| Re-Constriction Records | |
| Parent: | Cargo Music |
| Founder: | Chase |
| Status: | Defunct |
| Distributor: | Cargo Music, Inc. |
| Genre: | Electro-industrial, industrial rock |
| Country: | United States |
| Location: | San Diego, California |
Re-Constriction Records was a division of Cargo Music based in California. The label was founded in 1992 and headed by Chase, who was previously the Music Director at KCR, a student radio station on the campus of San Diego State University. They specialized in releasing bands belonging to the industrial, aggrotech and EBM genres.[1]
After the label folded, Chase went to work for Access Communications where he worked for 14 years doing video game-related public relations, including helping to launch Twitch in 2011. In May 2013, he took a staff job at Twitch overseeing all of their PR efforts.[2] In 2019, he left Twitch [3] and shortly thereafter joined StreamElements.[4]
Chase contacted Belgium-based industrial label KK Records, a division of Cargo Music, to arrange for product servicing for the station which led to him getting a job with Cargo. While doing promotional work for their KK label in North America, Chase convinced Cargo Music to allow him to start a new division called Re-Constriction Records.
The first band signed to the label was Diatribe, followed by 16 Volt and The Clay People. All of which helped to define the "Re-Con" sound of heavy guitars over electronics with vocalists who did not overprocess their voices. Chase adhered to this blueprint throughout much of the label's existence. The label's debut release was the 1992 EP Nothing by Diatribe.[5]
The top selling release on his label was Shut Up Kitty, the first domestic industrial dance cover song compilation. This would help to inspire other compilations, notably 21st Circuitry's Newer Wave and Newer Wave 2.0 releases. Other unique industrial cover song releases that predated the popularity of this trend included Operation Beatbox (covers of Hip Hop songs),[6] TV Terror (a 2 CD compilation featuring covers of Television theme songs),[7] Cyberpunk Fiction (A satirical spoof of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack)[8] and Nod's Tacklebox o' Fun (assorted pop hits).[9]
Re-Constriction Records folded in 1999 after having released approximately 40 records.[10] While running Re-Constriction, Chase founded, owned and ran a compilation-only label called If It Moves... which featured Torture Tech Overdrive (1991),[11] The Cyberflesh Conspiracy (1992),[12] Rivet Head Culture (1993)[13] and Scavengers in the Matrix (1994).[14] The Cyberflesh Conspiracy featured the only song that Stabbing Westward released on CD prior to being signed to a major label, while Rivet Head Culture was notable for popularizing the term "rivet head" (a descriptor for fans of industrial dance music) and featuring a song by Raw Dog, an unreleased side-project by Nivek Ogre and Dave Ogilvie of Skinny Puppy.