Karl Schmidt Verlag

Karl Schmidt Verlag: begun November 2008 by Tom Smith in Hannover, Germany. The KSV Bandcamp was announced on April 26, 2013 and digital versions of new and archival releases were released there. "Both publishing house and recording imprint, KSV is dedicated to disruption. Micro-editions, no press, no promo, no pandering..." Each release is packaged in a hand-folded, full-color, double-sided paper sleeve. "CD editions will never be larger than 50 units. If we eventually move to vinyl pressings, those will never be larger than 300 units. Cassettes will always be restricted to 20 copies." Additional catalog items: KSV 044 Tom Smith "Naturally Occurring Black Metal λόγος" (an 80-page photo essay) KSV 054 Tom Smith "Unpunished: Bananafish Essays 2000-2001" (Book of essays with text and illustrations by Tom Smith (2) and a foreword by Aaron Dilloway) KSV 125 Karl Schmidt "500 Pleas for Territorial Ambiguity" (80-page photobook with text). KSV 197 Tom Smith "Victims' Youthquake Style" (80-page phototome) An X in the catalog number represents an entry in "KSV's parallel "X" series, supplanting long-deleted releases." For this reason some releases may share a similar catalog number. A Facebook post by the label on March 14, 2015 following a hard drive crash which lost the majority of the files representing Karl Schmidt Verlag's output (much of which was later restored through rips of releases and reconstructed artwork) shed light on the label's approach: "Efficiency and economy were crucial to KSV's success. There was no inventory. Our few distributors were made to pay up-front. We charged vinyl prices for recordable CDs because the quality of our work was evident. Projects exploded from our larder, so we invented artists, discographies, engineers, designers, studios and locales. About 65% of the 380-odd albums issued by KSV were just me anyhow, swathed in one absurd pseudonym after another. Ich bin Katja Fregatte. Disruption was our only goal. "I treated others' live performances as field recording exercises and manipulated the images, sounds and intentions engendered by their efforts into splintered, decontextualized versions. Some were quite unhappy with this admittedly arrogant approach..." See the Reviews section of this page for the less objective parts of the post which don't meet the parameters of a Discogs label profile.