Dim
Mak Records | Biography
The ultimate failure of
Do It Yourself is that it so rarely becomes Do It Ourselves:
Dim
Mak started in 1996 as a whim and became a lifestyle. Launching
with a 7" from obscure SoCal hardcore ensemble Stickfigurecarousel,
Dim Mak's roster grew to include bands outside of hardcore and
punk to garage rock and roll, disco punk, new wave, whatever it
is that is explosive. The 2002/2003 roster - The Kills, Pretty
Girls Make Graves, The Gossip, Soledad Brothers Die Monitr Batss,
Envy, Dance Disaster Movement, From Monument to Masses, Bluebird,
The Von Bondies, Pearlene, Tokyo Sex Destruction, Phantom Pregnancies,
Miracle Chosuke not by the dictates of economics, but through
maintaining an energetic and enthusiastic profile.
And that's where the politics get messy. The
problem with maintaining a politicized presence is that your ideals
can turn to rhetoric, and rhetoric is inherently limiting and
disempowering. And though Dim Mak seeks to encourage radicalism
as an ideal, the musical output emphasizes aesthetics and innovation
over any specific stance or message. The only dictates are that
the musicians not espouse racism, sexism, or homophobia. Dim Mak
and its bands comprise, not a collective, but a community.
And just as a community isn't limited to one
voice, it shouldn't be limited to one language. Dim Mak is also
engaged in compiling a documentary (tentatively entitled Carpet
of Gold / Bombs) half of the footage shot in Afghanistan and featuring
interviews with radical voices across the nation, including Howard
Zinn, Boots from the Coup, Noam Chomsky, Diane Fujino, Richard
Flacks, and Daniel Sheehan, along with a clearance to use new
spoken-word from Mumia Abu-Jamal. The soundtrack-to be released
separately as well-will hopefully feature both hip hop and rock
artists. Also under the Dim Mak aegis is YELL!, a free Asian-American
interest magazine, boasting contributors from Brooklyn to San
Francisco to (of course) Santa Barbara. Current circulation is
3,000.
COMING IN SPRING 2003:
The Gossip - 7" and live 12"
Die Monitr Batss 12"/CD
Huggy Bear Tribute LP/CD
The Von Bondies Peel Sessions LP/CD
Panthers 12"/CD
Miracle Chosuke discography LP/CD
From Monument To Masses LP/CD
Kill Sadie "Final Recordings" CD
Tokyo Death Destruction CD
Planes Mistaken For Stars "Knife in the Marathon" LP
(repress)
Planes Mistaken For Stars "Fucking Fight" CDsingle
These will come out on time; a communal spirit
and an inclination towards fucking around need not go hand in
hand. DIY and dilettantism are not synonymous. In other words,
Dim Mak's not going anywhere until it goes somewhere. Bands come
and go. Ideals are refined, reworded, resought. But the music
and the passion is what carries on.
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