FABLE OF THE LABEL - DAPTONE RECORDS
Published: Music Australia Guide #74, March 2010.
Fable of the label profiles iconic labels past and present. This issue, Brooklyn soul revivalists Daptone Records take Dan Rule back to the old school.
It wasn’t in his genes or his upbringing, but soul music just made sense to Gabriel Roth, co-founder of strictly analogue Brooklyn soul imprint Daptone Records.
“Growing up in the 80s and the early 90s, everything on the radio was so produced and so technologically oriented that something about the mood of it just wasn’t inclusive to me,” says the 35-year-old bassist and producer.
“There was just something about rhythm and blues and soul music – some kind of sincerity – that just attracted me. It was something that kind of related to everybody, something common and real. It just felt natural.”
Though the tag might be a little reductive, it’s difficult not describe the New Yorker and his Daptone partner in crime, flutist and saxophonist Neal Sugarman, as traditionalists. Since founding the boutique, artist-run label in 2002, the duo have garnered a worldwide reputation as the chief purveyors of contemporary soul music, dropping high-quality vinyl releases by Sharon Jones & The Dapkings, The Budos Band, Naomi Shelton, Binkie Griptie and countless others.
“We’ve always just tried to make the kind of records that we want to hear,” offers Roth simply. “We really are dedicated to trying to make the music right, then everything else just falls into line.”
Having released just 18 viny LPs and less than 50 45’s in their eight-year history, Daptone’s focus is on quality rather than capacity. “We have a lot of records and a lot of sessions on the shelf because they didn’t work out and we have a lot of records that took us three or four times to make,” says Roth. “If we make records that aren’t great then you know what? We don’t put them out.”
The label has an ardent hands-on mentality. Daptone’s headquarters – a dilapidated brownstone residential building in heart of Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighbourhood – is home to their analogue studio, office, distribution ‘warehouse’ and one particularly smelly old couch. Roth engineers and produces every studio session, whilst he and Sugarman also play active roles as musicians in The Dapkings and various other bands on the roster.
“When there are sales sheets, I write sales sheets; when the toilet’s broken, we fix it; if Neal’s upstairs talking to a distributor or something and I need a flute solo, I go and grab him and he runs down and does a flute solo,” says Roth.
“We have our hands in every decision that informs a record. When you go and buy a Daptone record and you read the label, I decided how far apart the letters are spaced,” he laughs.
It’s a quality that hasn’t gone unnoticed. “We’re really sweating and bleeding and crying for these records and I think people feel that,” says Roth. “It’s given us some really fierce loyalty from a lot of people.”
“It’s really reactionary in a way,” says Roth. “As the technology and marketing drives music devices to smaller and faster and the more people have unlimited access to music, it makes it harder to have a real, valuable experience of it.”
“When something’s really handmade and you’ve put a lot of heart into it, people appreciate that. They can feel it when they pick it up.”
Daptone Gold is out now via Daptone/Shock
Visit: daptonerecords.com
