LABEL SPOTLIGHT: Consouling Sounds
Consouling has been on the vanguard of experimental heavy music ever since its inception fifteen years ago. We talked to founder Mike Keirsbilck to look back on the journey so far.
With independent labels, there always seems to be an unlikely set of circumstances allowing them to exist in the first place. Just like the out-there music they usually unleash upon the world, nothing is ever straightforward or simple with the origin stories of these entities that play such a crucial part in our musical universe. On the first volume of our LABEL SPOTLIGHT feature, we heard from Dais Records that it was a sort of a random encounter with a box of tapes that precipitated everything that came after. Now, as we turn our focus from L.A. to Gent, in Belgium, to look at another record label celebrating its 15th anniversary, and also one accustomed to putting out adventurous, genre-bending music ever since its creation, we discover that it was also a curious set of circumstances which allowed Consouling Sounds to start operating in the first place. A failing band, an equally on-its-way-out dark ambient micro-label, a non-profit arts-supporting organisation - those were the main ingredients for this beautiful creature to get off the ground and start stalking the land, spewing weird music everywhere at each pace.
As we talked to founder and owner Mike Keirsbilck, we not only got a whole bunch of stories - the matching twins episode with Colin from Amenra is particularly adorable and worth reading the whole thing for - , and a deeper understanding of what it means exactly to be a Consouling band, and just like most record labels, Mike explained us that it’s more of a feeling than anything else. A specific kind of aesthetic, a vibe, a certain way of working, and a blatant disregard for genre conformity, all of that connects some of the highlights that have a golden spot on the Consouling catalogue, such as Nadja, Alkerdeel, Amenra, Thisquietarmy, Neige Morte, IIVII, Jozef Van Wissem, Wiegedood, Gnaw Their Tongues, Insect Ark, Terzij de Horde or so many others. It’s a veritable embarrassment of riches, for a label that aims to showcase the very best of the incredible Belgian scene as much as capturing some of the very best experimental international artists.
It’s been an enormous pleasure sitting down with Mike for this chat - though he admits that in this post-Covid, war-enduring times things are not easy for anyone, especially not for selling items that are not exactly first necessity - no matter how much you love your record collection, you kinda need to eat first before spinning that new TAKH album -, he maintains a positive outlook and a long-term vision that comes from years of gathering wisdom at the helm of one of the most exciting European labels of this century. So read on, be prepared to take notes to keep up with all of the amazing mentioned bands you might not know, and don’t forget to visit Mondo Negro for a special discount on all Consouling Sounds releases - check out the link at the bottom of the article.
Right, origin story time. Take a deep breath, forget you’ve told this many times in previous interviews, and please indulge us. [laughs]
Mike Keirsbilck: Back in 2007, I was playing music myself, I played bass in a band called Wanhoop that was slowly dying, and in the meantime I also met a lot of other musicians and artists. At the same time I noticed that I kinda lacked the talent that was surrounding me, so I never pursued any other musical endeavour as such. But I really liked music, and I wanted to be involved with it. A friend of mine who came from the same village as I did ran a micro-label, I used to buy some things from him, and at one point I asked him if he wanted a helping hand, as I was more than willing to help out. He told me he was thinking of stopping the label as it was going nowhere, but thanks anyway. A couple of days later, though, he reached out to me and he asked if I was really serious when I told him I’d like to help with the label, and yeah, sure, of course I was. So he proposed we started a new label from scratch, but doing it properly this time. [laughs] We searched for a structure, and it so happened that my then girlfriend, now wife, Nele, had a non-profit organisation, called De Console, under which we could operate as Consouling Sounds. We already had a legal entity and we were ready to start out from there. The experience that my friend, Miguel, had, made us grow quite fast in a short amount of time. He already had contacts with Nadja, for example, so the very first pressed CD was from them and it took off like a rocket, it really helped launch our name and it was great. In those first moments I was still a bit starstruck, looking at the shiny CDs that we had made all coming in, but Miguel was like, “yeah, I know they’re shiny, but now we have to get them all over the world.” He was really in it for real, and we set out on finding a good distributor right from the start. That’s what gave us the opportunity to grow from then on.
