Freshly Squeezed is a Brighton-based British independent record label and music publisher.
Currently sitting atop Europes booming electro swing scene, the roster includes artists like The Correspondents, Swing Republic and Jem Stone, not to mention the hit double album compilation series White Mink : Black Cotton (Electro Swing vs Speakeasy Jazz) with many more AMAZING things in the pipeline...
The label is not by any means a new-comer to the scene however, having pioneered the world of vintage influenced but contemporary beats for many years.
Freshly Squeezed originally evolved from the seminal London club night, Club Montepulciano that ran for over 11 years filling 1000 capacity monthly ballroom events. The night became a "clubland institution" (Evening Standard), described by Time Out in 2004 as one of the "things you have to do before you can call yourself a real Londoner". Club M (as it was sometimes known) even hosted a tent in Glastonbury several years before Lost Vagueness had such success with the same idea. Acts you might have seen at that time included Matt Lucas (Little Britain), League Of Gentlemen, MacKensie Crook (The Office), The Tiger Lillies, Amy Lame (Duckie), Armstrong & Miller, the band Saint Etienne, Ursula Martinez (La Clique, Le Soiree), Lenny Beige, Lorraine Bowen and many, many more.
Thus, having pioneered the then-emerging lounge music, alternative cabaret and proto-burlesque scenes, setting up a label seemed an obvious step...
Club Montepulciano Recordings ran in parallel to the club night and released a series of what were to become genre-defining compilations. They featured the best contemporary lounge music from a collection of international artists like the Thievery Corporation, Nicola Conte (Blue Note) and Jacknife Lee. The label also released the debut album from the clubs resident DJ, Lemon, (AKA Nick Hollywood) and the work of various other artists who appeared at the club.
In 2005, when the club retired (while still going strong) Freshly Squeezed was born, taking over admin of the back catalogue and broadening the artist roster while releasing a second artist album from Lemon and music from The Voodoo Trombone Quartet and The Pinker Tones amongst others.
With eclectic and individual artists like Don Air, Dodo, Stereo de Luxe and Lodekka all subsequently putting out quirky left-field retro-influenced pop albums on Freshly Squeezed, the label soon scored an MTV Dance top ten video (Hot Trap by Product.01) while the "Eclectrik" label sampler album was nominated one of the "best records of 2007" by Bearded Magazine.
"Future cult classics" said The Independent
In addition to these successes, after a run of high-profile synch licenses, 2007 saw the launch of a sister publishing company. During the year Freshly Squeezed music accompanied several major Hollywood films (including Knocked Up and The Heartbreak Kid), sound-tracked numerous TV shows, most notably Ugly Betty (7 times over), became an MTV theme tune, and appeared in several ads and many TV shows. Tracks also featured in games like LittleBIGplanet on the SONY PlayStation and on many more third party compilations.
By 2009 the coupling of vintage sounds and styles with contemporary production took a new twist with the release of the first White Mink : Black Cotton compilation album. The CD brought together what at the time were little known European records by the likes of Parov Stelar and Caravan Palace with a second side of remastered vintage 78s. The album was heralded as "Electro Swings first landmark moment" by Mixmag and has since become an album-charting download and crossed over into non-traditional retail like Urban Outfitters.
The last 2 years have continued to see a massive explosion of the new genre in the mainstream. The Correspondents played the Bestival main stage on Saturday night right after Ellie Goulding in 2010. In 2011 they supported Blondie at Secret Garden Party. Rob da Bank ran a 2 hour electro swing special on his BBC Radio 1 show featuring predominantly Freshly Squeezed artists and co-hosted by label boss Nick Hollywood. White Mink has now curated nights on numerous large-scale festival stages including Glastonbury, Bestival, Secret Garden Party, Larmer Tree, Paradise Gardens, Camp Bestival, Meadowlands, Brighton Fringe, Playgroup, Standon Calling, Thames Festival and a month at the Edinburgh Festival. The label was behind the launch of the on-going Electro Swing club night at The Book Club in Hoxton and runs White Mink as an on-going live umbrella event with regular nights in both London and Brighton. The scene has attracted the interest of broadsheet national press with double page features from both The Telegraph and The Independent as well as numerous articles from specialist press like Nude Magazine and The Chap.
If you think you havent heard our music; think again...
http://www.youtube.com/user/freshlysqueezedmusic
http://www.soundcloud.com/freshlysqueezed
