Q&A With Robert & Leopold
10.2.15 by Bobby Power

Founded only a half a decade ago, Robert & Leopold is a boutique cassette imprint owned and operated by Ryan Martin, a Brooklyn-based musician who co-runs the Dais imprint and records under a slew of hypnotic, sublimely intense aliases (Copley Medal, Death Houses, Hanel Koeck) and collaborations (DeTrop, On A Clear Day, York Factory Complaint). Following a double-dose of deeply confounding, subtly unsettling releases (Løt.te’s Private Shell and On a Clear Day’s Photo 51), we caught up with Martin to chart the label’s beginnings, the balance of Martin’s split effort between R&L and Dais, and a few of Martin’s most beloved cassette labels, both past and present.

Robert & Leopold’s first release came in 2010 with a tape by Maurizio Bianchi– a hell of a way to launch. Can you talk about the beginnings of the label and how that first release came together?

Previous to Robert & Leopold, I was loosely helping my friend Lou Caldarola with his label, Period Tapes. I was involved in the first few release but decided to do my own solo imprint that was at a more steady pace and would allow me to release my own music on a regular basis. My first releases on R&L were a tape by Maurizio Bianchi, whom I became friendly with through Dais, and a tape by my band York Factory Complaint. Both of those received a great response so I just kept going with it for the past few years. It’s mainly an extension of myself outside of Dais to release things that would be too “left-field” for Dais, but that I am a huge fan of on a personal level. The whole label is just a self-focused realization of things that I love and admire in art & music.

You also co-run Dais with Gibby Miller, and while R&L and Dais are quite different, there is some overlap in aesthetic and sound. How do you keep the two projects separate, and what’s the hardest hurdle there?

There is a bit of overlap simply because both labels release works by artists who are friends, so you will see a lot of the same names pop up in some incarnation within both labels. Part of me is in Dais and the rest of my reflection can be glimpsed in R&L. Dais is a real full-time, semi-professional (ha!) kind of entity, R&L is just a personal project I take on when I have some down time or have some recordings of my own I’d like to get out quickly. Both pair well together but are different enough that they stay out of each others hair.

It seems like you put out an average of 10 tapes a year. Do you handle everything, from design to packaging and mailing?

I’ve slowed it down slightly this past year only because of lack of free time, but that sounds about right. It all depends on the release. I’ve designed / created artwork for quite a few release but sometimes the artist wants to handle that aspect. I would like to get ambitious on packaging sometime in the near future, do something memorable and tactile but it has to be the right fit to pull it off in a tasteful way. Past all of that, it’s just me doing everything!

R&L just released an LP by On A Clear Day, your project with David Grant. Was this the first time you’d thought about doing an LP on R&L?

The thought had crossed my mind in the past of doing vinyl, but like anything it’s always a cost issue. This album was a special “baby” of mine and David, so we felt it was worth taking the dive into the financial black hole that is vinyl production to see that this album we made was released on the proper format but still retain it’s niche sensibility.

What’s your demo or submission policy?

Right now, it’s just been that I don’t take demos or submissions. I’ve only put out one release that was done by a stranger cold calling me with a demo submission.That was the Kosmonaut tape I did 3 years ago. He caught me at the right moment and sent me some really incredible music that was in the style of a lot of things I was listening to at that time. Anything else was either my own work, releases by friends or me reaching out to artists that I truly admired personally.

You’ve accomplished quite a bit on both Dais and R&L. Do you have any dream projects or past projects that never happened?

Quite a few actually! I won’t name the projects that were declined by the artists when approached. As for stuff I’d like to do, I have lists of releases that I would eventually like to make happen. Best to keep that list to myself though, better for surprises of the future.

Who are some of your favorite tape labels, past and/or present?

Favorite past tape labels… Where do I begin?! Grafika Airlines, Exart, Insane Music, Sound of Pig, Broken Flag, Audiofile, Jim Tapes, Inner-X-Musick, Kubus, Ding-Dong….I could sit here all day naming of old tapes labels that I gush over their discographies.

