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September 02, 2022
For Jeff Owens, founder of the label felte, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, it all comes back to family—specifically, his older brother.
“We lived in Texas,” explains Owens. “I’d lived there for about 17 years, and that’s when you’re obviously getting your taste. He just happened to be a teenager when music was pretty strong. You had the Cure, Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb, Front 242, The Smiths, New Order, electronic, all these bands that were, upon reflection, like, ‘Wow, that’s what mainstream music was?’”
Owens also credits a host of other influences through the 1990s and beyond: discovering alternative radio, and magazines like MAGNET; developing an obsession with independent and DIY bands and labels such as Touch & Go; making connections between bands based on cover art and shared references. But music remained a side passion for Owens until he moved to Michigan and began working for one of America’s best electronic labels, Ghostly.
“I just knocked on the door!” Owens says. “I didn’t know Ghostly at that time—it was probably only like five or six years old. I liked some electronic music, Matador had released a Boards of Canada record, Radiohead was getting electronic. I interned and happened to be there at the right time. I still work there—I’m director of the label groups. But I’ve always tried to keep felte separate. This is just something I always wanted to do. That was always the dream: ‘Oh, I want to have my own label.’”
Felte’s roster reflects Owens’ tastes, with both electronic acts and rough-edged rock bands, as well as a wide spectrum in-between. The experience he had gained with Ghostly enabled him to start the label at a time when the record industry was entering choppy waters. “In 2012, [press and radio] were not as potent as they used to be,” Owens says. “I was very open with the artists: ‘This is what I can do for you. This is the climate that we’re in, but I still think we can do some things.’”
Because of its roster, felte’s often been thought of as a goth/darkwave imprint, but Owens prefers taking a broader view on what he’s done. “[There’s] Deserta, which is shoegaze-y; Billow Observatory, which is ambient-meets-shoegaze, I guess. Then you’ve got Ashley Shadow, a singer-songwriter, beautiful vocal delivery, and Camila Fuchs: electronic, but it’s more in the Björk-y experimental sound. Ganser, I think they have an indie-leaning, no-wavey, art rock sound. In some cases [goth] makes sense, and I’m not ashamed of that, but I just think I would prefer to be identified with 4AD than as a straight-up goth label.”
Felte is now based out of Los Angeles, following Owens’ move there some years back. In honor of their first decade, we asked Owens to discuss 10 albums of note that he’s particularly proud of helping bring to the world. “The label’s very much mood,” he says. “I don’t really care how you play your guitar or your instrument. It’s really the mood that the music conveys, and all the records—that’s how they connect together.”
ERAAS
ERAAS
Formed in Brooklyn by Robert W. Toher and Austin Stawiarz, two members of the ‘00s band Apse, ERAAS kicked off felte with a murmuring and mysterious self-titled album, living up to its equally shadowy album cover. “I knew the first release always creates the identity of a label a lot of times,” Owens says. “ERAAS just felt like the right thing. It was the combination of the Radiohead sound, the electronic stuff that I was already exposed to and involved in with…
Read More: Ten Years In The Shadows With felte Records