Experimental label Autumn Sounds started out of a shoebox — a shoebox full of cassette tapes, to be exact.
The idea came to founder Stephen Matejka after thinking about how there is so much great music in the world but not everyone has the ability or access to release their music physically, or even digitally. And Matejka, who worked at a thrift store at the time, had a collection of old cassette tapes.
“We would receive tapes and wouldn’t sell them,” says Matejka. Instead of the store throwing them away, he would take them home to keep. So why not release music on recycled tapes?
In June 2019, Autumn Sounds put out its first release, The Lake is a Long Way From Here by Pond Tiger. The EP was recorded in an abandoned Pittsburgh building, using only objects found within to create the sounds. Pond Tiger then slowed it all down to make an eerie and ambient two-track release that clocks in around 20 minutes.
Much of the music found on the label falls under the experimental umbrella, but Matejka doesn’t want people to be turned off by that. He is always taking submissions, and any style of music is fair game.
“I will release basically any genre that’s given to me, as long as it’s good,” he says.
Matejka’s friends were the first to put out music on Autumn Sounds. His original idea was to simply release his friends’ music on cassette because he thought it “was cool.” But over time, musicians across the globe began to discover the Autumn Sounds Bandcamp page, and they messaged Matejka asking if their music could be released on the label too.
“It totally blew me away when the first person that I didn’t know asked me, from like Seattle, and now one or two people a week ask me,” says Matejka. “I’m like, ‘Where are you people coming from? How did you find out about this label?'”
Releases went from every few weeks to a consistent, weekly schedule. On top of getting more submissions, Matejka figured consistency would help the label grow.
“If people know when things are coming out they can anticipate it,” he says. So far, Autumn Sounds has released music from as far as Russia, Britain, and Osaka, Japan. There is an August 2019 release titled 操你香港警察 (Fuck Hong Kong Police), which is 60 minutes of field recordings from the 2019 Hong Kong protests. All of proceeds from the sale of 操你香港警察 go to the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund that helps pay for legal representation/medical costs of those brutalized by the Hong Kong Police and pro-Chinese Triads. Another August release, you stupid fucking fucks the rainforest is on Fire you dumb pieces of shit let’s do something about it, raises money for the Rainforest Trust.
When listeners make a cassette purchase on Autumn Sounds Bandcamp, in addition to the tape, all orders come with unique weird objects like papers, found photos, etc. One of Matejka’s standout releases is Shrek Retold (Official Soundtrack) in November. It is a collection of covers from tunes found in Shrek.
Matejka created an art edition where he painted each of the cassettes green. He draws on the tapes before they are shipped, and specifics can be requested. Additionally, available to purchase are handmade VHS tapes containing the entire Shrek Retold film as well as a special behind the scenes documentary.
Recently, Autumn Sounds started a Patreon with a tier option to get unique cassettes with secret and unreleased music by an artist on the label made for them every other month.
This article appears in Apr 15-21, 2020.