Whenever I interview record label owners and ask that typical “got any advice for anyone wanting to start a label?” kind of question, everyone always says, “don’t!” But you seem pretty at peace with the life choice you’ve made. Did you ever have doubts, did you fear it might still go wrong at any point?
Mike: I still had my doubts, for sure. It’s always a neverending battle. But the fact that we started this out as a hobby helped in that regard – if it didn’t catch on, then it didn’t, it wasn’t a tragedy. But of course that we wanted it to, it was a great thing to have. Since 2014, when we became a professional label, the perspective changed a little bit, to put it that way. We have to be very cautious in what we do, but I don’t necessarily feel the internet is responsible for the bad things. In many aspects the internet is very helpful, in order to reach people all over the world. We also cater to music fans that are still really craving for the tangible, for the physical objects. Sure, they’ll listen to Spotify or they will check things out online, but if they really like, they will want the copy in their collection. If it’s not in a physical format, it’s not real.
Yeah, if you don’t own a physical copy, you can’t say “I have that album”, it doesn’t count!
Mike: Exactly! [laughs]
I count my blessings that we operate in niche genres where people still really value the collecting of the physical stuff.
- Mike Keirsbilck
I think the idea that the internet killed everything was more present in the beginning of it all, like during the first decade of this century. Of course it forced a lot of changes, but it wasn’t the all-destroying devil that a lot of people made it out to be.
Mike: No, no. I don’t think that either. It changed things, but right now… well, things are not moving in the right direction at the moment either, because vinyl prices are going through the roof and of course that makes people hesitant, but I’m sure this is a phase that we have to get through, and at the end of that, there’ll still be a lot of people who will really want to collect the physical object, I’m very confident of that. Of course, we are a bit lucky – I’m guessing there are other genres where the physical object isn’t that important. I count my blessings that we operate in niche genres where people still really value the collecting of the physical stuff.
What would you say makes a Consouling band be a Consouling band? You basically started the whole thing by releasing Nadja, which was already pretty unconventional, but did you have any limits defined, and have they changed in the meantime?
Mike: In the beginning we had the idea of starting a post-rock oriented label, with some branches reaching out to dark ambient, as that was Miguel’s forte with his previous micro-label. That was our planned operating area, as back then we were at the top of the post-rock hype and we were both very interested in the genre. We set out like that, but after two years in we were already bored with post-rock as such, it was a genre that proclaimed no limits, total freedom, and in the end what we got was Mogwai clones, Godspeed You! Black Emperor clones and Explosions In The Sky clones. That made it less interesting for us, so quite early on we branched out. We never set out very strict boundaries, the only thing we wanted to include in the way we worked was that we wouldn’t do genre-specific things. If we were to do a black metal project, for instance, we’d have to find something that borrowed from other genres as well and had something that made it unique and fresh. We noticed that a certain kind of dark aesthetic is something close to our own personal nature, so there was the tendency to pick out stuff that had a similar kind of outlook. One other relevant thing – we were established under my wife’s non-profit organisation, as I mentioned before, and that company’s aim was to support genre-crossing art forms. So the art element, the visual aesthetics and the art behind the projects, have all been very important to us from the beginning in every release that we have worked on. That’s something that was also a really interesting aspect in our choices – the dark, the moody, the melancholic, that was the universe that we wanted to operate within. It could be very harsh metal but it could also be very fragile ambient music, for instance. There was no specific genre associated, more of a feeling or an aesthetic that defines for us what a Consouling band is.
That seems like a kind of a timeless concept, right? You don’t really need to change that approach just because times are different.
Mike: Yeah, and if the concept changed a bit through time, it’s because the music itself has changed. The music evolved, the artists we work with, the projects they work on, they got into new stages and new phases, we grew along with them, and adopted their new skills. In that aspect, we have changed a bit, we have spread out a bit more, but the fundamentals are still the same, you are right. The core DNA of what we are remains the same after all these years.
How much of the music you release is also a fair reflection of your tastes as a fan? Is there a big overlap between your label’s catalogue and your record collection?
