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{{Short description|American record label}}
[[Image:000 4950.jpg|thumb|250px|Sickness playing a set inside RRRecords.]]
[[Image:SICKNESS performing in RRRecords.jpg|thumb|250px|Sickness playing a set inside RRRecords]]
[[Image:000 2845.jpg|thumb|225px|Pedestrian Deposit playing a show in RRR, 7/30/05.]]'''RRRecords''' (based in [[Lowell, Massachusetts]]) is a used record shop and is also one of the largest [[record label]]s specifically targeting [[noise music|noise]] styles of music. RRR has put out releases by some of the most famous noise artists including: [[Emil Beaulieau]], [[Merzbow]], [[Masonna]], [[Nurse With Wound]], [[Sutcliffe Jügend]], [[Wolf Eyes]], as well as many, many others. RRR is run by Ron Lessard, better known as RRRon or by his [[stage name]] [[Emil Beaulieau]].
[[Image:Pedestrian Deposit playing at RRRecords.jpg|thumb|225px|[[Pedestrian Deposit]] playing a show at RRR, July 30, 2005]]


'''RRRecords''' is a record label and used- and new-record shop based in [[Lowell, Massachusetts]]. RRRecords was the first American [[record label]] to publish underground "[[noise music]]" in the early 1980s as well as publishing the first American vinyl by [[Merzbow]], [[Masonna]], [[Hanatarash]], [[Violent Onsen Geisha]], and various other artists. In its first twenty years, the label issued hundreds of releases.<ref>Rotten Milk [http://issuu.com/edmarlumpen/docs/lumpen_101/45 "Microlabels 101"] Lumpen, Volume 15, Issue 1, September 2006</ref> RRR's owner, Ron Lessard, is a supporter of new artists who has created several sub-labels and series to specifically highlight unknown and underground musicians.<ref>Rettman, Tony [http://swindlemagazine.com/issue06/warming-fuzz/ "Warming Fuzz"] Swindle, Issue 6</ref>
RRRecords is extremely well known for their "Recycled Music" releases - recordings released on commercially available [[Compact audio cassette|cassette tapes]] which have been [[recycling|recycled]] with new music, but still have the original insert or printing on the cassette. RRR Recycled tapes are labeled with a simple strip of [[adhesive tape]] along the spine of the insert with the artist's name hand-written upon it. Part of the charm of the recycled releases, is that each tape is unique, and that in some cases, the original audio is still partly audible. There have been numerous recycled tapes released by RRRecords, with everyone from internationally known artists down to small artists who had never had a release before. This is certainly due to the extremely low cost of reproducing the recordings onto cassettes which are cheaply available to the record store.


==RRR Sub-labels and series==
The store also holds shows once in a while, though most of the shows are completely noise related. The store has a small two-speaker [[Public address|PA]] and one table on which artists set up their equipment. Artists who have played there include [[Prurient]], Pedestrian Deposit, Oscillating Innards, Ichorous, Immaculate:Grotesque, Hive Mind, Sickness, Wapstan, The Vomit Arsonist, Burn Ward, and Realicide; however, the list of artists who have played at the legendary shop is tireless.


One of the most popular of the RRR sub-labels is the Recycled Music series, which consists of used [[Compact audio cassette|cassette tapes]] of pop and rock music that have been taped over with new music by a noise band.<ref>Howe, Brian [http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=260522 "BoyZone, Clang Quartet, Jeff Rehnlund and Relay for Death: Green noise through recycled cassette tapes"]{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Independent Weekly, July 8, 2008</ref> RRRecycled tapes are labeled with a simple strip of [[adhesive tape]] along the spine of the insert with the artist's name hand-written upon it. Each recycled release tape is unique, and in some cases, the original audio is still partly audible. They have historically sold for $4 each, in order to encourage curious listeners to take a chance on a band they may not have heard of.
Ron's label's biggest accomplishment, however, most likely lies in his [[Xerox|Xeroxed]] copies of a mail order list he would add to underground [[Zine|'zines]] circulating in the mid-to-late [[1980s|'80s]]. This distribution had a profound effect on the commercial aspects of noise, and got many people from around the world into noise when they saw his minimalistic photocopied advertisements in black and white with interesting "big-name" noise artists plastered all over and combined with newspaper clippings, cut-up pictures, etc.


