home > browse > news > view article

Boxer: Label Profile

  Tobias Fischer

About founding the label
Back in the days Eric and me worked at Groove Attack Distribution so we already knew about how to run a label and had access to producing and distributing vinyl and cds easily. We also met a lot of producers searching for a faithful label in the nightlife of Cologne or while we were spinning out of town. One things naturally leads to another.
We were extremely excited at the time of our first release, but we did everything right thanks to a very successful promotion. Feedback was overwhelming – playlist entries everywhere, great reviews, interviews with Frank. We had to repress the LP several times and became well known in the dance scene with our first release. This was a great encouragement for us to proceed. 


About the idea behind the label's name
Uhh, that’s not very special. After we decided to do a label we sat down and thought about the best option. We thought something that has the same meaning around the world would help to build a profile. “Boxer” is easy to remember, short but crunchy. Not a hell of a story, I guess!


About highlights from the past decade
There are two. The first one is our first release; BOXER 001 - Frank Martiniq's "Adriano" which has a great remix by Michael Mayer. This was the 12" that started everything. It remains one of the most successful Boxer releases ever and was one hell of a good start for us. Even after all these years, we still play and enjoy that record. It never became boring to us.
The second is BOXER 051 - Dusty Kid "Anatome EP Vol.1". The best work of Dusty Kid to date. If you need a sure shot weapon for the dance floor - a straight bass drum hit - then you should choose this one. We never tire of spinning both sides out.


About Different, a compilation at the intersection between indie/experimental and the dancefloor
Different is anything but a simple dancefloor compilation. The idea came from my partner Eric and was born when we received a demo of Paul Nazca. Paul’s demo contained the track “Rimbo solo”, which is really amazing and different from his usual work – an intense slowmo track that reminded me of Nathan Fake somehow. When we heard it, Eric wanted to find out whether there were other artists out there with tracks similar to this one. Tracks that don’t fit on a dance release, tracks that are different.
Will it mark a long-term focus on more rock-oriented music for Boxer? Time will tell. We always release the music we like and we like more than just dance music. So if we receive a demo by a great rock- or indie- or folkband we are open to release it.


About Boxer's origins as an album label
It's true, we wanted to start a label mainly for album releases. We liked the idea of giving the public more than just a few tracks for the dancefloor. But after the first two full length albums we didn’t receive another full-length album for some time. We did, on the other hand, get sent a lot of great tracks. In the end, we couldn’t say no and mainly turned into a 12” label. Not sure if it’s a fruitful phase for the full length format in general right now. There are a lot of good album releases, but the market is very small for such an enormous amount of releases.


About working with the artists on the Boxer-roster
There can be a lot of discussion about the music on an album, but we always managed to get a result everybody is happy with. This is very important to us  – we and the artist can’t promote an album they don’t like 100%. The artwork can be based on ideas submitted by the respective artist, but in the end our graphic designer Oliver from The Pixelz has the final say on the way it will look. This ensures that our products have a distinctive design.


About the label's philosophy and aesthetics
The only philosophy is that we only release music that we love. We are doing no releases only to bring some extra money in. That’s the advantage of having another job and doing Boxer only as a hobby. A fulltime hobby, but still a hobby. The graphical side is made by a friend we now for 15 years now. We totally trust him and his taste and he never disappointed us.


About the reasons behind releasing a track
I really can’t say because I don’t know myself. We know it when we hear the music. It’s really that simple.


About future plans
There is nothing planned after the Different compilation, yet. But we are sure it won’t take a long time until we find or get some great new stuff. Every time we think there is nothing to release anymore a great piece of music comes right around the corner.

Homepage: Boxer Recordings