Mike: It grew to be that way. In the beginning, when Miguel was still on board, he was doing the dark ambient stuff that I had little knowledge of and I took care of the more post-rock side as that was more within my comfort zone. But as things went along, I got to know the music that Miguel was working on better and better and I started to appreciate it as well, and I grew a fond interest in those types of music. But by now, I can say that the music that we are releasing is really the music that I’m listening to and that I’m interested in, there’s a total overlap.
I imagine the whole process of looking at bands and considering them for the label is wildly different these days than it was back then, right?
Mike: Indeed. Back in the days, we contacted artists and everything, but over the course of time we established a network, we got to know many people who know many people themselves, and that’s how it spider-webs out all over the place. Currently, I can say we are not actively looking for new acts, but there’s always something that pops up. There’s always someone who says “hey, you really have to check those guys out”, or something that we come across ourselves when some of our friends start a new project and we get to listen to it and it’s amazing, that’s when things take on a new life on the label. We don’t really need to hunt for artists anymore like we did in the first few years.
But the light bulb is always on, isn’t it? Even if you’re just having a drink with friends and a band is playing, part of your brain is measuring them, isn’t it?
Mike: You’re always talent-scouting, yeah. That’s second nature, I guess. Ian, my colleague, for instance, he got to know this great Romanian black metal band last year, just casually, and he was blown away by what he heard. They didn’t have a vinyl record deal yet, so he got in touch with them to ask if they were interested. It’s always possible for us to be so impressed with something that we have to try to get them to work with us.
If you’re awesome, something will eventually happen… there’s a lesson, I think.
Mike: That’s something I wholeheartedly agree with. If you’re doing great stuff with your band, someone will notice, somebody will listen to it sooner or later. You don’t have to send out, or pay to have a mailout, to a million labels. Just do your thing, if it is great somebody will tell you for sure.
There’s a good thing that came with the internet, that process is much easier if you’re not in one of the main centres like the US or the UK. Everyone is on Bandcamp, whether you’re in the North Pole or New York.
Mike: Absolutely. Everyone’s an email away now, one minute and we’re there!
We have changed a bit, we have spread out a bit more, but the fundamentals are still the same, you are right. The core DNA of what we are remains the same after all these years.
- Mike Keirsbilck
Which would you identify as some of the most crucial releases, of those first six/seven years until 2014 when you became a professional label?
Mike: We have been quite lucky with some of the stuff we did. We started out with zero funding, so we had to work our way up. The first releases we did were CD-R releases, not factory pressed. One of the first artists we got to work with was Exxasens, a Spanish post-rock/post-metal project. It was Jordi Ruiz’s band, he was very much into space travel and things like that, and he really made an amazing album. We asked if it was okay to put it out, and that CD-R really did well. We had local distribution by Conspiracy Records here in Belgium, they were quite big back then, they were the European counterpart of Aaron Turner’s label, so Isis and all the post-rock/post-metal greats were on Conspiracy and it was a big deal for us to be distributed by them. They also had a “pick of the week” feature, and that album, ‘Polaris’, made it as the pick of the week. However, Conspiracy weren’t good at updating their page, so it was CD of the week for like a year and a half! [laughs] That really helped out. The demand was still there, so we had to keep on making new ones, and that helped us to get to the first factory-pressed CD, which was ‘The Bungled & The Botched’ by Nadja. That album was an immediate success. We sold out the first pressing of 500 copies in just under two weeks. Then we had a repress of another 500 copies which was gone in two months, and it went on and on like that. It was the right album at the right time, and that really put us on the map, for which I’m eternally grateful to Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff of Nadja, because that really gave us such a leg up, it allowed us to go to the professional distributors and say, hey, we have something here, can you offer us a contract? So we started to have distribution deals all over Europe and the States, which was great. Finally, what culminated this initial task of making the label work for real was our collaboration with Syndrome, the project of Mathieu Vandekerckhove, the guitar player for Amenra. We did his debut album, some subsequent stuff as well, and because of that we were on the radar of Amenra themselves. Mathieu is a very sweet guy, a great connection to have, and it really worked out. We got Colin’s interest as well, and there was this glorious day when Colin came by and asked us to release ‘Mass II’ on vinyl for the very first time. We were immediately very psyched about that, of course.
