Blast First

Blast First is a sub label of one-time independent record label Mute Records, founded in approximately 1985. It was named after a phrase taken from the first number of the radical Vorticist journal Blast, published by Wyndham Lewis in 1914. Lewis's "Manifesto" begins with the words "BLAST First (from politeness) ENGLAND".

History

The label was founded by Paul Smith to give UK release to albums by Sonic Youth, a US band with which he was then working closely. It went on to specialise in music at the more extreme end of the spectrum, and featured more hardcore rock bands than the master label of its synth pop-oriented parent company. Before Mute Records was sold to the EMI group, Blast First fit into the company's profile, which included labels such as the Fine Line and the Grey Area.

The label released a range of alternative music from the Butthole Surfers and Labradford through Suicide and Sonic Youth to the William Fairey Band's Acid Brass collection. The latter, a departure for a label noted for its guitar based rock bands, was a covers album of tunes such as A Guy Called Gerald's "Voodoo Ray" and 808 State's "Pacific," all replayed by a brass band. Blast First also organised the Disobey experimental club nights, with Russell Haswell and Bruce Gilbert (aka DJ Beekeeper) of the punk band Wire.

Blast First Petite

After the sale of Mute to EMI, Paul Smith released a number of records on a new independent sublabel, Blast First Petite. Records on this label were insufficiently commercial to be released through Mute's deal with EMI Distribution.

Artists

• A.C. Temple
• Acid Brass
• The Afghan Whigs
• Band of Susans
• Beme Seed
• Big Black
• Big Stick
• The Blue Humans
• Caspar Brötzmann Massaker
• Butthole Surfers
• Dinosaur Jr
• FM Einheit & Caspar Brötzmann
• Erase Errata
• Fushitsusha
• The Charles Gayle Trio
• Michael Gibbs
• H.O.D.I.C.A.
• Keiji Haino
• Head of David
• Hovercraft
• HTRK
• KaitO
• Richard H. Kirk
• Labradford
• Liars
• Lunachicks
• The Mekons
• Mother Goose
• Phill Niblock
• Pan Sonic
• The Raincoats
• Sonic Youth
  • Ciccone Youth
  • Lee Ranaldo
• Stretchheads
• Suicide
• Sun Ra
• Jimi Tenor
• Ed Tomney
• 2K
• Ut

Compilation series

• Sonic Mook Experiment
• The Devil's Jukebox (Nothing Short Of Total War) - deleted limited edition box set; 3000 UK copies and 1500 US copies were made.

Noted albums

Albums on Blast First that either reached the UK Albums Chart or have become examples of the indie/alternative genre:

• Big Black - Songs About Fucking (1987) (BFFP 019)
• Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation 2xLP (1988) (BFFP 034)
• Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen (1993) (BFFP 089)
• Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician (1987) (BFFP 023)

(Note: Blast First was merely the UK label for these US bands, which were all primarily signed to deals with American labels).

See also

• List of record labels

External links

• Radio 1
• Mute Records
• Blast First Petite
• Discography listing at Rate Your Music