Other sub-labels have included Lowell records, which only published local rock, punk, and metal bands from Lowell, Massachusetts; Statutory Tapes, which reissued music originally published by Kinky Music Institute, G.R.O.S.S, ZSF Tapes, and Beast 666 Tapes; Pure, a series of low-cost CDs by new and established harsh noise bands, again to encourage listeners to take a chance on what might be a new name; RRReport, a magazine and CD set that existed for two issues; Stomach Ache, a collaborative label by Lessard and other unknown participants that published cheap vinyl singles of dubious provenance. Stomach Ache Records listed only a Mexican mailing address, and credited to the singles to a fictional person named Charlie Ward, so that any responsibility could be deflected. RRR has also collaborated with other labels to produce multi-LP box sets of noise based on specific regions of America. To date these have included New England, California, Texas, Michigan, and Portland.
On the label side of things, RRR has a very prolific discography (though a lot of the music was co-released through [[Nurse With Wound]]'s label, [[United Dairies]]), some of which you can see below

==Package design==

In the 1980s and early 1990s, RRRecords was known for elaborate packaging of its records. "Steel Plate" is a double 10" vinyl set by Chop Shop, which came sealed in between two 10" x 10" steel plates. A collaborative LP by SBOTHI, Merzbow, and P16.D4 came packaged in between two silk-screened sheets of plexi-glass. "God Bless America" was a 3xLP box set compilation of American experimental music which came wrapped in a purpose-made American flag.

==Concerts at RRR==

For a period of a few years in the late 1990s, RRRecords would host free Saturday afternoon concerts at the store, which were called the "2 O'Clock Matinee" series. Concerts were never advertised or promoted, but every one was recorded by Ron Lessard and every band always got paid $20.

==Mail-order==

Lessard's [[Xerox]]ed copies of a mail order list added to underground [[Zine|'zines]] circulating in the mid-to-late 1980s had a profound effect on the international noise communities, building interest in the music through minimal, very simple black and white advertisements. Catalogs never included descriptions of bands or records, so a new reader was expected to either already know what they were getting, or else buy things at random. Many of today's noise artists learned about the genre in part by being exposed to RRRecords catalogs.

The print catalog is no longer available, but a website has taken its place.

⚫
===Partial RRR Discography (''in no particular order'')===

As a label, RRR has a very expansive discography. Some of the music was co-released with Troniks, Freak Animal, Ground Fault Recordings, SSS, Satutory Tape, [[Nurse With Wound]]'s label ([[United Dairies (record label)|United Dairies]]), and more. Notable releases include:


⚫
==Partial RRR Discography (''in no particular order'')==
* Recycled Music cassettes from most established noise artists.
* Recycled Music cassettes from most established noise artists.
* [[Emil Beaulieau]]/Zipper Spy/[[KK Null|K.K. Null]] - ''Japan 2000''
* [[Emil Beaulieau]]/Zipper Spy/[[KK Null|K.K. Null]] - ''Japan 2000''
* [[Merzbow]] - ''Pornoise 1KG'' (5 cassette [[Box set|box-set]])
* [[Merzbow]] - ''Pornoise 1 kg'' (5 cassette [[Box set|box-set]])
* Can't - ''New Secret''
* Can't - ''New Secret''
* Jason Lescalleet - ''Electronic Music''
* Jason Lescalleet - ''Electronic Music''
* Boy Dirt Car - ''Winter''
* Boy Dirt Car - ''Winter''
* [[Hanatarash]] - ''Hanatarash 3''
* [[Hanatarash]] - ''Hanatarash 3''
* Burning Star Core - ''Let's Play Wild Like Wildcats Do''
* [[Burning Star Core]] - ''Let's Play Wild Like Wildcats Do''
* [[Skullflower]] - ''Obsidian Shaking Codex''
* [[Skullflower]] - ''Obsidian Shaking Codex''
* [http://humanisfilth.blogspot.com/ Human Is Filth] - [http://www.aversionline.com/reviews/727/ Destroys Emil Beaulieau CD]
* [http://humanisfilth.blogspot.com/ Human Is Filth] - [http://www.aversionline.com/reviews/727/ Destroys Emil Beaulieau CD] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025841/http://www.aversionline.com/reviews/727/ |date=2016-03-04 }}
* Sickness - ''Fuck Your Punk Rock''
* Sickness - ''Fuck Your Punk Rock''
* Ichorous - ''Lifender''
* Ichorous - ''Lifender''
* [[Merzbow]] - ''Batztoutai With Memorial Gadgets''
* [[Merzbow]] - ''Batztoutai With Memorial Gadgets''
* Karlheinz - ''Fucking''
* Karlheinz - ''Fucking''
* [[Chop Shop]] - "Steel Plate"
* [[Chop Shop (musician)|Chop Shop]] - "Steel Plate"
* [[Blackhouse]] - "Holy War"
* [[Blackhouse (band)|blackhouse]] - "Holy War"
* [[P16.D4]] - "Three Projects"
* [[P16.D4]] - "Three Projects"
* [[K2]] & [[Macronympha]] - "Biometrics"
* [[K2]] & [[Macronympha]] - "Biometrics"
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* [[Violent Onsen Geisha]] - "The Midnight Gambler"
* [[Violent Onsen Geisha]] - "The Midnight Gambler"
* [[Emil Beaulieau]] - "That Velvet Touch"
* [[Emil Beaulieau]] - "That Velvet Touch"
* [[Ramleh]] - "We Created It, Let's Take it Over 1-3"
* [[Ramleh (band)|Ramleh]] - "We Created It, Let's Take it Over 1-3"
* [[Sudden Infant]] - "Solothurn"
* [[Sudden Infant]] - "Solothurn"
* [[Small Cruel Party]] & [[Chop Shop]] - "Split"
* [[Small Cruel Party]] & [[Chop Shop (musician)|Chop Shop]] - "Split"
* various artists - ''New England'' (5 LP [[Box set|box-set]] with hand-made cover art)
* Master Slave Relationship - ''This Lubricious Love''