I’m sure it took you about a microsecond to agree with that one.
Mike: Thereabouts, yes! [laughs] I remember he came to our old place, our kids were still babies, our twins, and he had just had twin sons himself as well. He came in, he saw all the baby toys and things, and he recognised it as stuff for twins, and there was this immediate connection. We started talking about how it was to be young parents and all of that, and in between we made the agreements for the pressing of ‘Mass II’. But that was kind of on the side, the focus was all on baby twins stuff. Nele, my wife, didn’t really know how much of a crush I have on Amenra, and as soon as Colin left the house I was like “OH MY GOD COLIN WAS JUST INSIDE OUR HOUSE.” I had to explain to her how important they were – and still are, by the way! – for me. That solidified my friendship with Colin and was the start of a very fruitful collaboration which was of course crucial for the growth of Consouling. It was a mutual thing, where we helped Amenra to get more attention, and the more attention they got, the more we did too. It’s a really important part of our history.
Watching a band grow, and eventually outgrow the label itself, like with Amenra, is a little like watching your children grow, isn’t it?
Mike: People often ask me, isn’t it weird that Amenra are now off to Relapse, doesn’t it sting? And I’m like, no, of course not! I’m very, very proud that we could help them get to their part of the journey where they can sign to Relapse and become even bigger. Just because they signed to a big label doesn’t mean we’re not friends anymore!
Also, if it was a band of assholes, you could secretly with they wouldn’t become big. But in this case, they’re like the sweetest people ever.
Mike: Exactly. And we still work together on several projects. Not all of them necessarily Amenra-related, but we do a lot of stuff. The band being on a big label doesn’t mean that there isn’t a creative flow, that there aren’t ideas for things to do all the time.
You’ve always been very close to your surrounding Belgian scene, is shining a light on the lesser known local bands an important part of doing this, too?
Mike: It was our philosophy from the get go, yeah. We really wanted to showcase the Belgian talent, because there is so much great stuff here that should be known all over the world. But you can only do that, you can only present yourself to the world if you welcome the world as well. If you work together with some interesting international artists, it will gather attention, and some more… seriousness in your business. On the label, for example, we have Josh Graham, who is a legend, we have worked with Jarboe… those are very established names, and when people see those names next to Empusae or Monnik or whoever else, Belgian acts, they will also get the same kind of “gravity”, they are on par with those artists on the catalogue of the label. That’s why we strive to have a good mixture of things, because ultimately that’s what helps to showcase the Belgian talent outside as well. Having an international network like this is also useful, like for example when a band is touring abroad and they need a show or a place to stay, you can activate your network and more often then not things are solved pretty quickly because everyone’s eager to help each other out, all over the world, which is really great.
You have the good reputation of being a great label that allows artistic (and otherwise) freedom to your artists. Is that also a business decision?
Mike: That’s really also a factor in the decision-making of whether a band is a good fit for the label. Because some artists are really not used to that kind of freedom. Some bands really want to sit back and not do anything themselves, they don’t want to put in their two cents when it comes to planning or promotion or anything like that, and for us, you really have to work yourself too. We want to work together. So things have to click on this personal level. We want artists that are motivated to make their work a success, and when that’s the case, we’ll both get on it and we can do great things. But that’s just how we work, I’m not saying it’s the only right way. I’m sure there are labels that have departments to do this and that, and the bands really can sit back and let all the work be done by the label.
People often ask me, isn’t it weird that Amenra are now off to Relapse, doesn’t it sting? And I’m like, no, of course not!
- Mike Keirsbilck
What has changed most in your day to day of running the label, in the past few years?
