BROWN DWARF FRIENDS

      Notes & Bolts Records and Tapes is a collective operations based in Chicago, Illinois, but with fingers stretching all across the nation. With very humble beginnings, the Notes & Bolts name exploded into a small empire in a short span of time, expanding it's operations first as a blog, then zines, comics, and podcasts, and ultimately a full-on label dabbling in everything from CD, to cassette, to vinyl, to flexi, to lathe-cut records, to monthly shows, to live recordings! Who knows where they'll stop? Probably no-where. We love it. What's not to love?

      Notes & Bolts serve as one of the largest inspirations for us here at Brown Dwarf Records. Although we (BDR) are a totally separate unit to N & B, two of our members (Milos and Ryan) are also part of this juggernaut, serving up some of Chicago's finest and most exciting musical acts. These activities are what drew in our other members into what we are now. As a matter of fact, much of our own operations are based on the infrastructure of N & B. Although Notes & Bolts will likely not release music with us, simply by the nature of their Chicago-centricity (maybe Chicago-based artists and bands will be the exception), we definitely will be doing some collaborative work with them in the future.

      Into Entropy Recordings is the audio production and engineering alias of Raphael Pulgar. Based in the Philippines, he makes use of an ever-expanding and well equipped studio to meet the needs of his clients. Although he is currently constrained to recording music locally in the Philippines (unless you were looking for an excuse to travel or just so happen to be in the area already), he is certainly open to mixing and producing music from around the globe.

      Into Entropy works closely with Brown Dwarf to bring burgeoning musicians and quality recordings from his side of town, and with time (we hope) the rest of the world.

      Cult Shit Media Blackout is a D.I.Y. record label centred in the Philippines, established by Tomi Uysingco. A musician himself, he has since cast away that carapace and now assumes the honourable role as deified cult-leader. Cult Shit releases what some would call music, what others might call "experimental", what others still might call "avant-garde", and others might call "noise", and more still "garbage"; whatever. With a heavy focus on free promotion through release-downloads, and a handful of superbly limited CD-R's, CSMB has plans to expand its physical catalogue in the near future. We should also note that they might be sorcerers... Explore at your own discretion.

      Working together with Into Entropy Recordings and Brown Dwarf, we all intend to bring out some musical gems from the area.

      First-Caste Records is a record label operating in San Antonio, Texas, founded by electronic artist, Lizarazo. Inspired largely by the sheer diversities within a small world, particularly those experienced from a life spent globe-trotting, the label presently boasts a roster also loaded with artists of an electronic flavour, but First-Caste keeps things fresh with an ecclectic range of acts to represent the multi-faceted soundscape that is electronics. Don't let the current favouring of electronics deter you though; luck of the draw has brought these various acts to FCR, yet there are certainly plans to further diversify the label's family. Managed as a labour of love, First-Caste functions as a solo-operation with a heavy focus on web-distributed, digital releases; still, First-Caste has physical releases on the horizon.

      Brown Dwarf and First-Caste will co-operate largely on a promotional level, but we here hope to see more intensely collaborative projects in the future.