Sources is a brand new series which will examine the output of a number of extremely influential independent U.S. labels throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. In an age where corporate anonymity reigns supreme and music is being treated like aural wallpaper, the Sources series will go back to a time when record labels really meant something via their A&R policies, their ground-breaking releases, their everyday modus-operandi and their general philosophies. What made these operations unique? How did they manage to compete with the major companies? How did they protect their artist rosters? What sort of people ran these operations and how did they manage to survive in the cut-throat music business? Bill Brewster, co-founder of the influential DJ History website and forum and author of the acclaimed “Last Night A D.J. Saved My Life” will be compiling and writing the sleeve notes for the series. The first six releases will concentrate on 6 New York independent labels which have each been massively influential in the evolvement of Dance Music over the last 30+ years – Easy Street, Fresh, Sleeping Bag, Sam, Streetwise and P&P. Each 3 x CD package will be full of lovingly re-mastered original 12” mixes as selected by Bill. These will include many tracks which have never made it to CD before and you can be sure that a variety of ‘secret weapons’ will emerge from each of these packages! All notes and scans will be included in a 16 page colour booklet which fits beautifully within the 3CD superior digipack. The usual Harmless PR and Radio operation will support all Sources releases. The tenth and final release in the Sources series deals with one of the great House Music labels of all-time (along with DJ International and Underground), Trax records from Chicago. Originally founded by Larry Sherman, Trax had the advantage of being one of the local Chicago independent pressing plants, so when this new phenomenon called House music arrived and people started turning up at Trax with tapes that they wanted to press onto vinyl, then Larry smelt a market and thus Trax records was born. The label was renowned for its almost punk ethic of simply getting the releases out fast and furiously without much in the way of obvious design values or quality control. Their releases were generally pressed on recycled vinyl and housed in recycled card sleeves – in fact, it was not unusual to open the record and see bits of paper pressed into the vinyl and old printing on the inside of the sleeves! However, the operation perfectly suited the ethos of the music, the majority of which was often made on 4 track machines in numerous bedrooms before being tested at Chicago’s two main House clubs – Music Box via Ron Hardy and the Warehouse, where the legendary Frankie Knuckles ruled the decks. If the bedroom tape got the thumbs up from Ron and Frankie, then usually the aspiring producers would turn up at Trax the next morning and beg to get their productions on vinyl. The deals were probably not great but the lure of holding your own record seemed to override all other considerations. And thus dozens of new careers were hatched. Sources: The Trax Records anthology has been expertly compiled by Bill Brewster to feature the particular mixes that he favours and every track has been comprehensively re-mastered to the usual Harmless levels. The Trax volume will work nicely with the Sources DJ International and Underground volumes which, together, give a comprehensive overview of the birth of the House music scene in Chicago.