Just after the pandemic hit and before the UK government's Cultural Recovery Fund was introduced, we were left in a position — like every other venue in the UK — that threatened our existence. With live music redundant for any foreseeable future we wanted to figure out a way to simultaneously support ourselves and the artists we work with, both on a local and international scale.

After a lot of consideration, and after seeing the brilliant AMPLIFY 2020 series unfurl, we decided to form a digital label that would do just that, Takuroku. Instead of commissioning ‘formal’ recordings as such in the usual CD/vinyl format, we saw it as an opportunity for artists to express themselves in whatever way they felt necessary. We encouraged sketchbook recordings, sound diaries, and experimental work that artists wouldn't have the chance to release otherwise, as well as multimedia work. Throughout we kept to a simple 50/50 split deal with artists, keeping the mastering and artwork in-house, and everything available only to download from our website, so no middlemen.

After kicking off in May 2020 we issued a total of 195 releases, finally deciding to end the series on 25 October, the day the venue reopens at full capacity again (albeit with proof of a negative lateral flow test required upon entry). The label has been a really interesting experiment in itself, but it feels time to close the lid on things as our energies are pushed again into our seven days a week programme.

Below is a selection of releases we feel are representative of the breadth and diversity of content we received from artists. While in no way a Top 10 (we could never decide on that) hopefully it provides a helpful entry point into the catalogue. There's a lot of remarkable music in there…

Ashley Paul
“Window Flower”
From Window Flower

The Takuroku series kicked off with four very different releases: an imaginary sonic journey through a ruinous landscape by London's Malvern Brume; a dedication to the victims of domestic abuse by Bristol's Harrga; a set of wistful and reflective guitar improvisations by Steve Gunn recorded in his New York flat. The fourth was by Ashley Paul, who documented playtime in her living room, recording a short set of songs and improvisations made with her young daughter Cora and husband Ben.

Otto Willberg & David Birchall
“spending lunch time under the link road at Thamesmead a couple of times”
From Murky Sovereignty

As the series progressed we started to receive more pieces that were made outdoors, including a cello improvisation recorded during the dawn chorus in the Hackney marshes by Ute Kanngiser & Daniel Kordrik; a musical picnic in a park in Edinburgh from Ali Robertson & Firas Khinassier; and releases of ramshackle group improvisations captured under bridges in Beijing and Taipei by Xu Shaoyang. Otto Willberg and David Birchall’s Murky Sovereignty was created by sending each other recordings of themselves playing in spaces near to their respective homes in London and Manchester, then melding the material together by revisiting the spaces, playing each of the recordings back to activate each others' acoustic. The result is a kind of multiple exposure aural mesh, which on paper sounds like it would be a mess, but hey, it totally worked!

Roy Claire Potter
“Entrance Song; last time”
From Entrance Song; last time

We wanted to keep the parameters of the Takuroku series as flexible as possible, so we received a lot of work that included re-working and re-imagining of past pieces. We also wanted to encourage cross-artform submissions, including text, visual art and film-based works. One of the releases that embraced both criteria was by Roy Claire Potter, whose work Entrance Song; last time was based on a past text piece recounting a traumatic experience in the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona. Expanding the text to include a piano performance of a piece of sheet music found during a research trip to the Abbey of Santa Maria de Montserrat, field recordings of a violin practice by a fountain, musical accompaniment by Bridget Hayden, and a PDF of visual art, it was our first multimedia Takuroku release.

Maggie Nicols
“Shadow And Light Source Both”
From Creative Contradiction: Poetry, Story, Song & Sound

One of the delights of the series was commissioning artists who we've worked with for a long time, but whose own solo work we hadn't had the chance to push to the fore before. Just like double bassist Neil Charles (a regular fixture in jazz and improvised ensembles and groups at OTO, who presented his debut solo album on Takuroku), Maggie Nicols made her first ever solo release for us. Created by teaching herself how to use Garageband during lockdown, she put together an album of improvisations, songs, poems and observations on daily life. Like so many other works on the label, this is a true DIY gem.

