A Bunch of Stuff!
Hello Everyone!
Its another blog! Hoorayingtons! I know you love these blogs...lets jump right in!
And then, after I finished writing some of this, I realised I had gone into a long info dump about current pressing, so I have put that as the second part of the blog, so the important information is at the top....
Firstly: Some of the current crop of new releases will not be going to the main distributor, as they are likely to sell out via our store. The Spiritual Aura releases, for example. And the Daddy Armshouse Box Set. And the new Out of Romfords. And some of the new Hectics.
This is just the nature of things now - we are selling more of each release, and it is much more difficult to increase the orders after they were made 10 months ago. If I could have, I would have ordered much more on Spiritual Aura and others, but as it is, what we have is what we have and thats all we have!
So if you are holding back until these releases get to Red Eye or are shipped to a store in germany, for example, I am saying "while nothing is set in stone, some of our releases are unlikely to be available anywhere else, and it may only happen if I reorder on those records, and then it will be many many months".
Next up, the bargain price on the Moondance set is almost done, with less than 20 to go....
With that in mind, I will soon update the store with the parts that make it up. You will be able to get the 6 set, the 5 set, the USB, and the two sampler EPs as individuals, if you prefer.
I also wanted to let you know what is forthcoming...
June 16th: The Bremixes Bundle
This one is very exciting. Knitebreed finally gets a series of remix EPs, and it features some proper big names on the work - Ron Wells, NRG, Hyper On Experience and Liquid, not to mention lots of KF regulars remixing the hell out of classic Breed tracks...oh, and each one is on colored vinyl as well...so....unmissable...
23rd of June: The Second Prime Bundle
Another set of highly anticipated releases. The new music from Second Drop is always a big deal, and of course the first two Kniteforce Primes flew out so fast it made our heads turn, so I fully expect these next two to do the same. The bundle comes with a free CD mixed by our very own Ross Fader that gives you a tease of the upcoming Prime Eps too, including music from Liquid as LQUD and Jonny L and Sunshine Proiductions and many more...
30th June: Propa Influential Bundle
The follow up to the latest two Propa Talents are Run To Me and Intelligent Woman, two superb represses of classic tunes form Dj Raps long history of excellence. And they will be going out with new music from Dj Sarin and Hannibal Selector on Influential. And once again, this comes with a bonus CD - this time of brand new tracks from Dj Sarin. Proper influential indeed...
Other News
In the meantime, we are expecting all sorts of things to arrive. Acen - Trip to The Moon Dubplate Mixes, Dj Solo - Darkage and remixes, and many many more, but I cannot give any more information yet. And that leads me into the rant / info drop....
Last night, I was told more of the avalanche of records is about to ship from the pressing plant in France. And its...KLEG01 and KLEG15? Champion Sound original and Rikers Island? Well, thats nice, but (and I know you are all thinking it) WHERE IS THE RAY KEITH BOX SET AND THE DJ FORCE & THE EVOLUTION BOX SET?
I don't know.
But the fact they are starting to ship again IS a good sign. It means that at least SOME paper has been found for sleeves, so I have hopes that we will hear about the two missing box sets in the next week or so.
However, this does underline the massive irritation that is dealing with MPO, my pressing plant. MPO is one of the last remaining huge record pressing plants in the world. There are only about 10 of these behemoths still in existence, and none of them are in the UK. Because of the huge rise in demand, and because of the major labels repressing 6 billion of the Bee Gees or whatever, and because frankly, they have so much work they don't need any particular label anymore, they genuinely dont seem to care about what they do or how they do it.
They are, and have been, pressing things randomly, and I never know what is coming or when.
The fact they are shipping two new Legendary releases is typical of this attitude / chaos. Not only are there FOUR in this group (KLEG05 and KLEG11 were cut the same day, ordered the same day, and by any reckoning should have shipped the same day) but these releases, while due, are being shipped BEFORE nine others, which should have already been here. Including the Ray and Force box sets, Acen, some KFAs and etc.
This is a situation which is incredibly annoying.
Since things started going wrong with vinyl pressing in 2021, many people have said to me "get a new pressing plant" but its really not that simple. I am friends with a lot of labels, and I do not know a single one that has had a good time for the last 18 months regardless of what plant they are with. All of use have had problems after problem, experiencing delays and chaos at every turn.
This is not entirely the fault of the pressing plants - there has been problems with the supply of the plastic pellets, the paper parts, and of course even delivery has been a nightmare, especially if you are doing it internationally, and especially from France to the UK with the changes in importing due to Brexit.
Having said that, the absolute lack of any form or reliable communication is also pretty unacceptable. Partly this is because pressing plants in general have been very reluctant to give delivery times on anything because they are not confident they will have the materials needed to press things.
Still, all that being said, it is to me unforgivable that releases such as the Ray Keith Box Set or Acens Trip To the Moon Dubplate Remixes are now delayed due to lack of paper parts. They have had 9 months - actually 10 months - to have these ready. You could have a baby in that time. It is an olympic level of incompetence for a record press or a parent to get to this point and then be like "oops, we dont have anything to put this in" lol.
But that is where we are.
It should also be said that we currently have nearly 50 releases in process. Moving the parts from one pressing plant to another is hazardous even if its only a few releases. Moving that many was never an option. Costs and chaos make that a foolish endeavor at best.
Having said all that, enough is enough, and pretty much all our latest releases are going through a new UK based pressing plant and have been for the last few months. They seem to have a fast turnaround (3-4 months) and the records we have had from them so far have been high quality and delivered in a timely manner. Actually, they have been a bit too efficient. We sent them the new Dj Rap releases - PTDUB08 and 09 (Run To Me and Intelligent Woman) earlier in the year as the first ones to go through the new plant. We got test presses back within about 8 weeks, which is about usual, and then got the full delivery THREE WEEKS LATER which is easily the fastest delivery I have ever experienced in this industry ever in the history of ever.
At any other time, I would be ecstatic about this super fast turnaround. However, considering the huge amount of records currently sitting here awaiting release, the last thing I need is an extra two titles that cant go out for a while lol. But I am certainly not complaining. A faster pressing time and high quality releases? I am all in on that!
So look, we are at the end of the chaos to some degree. I still have a good number of releases with MPO in France, but we are entering a crossover period where some things I cut now will arrive fully finished from the new plant before things I cut last year get here from MPO. It is what it is. A good example is I think we will have Prime 09 and Prime 11 before we get Prime 05 and 06. We will have the Shades of Rhythm Box Set (sent to cut a month ago at the new plant) before we get the Pennywise releases (sent to cut 2 months ago and going to MPO - likely the last ones to go there, incidentally).
But all in all, things should be getting better and more regular. Even MPO might imporve - stranger things have happened. Can't actually think of any offhand, but...I mean, maybe they have?
Oh, wanna see the front cover of the Shades album? Its been done by Junior Tomlin, and man, it is gorgeous...
Lastly, I will end this blog by not talking about Knite Club, or telling you a large section of the tickets have now sold, and i certainly wont put a link to the site for you, or let you know Supaset 21 is gonna be released via the Knite Club site with an aim to get you all sharing it. It will contain a few small adverts for the night, but i am not telling you that either.
IGNORE THIS LINK TO THE BEST EVENT OF THE DECADE
Nice one,
Chris