==See also==
==See also==
* [[List of record labels]]
* [[List of record labels]]


== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.rrrecords.com/ RRRecords website]
* [http://www.rrrecords.com/ RRRecords website]
* [http://www.discogs.com/label/RRRecords RRRecords entry @ Discogs.com]
* [http://www.discogs.com/label/RRRecords RRRecords entry @ Discogs.com]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090515024738/http://forbiddeneye.com/labels/rrr.html RRR Discography]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rrrecords}}
[[Category:Cassette culture 1970s–1990s]]


[[Category:American record labels]]
[[Category:American record labels]]

Latest revision as of 03:19, 4 October 2023

Sickness playing a set inside RRRecords
Pedestrian Deposit playing a show at RRR, July 30, 2005

RRRecords is a record label and used- and new-record shop based in Lowell, Massachusetts. RRRecords was the first American record label to publish underground "noise music" in the early 1980s as well as publishing the first American vinyl by Merzbow, Masonna, Hanatarash, Violent Onsen Geisha, and various other artists. In its first twenty years, the label issued hundreds of releases.[1] RRR's owner, Ron Lessard, is a supporter of new artists who has created several sub-labels and series to specifically highlight unknown and underground musicians.[2]

RRR Sub-labels and series

[edit]

One of the most popular of the RRR sub-labels is the Recycled Music series, which consists of used cassette tapes of pop and rock music that have been taped over with new music by a noise band.[3] RRRecycled tapes are labeled with a simple strip of adhesive tape along the spine of the insert with the artist's name hand-written upon it. Each recycled release tape is unique, and in some cases, the original audio is still partly audible. They have historically sold for $4 each, in order to encourage curious listeners to take a chance on a band they may not have heard of.

Other sub-labels have included Lowell records, which only published local rock, punk, and metal bands from Lowell, Massachusetts; Statutory Tapes, which reissued music originally published by Kinky Music Institute, G.R.O.S.S, ZSF Tapes, and Beast 666 Tapes; Pure, a series of low-cost CDs by new and established harsh noise bands, again to encourage listeners to take a chance on what might be a new name; RRReport, a magazine and CD set that existed for two issues; Stomach Ache, a collaborative label by Lessard and other unknown participants that published cheap vinyl singles of dubious provenance. Stomach Ache Records listed only a Mexican mailing address, and credited to the singles to a fictional person named Charlie Ward, so that any responsibility could be deflected. RRR has also collaborated with other labels to produce multi-LP box sets of noise based on specific regions of America. To date these have included New England, California, Texas, Michigan, and Portland.

Package design

[edit]

In the 1980s and early 1990s, RRRecords was known for elaborate packaging of its records. "Steel Plate" is a double 10" vinyl set by Chop Shop, which came sealed in between two 10" x 10" steel plates. A collaborative LP by SBOTHI, Merzbow, and P16.D4 came packaged in between two silk-screened sheets of plexi-glass. "God Bless America" was a 3xLP box set compilation of American experimental music which came wrapped in a purpose-made American flag.

Concerts at RRR

[edit]

For a period of a few years in the late 1990s, RRRecords would host free Saturday afternoon concerts at the store, which were called the "2 O'Clock Matinee" series. Concerts were never advertised or promoted, but every one was recorded by Ron Lessard and every band always got paid $20.

Mail-order

[edit]

Lessard's Xeroxed copies of a mail order list added to underground 'zines circulating in the mid-to-late 1980s had a profound effect on the international noise communities, building interest in the music through minimal, very simple black and white advertisements. Catalogs never included descriptions of bands or records, so a new reader was expected to either already know what they were getting, or else buy things at random. Many of today's noise artists learned about the genre in part by being exposed to RRRecords catalogs.

The print catalog is no longer available, but a website has taken its place.

Partial RRR Discography (in no particular order)

[edit]

As a label, RRR has a very expansive discography. Some of the music was co-released with Troniks, Freak Animal, Ground Fault Recordings, SSS, Satutory Tape, Nurse With Wound's label (United Dairies), and more. Notable releases include:

See also

[edit]


Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Rotten Milk "Microlabels 101" Lumpen, Volume 15, Issue 1, September 2006
  2. ^ Rettman, Tony "Warming Fuzz" Swindle, Issue 6
  3. ^ Howe, Brian "BoyZone, Clang Quartet, Jeff Rehnlund and Relay for Death: Green noise through recycled cassette tapes"[permanent dead link‍], Independent Weekly, July 8, 2008
[edit]
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