Every month we select a label that recently pressed at dunk!pressing and sit down for a chat. This month’s guest is French indie post- rock/hardcore label Voice of the Unheard. Join us on this music and vinyl exploration!

Join us every month as we explore the beautiful world of vinyl with some of the coolest labels from our plant.

As an independent pressing plant, we have the pleasure of working with many independent labels and artists. We’ve been so impressed with the quality of the music that comes out of our machines that we wanted to promote some of it through our website. The second label in our series is Voice of the Unheard.

Founded exactly 10 years ago in Bordeaux by Yannick, Voice of the Unheard (VOTU) started releasing music as a way to help out friends, and has continued to release post- rock/hardcore/metal albums ever since and helped giving bands a voice for well over a decade! VOTU has a keen eye for colourful variants, special packaging and getting crafty, making it one of the most interesting labels in this landscape. We had the pleasure of speaking with Yannick recently in a conversation spanning from promoting bands to the value of friendship, and vinyl of course!

VOTU’s colourful variants inspired each time by the album’s artwork take full advantage of dunk!pressing’s full range of effects and combinations. (In this picture: *Dead Bird - In the Absence of* - VOTU060 - Black with White splatter).

Federico (dunk!pressing): Hi Yannick, thank you for agreeing to this! Can you tell us a bit more about Voice of the Unheard?

Yannick: The label started 10 years ago exactly. It started because my friends in Lost in Kiev were looking for a label to release their debut album [Motions, 2013] and I was like “alright, I love vinyl, I am a record collector, I’d love to know more about how this works! haha”. Thankfully, I wasn’t alone in this as it was a co-release with dunk!records. Looking back it was a huge help as it allowed me to not just jump into this without knowing anything, at the time I didn’t know anything about vinyl production and running a label. I released a few more projects from bands I was friends with, but then more bands started getting in touch. That was exactly a decade ago already, I never thought it would grow the way it did. From that point more and more bands were asking me to release their next record, and before I knew it, the label kept on growing until it became what it is now.

That’s pretty awesome! Why “Voice of the Unheard”, is there a particular story around it?

Y: Before I started the label, I was running a PR service in Bordeaux with a friend. The idea was to help bands get booked for shows in the city. We had to come up with a name and I was always pushing with these Comeback Kid lyrics but he wouldn’t have it, he didn’t want to make it too obvious haha. So one day he casually dropped this name and I was like “this is perfect!”. In a way, it reflected perfectly what we wanted to do […] give these underground bands a voice and help them spread their music! This was in 2010. He actually moved to Paris shortly after so then I continued on my own, and still doing it now.

*Dead Bird - In the Absence of* - VOTU060 - Milky clear with Heavy Black Smoke

And with the label, is that the same vision?

Y: Thinking back on it now, it’s pretty funny actually as the label is mostly post-rock so there’s no vocals really haha! But yeah, pretty much, although I try to stay focused within the boundaries of certain genres. At first, I just wanted to release records that I liked or bands I was in touch with or friends with and go from there. At the beginning there wasn't really a vision, except that I wanted to release records that I liked. That’s still the main goal now, but I try to stay more focused around some genres as a way to have control over what I publish, which is mostly post-rock, post hardcore, screamo and a bit of indie punk. I still want to release underground music that’s worth spreading to me, but only within a certain genre let’s say. I think this also helps bands know whether or not VOTU would be a good home for their music as well as it helps people staying in the loop and knowing what to expect from me as a label. If they liked something from me, then they’re more likely to check out other releases if they know they’re in the same style. It’s important that people trust my label and what I’m publishing, but also that I have enough freedom to publish other styles if I want to. I always hope that people will like all sorts of different genres and not just stay focused on one. So, every once in a while, I try releasing something completely different. Sometimes it works!

And if I’m not mistaken one of your next releases will be something entirely different, an ambient album! I’d love to hear more on how that came to be!