Tori Kudo
“14”
From Solo

Tori Kudo is someone OTO has worked with since day one. We love his work deeply. For us he made two very different releases. One was a full-length film called Archive, made by collecting pictures taken on his different phones over the years, providing an insight into his personal world while revealing the changes in mobile phone technology during that period. He also presented Solo, which he created by slowly layering different instrumental and voice based home recordings in a way only Tori could.

Jean-Luc Guionnet
“Totality Part A”
From Totality

Just like Tori Kudo’s releases, the series featured a lot of truly ‘out’ recordings: a set of 127 unvarnished phone memos from Pressure Carcass (aka infant terrible Wanda Group); two experimental radio programmes from Goodiepal; and an instructive crisp eating exercise made with synthesised voices and low frequencies by Louie Rice & Luciano Maggiore. French artist Jean-Luc Guionnet submitted a four hour opus, which included 83 different voice recordings from friends in over 20 different languages which he wove in alongside his own music and field recordings. For the small number of people who dedicated their time to listen to the whole Takuroku catalogue, this one keeps coming up as a favourite.

Sunik Kim
The Bent Bow Must Wait To Be Released

Having so many film releases as part of Takuroku has been such a privilege. Some of these were made by local artists/collectives, including Crystabel Riley, CAST-ON, Florence Peake, Evie Ward, Amy Dickson, Billy Steiger and Zara Joan Miller, who utilised the various nooks and crannies of OTO as it as lay empty during the winter lockdown. Over in New York, South Korean artist Sunik Kim responded to the commission with a film, taking in fried, overflowing audio alongside text and moving image from George Jackson, Kim San, Danièle Huillet, Xu Lizhi, Rosa Luxemburg, VI Lenin, Lee Jae-eui, and many more. Play this one loud and on a large screen if you can.

Keiji Haino & The Hardy Rocks
“My Generation”
From Keiji Haino & The Hardy Rocks


As the pandemic continued we realised that releasing strictly home cooked recordings would be disingenuous, especially given that live music was starting to rear its head again. We also didn’t want to fetishise a certain form of ‘lockdown music’ — acknowledging that music production and recording was happening in different ways, and not just by people recording content in their bedrooms. When Keiji Haino responded to the commission by offering us a recording of his band The Hardy Rocks live in Tokyo in November 2020 we knew we couldn't say no. And when he told us the tracks included covers of the likes of The Who, The Stones and The Doors, well…

Rosso Polare
“carrubbe chit Ka”
From Cani Lenti

The Takuroku series gave us the chance to reach out and work with artists we've never engaged with before. Argentina's Alyu, China's Mamer, Japan’s OLAibi and Ireland’s Natalia Beylis are just a small handful. Another one is Rosso Polare, an Italian duo who we invited off the back of their wonderful debut release on Russian label KlammKlang. Like so many other submissions in the series, Rosso Polare sent us their album Cani Lenti in a matter of weeks, but created something that sounded like it took far longer to make. The group describe what they do as ‘Chthonian Music’, letting contrasting sounds ebb, swirl and clatter in and among themselves in a delicate harmony.

John Tilbury
“Metalessness” (excerpt)
From Metalessness

Deciding how to wrap up the Takuroku series has been a really difficult task. After lots of consideration, closing the curtain with Wild Rani’s alien synth dirges, Mariam Rezaei & Alya Sultani’s ecstatic turntable/vocal duo, and a solo by pianist (and AMM member) John Tilbury seemed like as good a way as any. Given John’s inability to travel at present and his lack of recording equipment, Metalessness was made by heading out to his house with a few mics and equipment (thank you Shaun!) and capturing it all in his living room in Deal (the only Takuroku release that was made this way). As for the music: Samuel Beckett's words and John's clavichord speak for themselves. Listen closely and you can hear birds singing outside. Somehow, perhaps fittingly, Takuroku ends indoors.

Browse all 195 releases in the Takoruku catalogue here.