Ghostown Records
Est. 2011, Haifa
Artists: Left, 3421, Geshem, Anat Moshkovski, Dafna Shilon, Guma, Trilion, Mangisto, Aryeh Hasfari and Keren Ilan, Halel Givon, Guy Offenbach, SmellFish, Shuzin, Tomer Bar, Emmek and Re-Issue for Uzi Navon and Dina Katz.
Shuzin, founder and producer: “Ghostown started as a artistic hub in the city of Haifa, a project designed to connect and form collaborations between artists and underground cultural figures. We had Parties, exhibitions, fairs. Over the years the musical side was expanded – we released songs and albums, published on physical records – and Ghostown records was born. We focus on music but maintain a special care for the ‘packaging’ – the videos and the visual aspects. It’s important to us that our releases will always stay high-quality and uncompromising, and uphold a message of imagination and freedom.
“I’m not sure if much has changed since October 7th. There is a constant discussion before every release. There’s this need to almost apologize, to the audience and even to ourselves, when the new song doesn’t connect directly to the war. This tendency to connect every new release to current events (“This song was written long before the war and now takes on a new meaning,” etc.) can feel kinda awkward to me personally. And yet, it might be a natural response. Creating art is always about interpreting reality from your specific point of view and then letting others in, letting them cast their own meaning into it”.
FFS Collective
Est. 2021, Tel Aviv
Artists: The current label’s resident artists are OatMilk, De Vir, Rokk, AC9, and OVESH.
Roy Zinger, label manager: “FFS Collective delivers a unique audio experience without clear genre distinctions. It serves as a home for the dark worlds of the underground, spanning heavy basses to long ambient sounds.
Before the war, we regularly worked on signature releases and compilations that included local Israeli producers such as OatMilk, De Vir, Rokk, PE JORA $$$, and AC9. We hosted monthly label nights at various clubs in Tel Aviv, mostly at the Bavel, Gagarin, and Nova Club, where we hosted the Swiss DJ David Ameal Monfort, AKA Hermeth.
After the war we grieved the friends we lost in the disaster and immediately decided to release an international compilation, featuring 52 tracks from producers in Israel, USA and UK, which we named “Save The Rave“. The release was sold on Bandcamp, and all its proceeds were donated to the Safe Heart Foundation, which provided mental health assistance for the Nova & Mushroom survivors. It helped us all to start the healing process, throughout raising donations and dealing with our emotions through creation and music”.
This was our first international release, and we were so excited that specifically after October 7th, people from abroad were eager to release tracks through our label, amidst the peak of the complicated international approach to Israel.
Our recent release “FFS XI” is the 11th release of the label. FFS XI encapsulates the essence of the evolving rave culture. It brings together artists from diverse backgrounds, blending their unique sounds into a dynamic, breaky, and jungly dimension. This release represents a fresh movement in electronic music, pushing boundaries and forging a new sonic landscape.
We feel that within our own productions and others we have released, many producers have changed their music’s character to a more emotional, speechless kind of sound. Each artist, in his own way, expresses emotions of anger, sadness, and optimism through music, which has become more important and continues to lead both our and others’ creations”.
Valley Corp
Est. 2021, Central Israel
Artists: Shae, Balulu, Tahini Prince and more
Omer Shafrir: “Valley Corp is a group of producers, rappers and artists, driven and nourished by each other. The group allows us to create in the most genuine and authentic way possible. Each artist has its own solo project but we’re all united under the same roof, a supportive and loving one, each helps when needed. We released a mixtape in 2022, most of its songs were made during two unforgettable nights. I hope and believe we will have more like it in the future, when the stars align again.
When the war started I personally couldn’t think about it at all, like most of those around me. At some point everyone went back to their day to day lives in some kind of way, and for me it meant getting back to the studio instead of freaking out at home. The situation made us rethink everything and it definitely affected the way we create.
Live performances were especially affected, until February I wasn’t able to even think about it. I DJ for Balulu and Shae and we had a joint performance planned at the end of october, which obviously didn’t happen. We didn’t know when would be the right time to reschedule it, but we felt the audience was ready and eager, so we set it on february 15th. Ever since then shows kept happening as usual.
It still doesn’t make sense completely for me, to keep doing this when there are still people held hostage, fighting and getting killed everyday. On the other hand I feel that we as artists have a mission. When everything around us is so bitter, we want to allow those who are capable and interested in it to experience something a little sweeter.
Garzen Records
Est. 2015, Tel Aviv
Artists: Red Axes, The White Screen, The Crotches, Nadav Spiegel / Autarkic, Abrão, Xen, BĘÃTFÓØT, DEAF CHONKY,
TUALET, Chen, Ryskinder, Avishag C. Rodrigues, Nadav Samuel / Famous Enough, Lamusa II and Re-Issue for Siam.
Niv Arzi, Owner and artistic director: “Garzen Records started out as the home label for red Axes, our way to express the sound of Tel Aviv. For 3 years we made and produced records and unforgettable events. In 2018 we decided to separate between Red Axes and the label. Today I’m leading the artistic direction while collaborating with Kamea for the business and professional aspects and the local distribution. I owe a lot to Moshe Levy from GAG21, for being by my side and helping the label to operate.
Garzen believes in promoting the unknown over the familiar, highlighting the fringe and creating a platform for artists with similar agenda. The Events of October 7th made that even clearer – now more then even I strive to push forward the music I find exciting and find the truth hidden between the lies and repressions.
Our Latest release is autarkic’s new single, “החיים האלה”, first from a new record coming out this summer”.