Present: Vitrine, Ascetic House, Chondritic Sound, Hanson, Fag Tapes, House of Alchemy, Goat-Eater Arts are a small fraction of labels that I pick up titles from regularly, that’s just what I’ve been listening to lately.

R&L discography to date
(R&L058) Løt.te “Private Shell”
(R&L057) On A Clear Day “Photo 51”
(R&L056) DeTrop “Man, Woman, & Beast”
(R&L055) David First “The AM Radio Band”
(R&L054) Hanel Koeck “Rosendale Open”
(R&L053) No Intention “+B”
(R&L052) Death Houses “Duty Roach in Millions”
(R&L051) Maurizio Bianchi & Ryan Martin “As Strong As Death Is”
(R&L050) Bob Bellerue “Fine Phenomena”
(R&L049) Further Reductions “s/t”
(R&L048) Copley Medal “Sabbath”
(R&L047) Ryan Martin & Anthony Mangicapra “Golden Hazrat”
(R&L046) Hoor-paar-Kraat “Live at the Brooklyn Fashion League”
(R&L045) Climax Denial “Anxiety Rituals”
(R&L044) EMP “Era II”
(R&L043) Believer/Law “Contrition”
(R&L042) Anla Courtis & Richard Francis “Aucklantida”
(R&L041) Drowning the Virgin Silence “Head Cleaner”
(R&L040) Stone Baby “Debris”
(R&L039) Kösmonaut “Geist”
(R&L038) Death Houses “…All but the Crimson Light Remained”
(R&L037) Âmes Sanglantes “Have You Come Here to Torment Us Before the Time?”
(R&L036) Aaron Dilloway “Tractor Cuts”
(R&L035) Leif Elggren “Sleepwalking”
(R&L034) Hanel Koeck “Francis Bloom, His Mistress & The Dullard”
(R&L033) Hanel Koeck “Piano Music”
(R&L032) Future Blondes “Live at Libertine Social Club 7/9/12”
(R&L031) Chris Brokaw “Tidal Mud”
(R&L030) Hoor-paar-Kraat “In Your Absence”
(R&L029) Letha Rodman Melchior / Tretetam “Moon Mountain”
(R&L028) DeTrop “Con Rit”
(R&L027) Hidden Tooth “July 18, 2012”
(R&L026) Black Leather Jesus “Even Deeper”
(R&L025) These Feathers Have Plumes “Hegira”
(R&L024) Genetic Infantryman & Ryan Martin “Live 12-23-2011”
(R&L023) Rust Worship “Optimistic”
(R&L022) York Factory Complaint “Sufferings”
(R&L021) York Factory Complaint “Live Document ’09-’10”
(R&L020) Femminielli “Sprezzatura”
(R&L019) Jazkamer “Failed State of Mind”
(R&L018) Exhumed Corpse “Mortem Obire”
(R&L017) Kama Rupa “City of Caesars”
(R&L016) Sudden Infant “The Wicked Mothers”
(R&L015) Lasse Marhaug “Angelica 2011/05/20”
(R&L014) DeTrop “Apart From The Dutch Administrators, There Seemed To Be Only About A Dozen Whiteskins Living In Bali”
(R&L013) K2 “IsopDoping”
(R&L012) DeTrop “Rewards of Faith”
(R&L011) Pipeline Alpha “Demons and Dances”
(R&L010) Chapels “That Incorrigible Death’s-Head”
(R&L009) Werewolf Jerusalem “Carnal Violence”
(R&L008) Scorpio & Glass “Eight Days for Trifecta”
(R&L007) York Factory Complaint “Will & Testament”
(R&L006) Knights of Timbre “Rite of Noise”
(R&L005) Bleak Race “Communication Breakdown”
(R&L004) Future Blondes “Vila’gok 2”
(R&L003) Hoor-paar-Kraat “Elbow Drops Effortlessly”
(R&L002) York Factory Complaint “Sentiment”
(R&L001) Maurizio Bianchi “Violichte”