MFS (label)
| MFS (label) | |
|---|---|
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| Founded | 1990 |
| Founder | Mark Reeder |
| Genre | Trance, Techno, Ambient |
| Country of origin |  Germany |
| Location | Berlin, Germany |
| Official Website | www.mfs-berlin.de |
MFS (Masterminded For Success) was an independent electronic dance music label from Berlin, Germany lasting from 1990-2008 (although it has officially never actually folded, it has just stopped releasing music). It was founded by Berlin based Englishman, Mark Reeder in 1990. The label was originally supported by "Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin" the former GDR record company, which made it the very first independent dance music label of East Germany, until the DSB closed down in 1993. After which, Reeder took MFS and carried on, to launch the careers, and release music, by some of electronic dance music's seminal artists.
MFS is consider to be one of the first trance labels, and to be the first to coin the term "trance music",[1] and seen by few as an underground label. Its main focus from the beginning was trance music, but soon started to release different types of electronic genres. MFS has helped start many famous artist with their early careers such as, Paul van Dyk, Harald Blüchel (Cosmic Baby), Mijk van Dijk, Gerret Frerichs (Humate), as well as many others.
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[edit] History
[edit] 1990s, MFS - Masterminded For Success
In December 1990, Englishman Mark Reeder founded his own electronic music record label "Masterminded For Success" or "MFS as it became known. The name "MFS" was actually taken from the initials of Ministry for State Security (Stasi) in East Germany[1].
The first artists to be signed on the label were Paul Browse, and Johnny Klimek known as "Effective Force" and Gaby Delgado from DAF and Saba Komossa's "2 German Latinos", and "Neutron 9000". MFS soon started to gain a "trance" profile and in early 1991 soon signed Mijk van Dijk, Cosmic Baby, Humate and Paul van Dyk. Reeder's vision to create a melodic, uplifting and positive sounding version of Techno was eventually to be realised by Cosmic Baby. One of the most known projects under MFS was, "The Visions of Shiva", a collaboration by Cosmic Baby (Harald Blüchel) & Paul van Dyk. Together they released, "Perfect Day" & "How Much Can You Take?" before going their separate ways in 1993. Another one of MFS more well-known releases was "Love Stimulation" by Humate in 1993, along with a remix by Paul van Dyk.
Taken from the previous years releases, MFS released the first ever Trance compilation in 1992 called, Tranceformed From Beyond which became a milestone and set the standard for others to come. The album was sequenced and mixed by Cosmic Baby & Mijk van Dijk. A year later, MFS asked Paul van Dyk to make a mix for their second compilation album, a soundtrack for a early computer graphic video which they called "X-Mix 1 - The MFS Trip" this was a collaboration with the video label K7!.
Some of the more well-known albums from MFS were, "Stellar Supreme"(1992), "Ki"(1993) by 030/Dr Motte, "Afreuropamericasiaustralica"(1994) by Mijk van Dijk and Paul van Dyk's "45 RPM"(1994) and "Seven Ways"(1996) albums. Both PVD & Cosmic Baby became MFS main artists, but in 1994 Cosmic Baby left the label, allured by promises of stardom from the major record company BMG.
MFS started signing more underground artists and tracks, with Paul van Dyk being their main contributor. During the mid-late 90s, Paul van Dyk would later become a huge commercial success for MFS. He released his first two albums and stayed with MFS up until 1998, when he left and formed his own label, Vandit. MFS later faced a lawsuit with Paul van Dyk over his third studio album, which turned out to be "Out There and Back"[2] (which was eventually released on the MFS partner label Deviant Records UK). According to Deviant label manager Rob Deacon, this album did exactly that "out there and back".
[edit] Discontinuation
After 1999, the dance scene was starting shift into a new direction, most importantly trance was as well.
MFS later had trouble releasing other kinds of records other than trance and because of the change and rise of many trance labels at the end of the century. Reeder decided he wanted to distance himself from trance and focus more on other genres, mainly techno and a new deeper, sexier sound he had devised and created with Corvin Dalek, which he called Wet & Hard. In 1999, MFS created two sub-labels called, "Flesh" and "Telemetric". The focus on the "Flesh" label was Wet & Hard [3] and "Telemetric" was mainly techno, including some deeper trance releases.
The "Telemetric" label was very short lived (after the suspicious murder of the labels A&R Carlos Heinz in late 2001) and therefore never reached commercial success.
Label "Flesh" however, went on to release some great and highly controversial tracks by artists like Corvin Dalek (who Reeder worked together on many remixes with for artists such as New Order, Destiny's Child, Da Hool, or Faithless), "Mr Sam", "Eiven Major", "Klang" and "Jan Kessler". "Flesh" records are rare and most sought after these days and are easily recognised through their distinctive "HotKunst" (hot art) artwork style which Reeder and Dalek created and which frequently caused controversy, one CD "Assorted Lovetoys was even banned in Switzerland[4].
The "Flesh" label released some classic club tracks, such as "Young People", "Pounds & Penz", "Pornoground", "Crystal" or "I Like It 69", culminating in a series of "Flesh" Wet&Hard compilations ("Wet&Hard", "Flesh For Fantasy" or "Feel") and Corvin Dalek's album "I Am A Dalek". With this album, Mark travelled the world together with Corvin Dalek, from Colombia to China, USA, Mexico and UK and almost everywhere in between.[5].
Sadly, due to the demise of many of the main European vinyl distributors, record label owner Reeder decided to put MFS and his sub-labels on ice and ceased all label activity in 2008. [6] He wanted to return to making and producing electronic-rock music again.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Mark Reeder Interview". skileta. 2007-02-17. http://www.selekta.com/content/templates/interviews_template.aspx?articleid=454&zoneid=8. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
- ^ MUZIK issue March 2000 - Paul van Dyk vs. MFS court case
- ^ The man behind the curtainselekta.com.
- ^ Corvin Dalek .discogs.com.
- ^ Mark Reeder's Official myspace.
- ^ Flesh & MFS.discogs.com.
