The 2022 Ramble wrap - don't let the door hit ya on the way out '22.

2002 has been an extremely challenging year for many, including myself both on a personal level and for the label. But it's also been a rewarding year...watering the label little by little and watching it grow. Some times I am impatient and i want to see it develop faster...I want to be able to pay the pile of bills that continue to mount on my desk and I want folks to love and appreciate these releases as much as i do.

At times 2022 has been a petulant child; frustrating and draining; dealing with damages at the hands of various postal systems, and rising shipping costs at customs duties, rising vinyl pressing costs, pressing delays, Paypal withholding money...at times it feels like all the forces of the world are conspiring against you...the way the economy is set up seems like its to ensure small businesses do not succeed - with their taxes and fees and charges.

Some times it seems like an impossible task to push the boulder up the hill...every time you gain some momentum it keeps edging back down and you start again. Nonetheless, in 2023, we will start again. I think we took some large steps in 2022 and i thank you all for the support you have given.

In 2022 we released 31 recordings on vinyl, 36 on CD and digital releases by George Christian, Waswas, Skotos Oman and El Zombie Espacial, Maxi Mas, and Kawol Samarqandi.

I thank every artist that we were fortunate enough to work with and all the labels we were lucky enough to co-release with - Cetripetal Force, Feeding Tube, Echodelick, Cardinal Fuzz, tour de bras, Torto Editions, Marsiglia Records, The Crystal Cabinet, Weird Beard, We here and Now Records, Fuzzed Up and Astromoon Records. Also having Lighten up Sounds come onboard in the States and Clear Spot in Europe for our distro has been a revelation.

While Ramble received great support from numerous folks overseas, it was disheartening that our artists including my own projects were mostly ignored and unsupported once again in record stores and radio in Australia except for two dedicated champions at RRR radio - Dave Graney from Banana Lounge Broadcasting and Pat O’brien from O'tomorrow who have both been incredibly supportive.

Australia is a difficult market, being both small and somewhat parochial and nepotistic, anyone running a label releasing marginal music will relate that it's no easy task to get support - your releases played, shared, reviewed and purchased.

Independent stores and their lack of support

We have several hundreds so called independent record stores in Australia but none want to take a risk...go out on a limb. While i understand their position, art stays stagnate and dull if it's not given the opportunity to develop on its own merit, rather than played or shared only because other 'influential' people are doing so. Is this also the case in Europe and the US?

While very few record store are chomping at the bit to purchases our release outright at a wholesale price I have offered all of our titles on consignment to these 'independent stores' but none of them except the wonderful Lulu's are willing to offer any kind of support by promoting, sharing, recommending or reviewing a release. Man, they won't even add the titles to their website. I don't have the time or energy to be disappointed by this and they can keep selling their funk and Fleetwood Mac re-issues and promoting 'friends of friends' releases'. They are no different to the chain stores. 

You always need support; whether it’s a like, a share, an acknowledgement, a recommendation. Ramble has been fortunate to receive ongoing support from a host of international blogs, radio shows, web stations and magazines and i thank anyone who listened, shared and enjoyed any of our releases. All these good folks supported us in 2022 and I thank you - WFMU - Irene Trudel, Tom Dash, Jonathan Herweg, Jeffrey Davison, Scott Williams, Free Form Freakout, Brad Rose at Foxy Digitalis, Record Crates United, Acid Test Radio, Banana Lounge Broadcasting, Beats Per Minute, Monolith Cocktail, Space is the Place Radio Show, Salt Peanuts, The Transmitter Down, Xtelyon Records, Weirdo Shrine, London Calling Shades of Rock, A Jazz Noise, Pat at O’Tommorow, Neu Guitars, In Memory of John Peel Radio Show, and Ernesto Diaz-Infante. No doubt I’ve forgotten a few…🙏🙏🙏.

Also massive love and kudos to my hugely talented team of designers - Atharwar Deshingkar, Kon Tzas, Cam Lofstrand, and Lucy Adlington, and my chief mastering guru Anders Peterson.

While the output for 2022 was enormous, on the whole the response was wonderful despite having several strong releases completely ignored. In 2023 the output will not be as monumental but they will all be inspiring, challenging, original works of art coming from dedicated and committed artists from all corners of the globe. Here's a list of all of our 2022 releases from the following countries - Australia, USA, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Uruguay, Thailand, Singapore/Malaysia, South Africa, China, Finland, Canada, UK, Poland, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Iran, Japan.

