Label Focus : n5MD
One can not think of n5MD without recalling its mantra ‘emotional experiments in music’ . Label founder, Mike Cadoo (of Gridlock, Dryft and latterly Bitcrush fame) has continually pushed the boundaries with each release on the Californian imprint, while staying true to his philosophies. The label looks somewhat different to its early mini-disc only days (hence the name – No Fives, Mini-Discs), yet the same emotional aesthetics are still very much thriving within a roster and discography that has branched out over the years from its electronic base.
October 2007 marked its 50th release and as the label approaches 10 years old, n5 can boast artists in the legendary bracket ( Funckarma ) through to the prolific ( SubtractiveLAD ) and genre-defying ( Run Return, ArcLab ). With success stories also including a vibrant mail-order service, a penchant for unearthing diamonds (see Tobias Lilja and Last Days ) and its sister En-Peg Digital splinter cell, the n5MD story has been a journey and a half. Cadoo sat down with [Sic] Mag and tried to make sense of it all.
[sic] Mag: What influenced you to start your own label and how have your values differed from your original aim?
Mike Cadoo : I had always been into finding new music. Whether it meant going out to clubs and seeing new bands live or listening to college radio, I wanted to find what was out there that I liked. The internet really opened all that up for me as I had a more global reach out to the music I could find. I was no longer limited to my local clubs or what the local small watt radio station could find or play.
Way back before myspace mp3.com, was the “big” place to find music and I was finding artists on there that I wanted to help get their music heard by a wider audience. Also around this time I was heavily into the MiniDisc format. So I found out how to get prerecorded MDs manufactured contacted some of the mp3.com artists plus a few others I had known or met via my time in Gridlock and put together the first n5 compilation MD1.
 also lent its self well to the format. But, Sony took prerecorded MD manufacturing out of the US and EU markets so it was next to impossible to continue to release solely on MD so I forged ahead with Compact Disc (and some vinyl). </p>
<p>The label over its 8 years has expanded to sign other styles music that are heavy on emotional content. We still release IDM CDs but we also have pushed our own boundaries by signing post-rock, ambient, shoegaze or artists that are a hybrid of all of the above.</p>
<p> <b>How does your label differ from others? Are there any distinguishing characteristics that give your label its own identity?</b> </p>
<p> <b>MC</b> : We do our own thing. The artists are very good at their craft. You pretty much know what you’re gonna get with an n5MD release. There is a cohesion. Not all labels have that. Some do, some don’t</p>
<p> <b> How difficult was it to get your label established and what does it take to survive and prosper?</b> </p>
<p> <b>MC</b> :“Establishing” anything is what you make of it I guess. Are you established when you put out your first release? First print review? First radio playlist? OR is it after years of working and perfecting your angle? This really depends on perspective. We are established in the fact that we are a business first and foremost but we are lucky enough to be able to press and sell the music of artists we have a similar creative philosophy to.</p>
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Chained probabilities (2004) from postspectacular on Vimeo.
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