Y: Yeah I’ll be releasing the new VLMV [pronounced ALMA] EP, “Flora & Fauna”. Pete and I have been friends for over 10 years so I am very excited about releasing his next project. We met in 2011 when he played in Bordeaux with his older band Monsters Build Mean Robots and I always wanted to get involved with this new project. It’s interesting that this new project is purely ambient and not necessarily fitting the usual label fare, I’m curious what the reaction will be. Sometimes friendship is more important than work and running a label haha.

And the packaging as well will be very special?

Y: Yes I really like the EP format because having only one side pressed with music allows you to be creative with the B side. I often do screenprinting and that’s something I really like especially with transparent colours so that you can see the design while you play the record. Originally I had suggested this to Pete but he was more into the idea of having an etching on the B side. He’s more old-fashioned and likes his records black and was not into having crazy colours at all haha! So in the end it was half/half; I was like “okay, we can do both and we’ll have what we want!!” - it will be my first time working with etching as well, so it’s great that you guys offer both! Very curious how that’ll turn out!

Can you tell us about other projects you’re particularly fond or proud of?

Y: One i’m particularly proud of is TANG’s “And Still No Sunrise” EP, which was also a single-sided record with screenprint on the B side. I am a huge fan of that band! I discovered them back in 2006 and they shaped my musical taste later in life so to be releasing their newest project was very special, I am super proud of how it turned out. Another one I’m very proud of is Show Me a Dinosaur’s “Plantgazer”, that one was on a whole other level. The band contacted me directly to ask if I could release it. I was super honoured and knew I wanted to do something extra special that would make them feel extra special in return. This release was also my first time working with dunk!pressing too, I am very fond of this release for many reasons!

*Plantgazer (*VOTU055) was released to critical acclaim in 2021, selling out in less than 2 days.

And so from there you just continued to work with us

Y: Yeah, I don’t always have the option to choose pressing plant for my releases, but when I do, I always pick dunk!pressing! I knew the pressing plant because I had worked with dunk!records before, and was following its releases. As a label myself I am always checking where I can press my records. As I said for Show me a Dinosaur I knew I wanted to do something special and high quality, which is exactly what dunk!pressing delivered. I was very happy with how “Plantgazer” turned out and have been happy ever since. I love how we interact before each pressing, the ideas and suggestions you come up with for the different variants! You’re always down to try new stuff and give advice, which is helpful. It’s also nice to see the amount of work you put into each record! For instance, with our latest project RIAH [Ropes Inside a Hole], all the variants looked very cool, the response from people has been great!

Our pleasure! Please tell us about some of the upcoming releases you have planned:

Y: Okay, I have like a million things planned, I have the bad habit to say yes to too many things haha! There’s one coming out very soon [May 16th], which I am super happy about, it's the new EP by Golden Seams. I am friends with the band, and again we did screenprinting on the B side and the drawing was done by my girlfriend, so seeing all of this in one record obviously has a special meaning to me. A few upcoming releases I am pretty excited about are the latest record by Winder Dust, which is a co-release between several labels as well as the VLMV EP I mentioned earlier. There’s also one that’s just come which is pretty awesome too! It’s the newest album by French screamo band EUX! It features a guest appearance from Aurelien Verdant of Daitro fame, with the vinyl release also slated for release in May. And finally, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the label and of our very first album, I will be re-releasing “Motions” with all-new special packaging! So lots of great stuff coming up!

The different variants for *RIAH - A Man and His Nature* (VOTU064) were developed in close collaboration with the label and artist.

Fantastic! Thank you for your time Yannick, to wrap things up, how do we stay in touch with VOTU? And final question, if you had unlimited budget, what would you release?

Y: I’d definitely release a boxset with the entire TANG discography! Thank you, if you’d like to stay in touch with me and the label I have a website as well as Facebook so feel free to drop me a message there!

Links:
Email: voiceofunheard@gmail.com
Website : http://voturecords.com
Twitter : http://twitter.com/voturecords
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/voturecords
Bandcamp : http://voiceoftheunheard.bandcamp.com
Instagram : voturecords

LABEL SPOTLIGHT: Episode 2 - Voice of the Unheard Records

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