Shane Parish - Viscera Eternae
Ernesto Diaz-Infante - Vacilando EPs
Ernesto Diaz-Infante - Radio Broadcasts Summer of The Arrival 2008
The Modern Folk - Briery Branch
Reid Karris and the Man from Atlantis - Onomatopoeia
the Man from Atlantis and George Christian - The Sun will Rise Again
the Man from Atlantis - Tales of Ordinary Sadness
the Man from Atlantis - the Gates are Closing
Duncan Park - Invoking the Flood
staraya derevnya - forgot what was important
staraya derevnya - Boulder Blues 
 A.J. Kaufmann - Jam Sessions
Luciano Bagnasco and Gonzalo  Navarro - Residual Complementario 
W.BI - III 
Refugees - A Distant Land of Longing
Sol Viator - Sol Viator
Ringhold - Kaev
Trigona - Trgona 
Pumpkinfriend - Autumn Sketchbook / Wishing Well
Kinglake - Mirring
Heikki Ruokangas and Landon George - Devotional 
Dharma and George Chua - Portal
Helecho Experimntar - Apaisido
Skotos Oman & El Zombie Espacial 
Vitor C/Vitor Colares - Agreste, A Personal Anthology
Ryan McDermott - Nord Sud
Droneroom - My Marionette Days are Over
Droneroom - the Most Gorgeous Sleep
Miranda Arens - Global Meditation, Nueva Realidad &​ ​Tarde de Miercoles
Reid Karris - We Enter the Circle After Dark and Are Consumed by Fir
Seth Andrew Davis - For Electro​-​Acoustic Guitar
Manop Nakornchai - 2EP
El Topo - Wet 
Clara Engel - The Cicada Session / In the Fog
Nosoy Trio - Refracci​ó​n
Jeff Gburek - Vigillance Suite I and II
Black Brunswicker - High Peaks
Eric Arn - Misuse
Li Jianhong - Ferns
Henry Kaiser and Anthony Pirog - Figure/Ground
Davide Cedolin - Contemplations and other Instrumentals from the Valley
C.Ross - Skull Creator 
Greg Nieuwsma - Paths to Memory
Duncan Park - In the Floodplain of Dreams
George Christian - Distante Claridade
Chris Alford and William Thompson - Overtone Undertow
Eush - Fever Dream
Santa Sprees - Fanfare for Tonsils
00_- Ca​-​yptra
Gabriel Hassan - Two Oceans: Compositions for six and twelve string guitar
Giannis Arapis and Kawol SamarqandI - Thieves' Lair
Henry Kaiser and Michael Rothenberg - Lions and Fireflies
AR.MA.- Peryhelium
Maxi Mas - Maine
52nd Street Experimental Ensemble - Broken Jazz Volume 1
Santos Silva, Nebbia, Alonso, Bergman Quartet - Ritual para acercarse
Adam Geoffrey Cole - The Tracks of the Afterlander
Julian Tassin - primitiv
Sound and Voice - That Which is Unknown
Mohammad Mostafa Heydarian - Songs of Horaman
Brûlez les meubles - Tardif
Charuest-Ratté-Kowald - Montr​é​al 1985
IO Audio Recordings - Awaiting The Elliptical Drift & VVK
Naujawanan Baidar - Volume 1 & 2
Mustafa Rafiq - if i were a dance
Ross Hammond - Our Time 
Blake Hornsby - A Collection of Traditional Folk Songs & Tunes Vol. 1
Francesca Naibo - So Much Time 
Elizondo, Ojeda, Taveira Trio - ANBU
Matt Marble - The Living Mirror
Tengger - Earthing
Jürgen Augusteyns - Can we go now?
Lujo Asiático - After Ashram/
Themis Vasiliou - Solo Electrique
Michel Kristof and Makoto Sato - Wasabi Lullaby
TRÓNCO. - TRÓNCO
Trio_io - New Animals 
Gnaarf - Stations

MAILORDER

The mail-order continues to grow and add we will continue to support other independent labels. This year we welcomed the US cassette labels Ultraviolet Light and Home and Garden. In 2023 we will also support the US /China label WV Sorcerer

2023

While we will not attempt to replicate '22 with the same volume of releases, the quality will be extremely high and varied. Our aim will always be to support underground and underrepresented marginal music regardless of the genre or perceived popularity.

In January we are thrilled to be releasing - 

Manish Pingle - Samarpan LP JAN 6
Seven Rivers of Fire - Hail Star of the Sea 2xLP JAN 12
Buck Curran - Immortal Light LP JAN 19
Luciano Bagnasco - Procesos Cruzados LP JAN 23

Ramble Touring 

We also introduced a touring arm to our suite with the first tour in '23 being Manish Pingle's east cost of Australia tour. We are also currently working on a tour with US avant-garde guitar legend Eugene Chadbourne. Stay tuned for my '23 tour announcements.