will go in recycling one day…

Elektrohasch will stay in business! –
but in the future only as a label for Colour Haze (and matching bandmember projects like Marios endless A Great River In The Sky)

I think I made a small contribution to music-culture with Elektrohasch – but I‘m also exhausted from all the work.

I want to use all my energy entirely for my own music now – especially as with Mario and Jan we gained fresh power and new possibilities. Sacred is a first result. And we have a lot of plans…

Liebe Grüße & Best Wishes

Stefan Koglek

www.elektrohasch.de
https://www.facebook.com/elektrohasch

We Here Now, The Chikipunk Years (2019)

Tags: Elektrohasch Schallplatten, Germany, Munich

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 13th, 2022 at 6:04 pm and is filed under Whathaveyou. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.