Mike: The biggest change is that I have a colleague that works with me and we can divide all the work. Before we were professional I was working 20 hours a day, which wasn’t sustainable. It’s still long hours – before Covid we were a team of four, now we’re only two, it’s a shame but it’s something we have to get through. It takes a toll, so I hope we can get back to where we were before. During the Covid years, I learned a new trade, I became a locksmith, and it’s something I really, really enjoy. I want to incorporate it in my weekly routine, to have like a day a week to work with locksmith stuff, which I have no time for right now. That’s my main goal for the next few years, to carve out some free time to spend with my wife and kids and to develop this new craft too. It’s a challenge, but regardless, just being able to share the workload it’s already a great step in the right direction. Apart from that, I think we get to know people and platforms and tools along the way, and things do become easier. It’s much easier for us to get attention in what we do nowadays then it was back then, for sure. I remember at the time there was this public forum here in Belgium, and all of these reviewers and journalists from magazines were complaining on it that they should receive more promos, it was a shame they didn’t get more and stuff like that. At that point I had been sending out promos to them for years and nobody had ever done anything with them… Consouling was better known in the United States than in Belgium. I was annoyed and I made it clear that was the case, and all of a sudden they were like, oh, right, you exist, but because we don’t know the label we don’t play the albums. So on the table of each of those magazines there was a pile of CDs, but because nobody knew us they just left them there. After I made it clear how annoyed I was they actually started to pick them up and listening to them and they were like, oh man, this is really interesting, this is cool stuff, and we started to get reviewed on a regular basis on the Belgian platforms as well. It stung that I had to confront them to get to that position, but at least now we’re in a much better place than we were back then to be more well known everywhere, including in Belgium.
There’s a Portuguese saying that goes something like “saints of the house don’t make miracles.” It feels like you always have to prove yourself elsewhere to be valued at home.
Mike: Yeah, exactly. It happens everywhere. It was the same with Amenra – they were headlining festivals abroad before they were even noticed in Belgium.
What are you most excited about right now, for Consouling?
Mike: I’m actually very excited because we were able to release the TAKH album. I am a very, very big The Black Heart Rebellion fan, I have been following them from day zero, and I really like how they evolved and what they grew into. I was bummed when they called it quits, but then I got a request from Pieter Uyttenhove to release this new project, which is basically TBHR 2.0, as it were. Valentijn and Tim left TBHR to work on an art project, which took a lot of time and space, and they didn’t have the availability anymore to proceed with the band. The other guys kept on making music, and Annelies Van Dinter, who have a fantastic duet with Pieter on the last TBHR album, an amazing track, she joined the band and they decided to not go on with the same name as that was not really respectful to Annelies and her contributions. They basically picked up on where TBHR left off, and it’s amazing that we get to release the album, I’m very grateful. It’s also great that Bobby Cochran is making videos for the entire album. Everything clicked together for that one, I’m excited to see everything happen and I’m going to ride that wave for a little while longer.
Anything else you can reveal for 2023?
Mike: First and foremost, we’re going to have our very last 24 Hours Of Deep Listening festival, it’s going to take place on the 18th of November. Basically we don’t have the time to do it anymore, and also we kind of left it awkwardly, we didn’t have a proper send off, a proper goodbye, so we’re doing it one more time and it’ll be a blast. A lot of great stuff is going to happen there – La Muerte, for example, are going to play there, TAKH as well, and Treha Sektori and Mütterlein are going to come all the way from France to dazzle us. Kludde will also play and that’s very nice. They are our friends, from back in my teens, I actually did a split release with them with my band Wanhoop that I mentioned earlier, so that is going to be very special.
The next few years, I suppose you are going to keep up trying to get out from underneath that Covid-shaped cloud and the horrid war-torn economy?
Mike: We just have to get through these turbulent times. It’s not a good time to sell records, and in this economy we can’t really grow, but we’re going to keep on keeping on, and try to stubbornly keep doing what we’re going to do. This too shall pass and whenever that happens we can click into another gear and basically enjoy ourselves and give more opportunities to promising musicians, help them grow, and become as big as Amenra or Wiegedood. We have pure gold in our scene and we love to make the artists in it better known. That’s the whole point, that’s what we strive for.
Visit Mondo Negro now for an exclusive discount on all Consouling Sounds releases!
Great piece. Absolutely love this label. So many quality acts across different genres associated with Consouling Sounds.