Tako Reyenga and Abel Nagengast, two former high school friends from Tilburg, set up shop as Red Light Records, in Amsterdam, in 2012, in a space arranged by Orpehu de Jong. The store was originally stocked with records they’d found on road trips across Europe, accompanied by Rard “Loud E” Laudy. Their primary aim was to “turn people on” to these rare sides. I know this because I interviewed them both in 2013, when they also mentioned that they were about to launch a label, together with another friend, Jamie Tiller, called Music From Memory. The title taken from a totally obscure privately pressed record released by avant grade New York composer, Vito Ricci. The imprint’s byline was “Giving overlooked and unreleased music that we love a second chance.”

I’d actually met Jamie, in around 2008, 2009, when I still lived in Tokyo. I’d bumped into him at a Liquid Liquid gig. At that point he was focused on photography, and on an assignment in the city. Spending his spare time digging for vinyl. He was asking me, of course, for my spots, and about Lupin soundtracks, and I, clueless, was thinking “Why?” I recognised his name from the DJHistory.com forum, where he seemed to be part of an enthusiastic young crew, populated by people like Chris Kontos, now of Kennedy Magazine, then running a blog called Plaid Music, Ilias Pitsios, of labels Echovolt and Into The Light, and designer David McFarline. When Jamie returned to Europe he made mix of the music that he’d picked up in Japan, for McFarline’s site, Noncollective. Embarrassed, because, like the Lupin score, I didn’t know anything on it – I needed to try harder – and impressed, I asked him to put something together for Test Pressing, and also fired a few questions at him. Returning to the script now I was super surprised to see him say that he had no intention of becoming a “Pro DJ”, describing it a his “worst nightmare”, preferring instead to spin his discoveries at small listening parties, amongst mates and like-minded souls. 

Curation, cover art, mastering and pressing, from the start Music From Memory set themselves, and others, an incredibly, impossibly, high bar. Honesty, from nowhere, they became the gold standard. First came Leon Lowman’s Arp-assisted Liquid Diamonds – a set of smooth Fender Rhodes-led jazz-funk, which featured a blissed-out cover of Brian Auger’s Bumpin’ On Sunset. However it was the Gigi Masin retrospective Talk To The Sea, that really put the seal on the deal. I knew who Gigi was because, tipped off by Manucunian musical guru Moonboots, I’d bought a copy of his album, The Wind Collector, from Red Light, but the comp was something else. It was Jamie who’d found a copy of Gigi’s debut LP, Wind, in a bargain-bin, and put the plan in motion. He told me that Gigi sent them so much archival stuff that the only way to tackle it was to work backwards. This meant that over 50% of what the compilation contained was previously unreleased. I wrote a review at the time, that I thought was a masterwork. Reading it back, it is, predictably, well-meaning “poetic” gobbledy gook, but the record remains, musically, life-changing. Gigi has gone on to become a friend, and I do consider the guy to be a genius. The Word Love even inspired a short story. 

Gigi went on to be a label “regular”, joining the “supergroup”, Gaussian Curve, where he collaborated with Jonny Nash and “Young” Marco Sterk. The trio produced two essential albums, and currently have a new single, Winter Sun, on the way. 

Next up was El Sur, a collection centred on Mallorcan guitarist / multi-instrumentalist, Joan Bibiloni. Joan is someone else that I’ve interviewed, since he grew up, and learned his chops, in the scene surrounding the family of poet / author Robert Graves, and the village of Deia. He was there at the birth of a very different “Balearic Beat” to the one that evolved on the neighbouring Ibiza.  

Michal Turtle comes from Croydon, which is where I’m from, and, I think, so was Jamie. I played his Astral Decoy when I guested on Apiento’s NTS Radio show. I’d pictured a studio with comfy chairs, tea and biscuits, but it was “Bang! You’re on! Bang! You’re off!”, in a Portacabin – just like a pirate, and bloody exciting. 

Before Music From Memory licensed it, Dip In The Pool’s On Retinae, a piece of perfect Japanese pop, opulently produced and catwalk couture-d in the country’s economic bubble, was only available on CD, laser disc, or a super limited run of 50(!?) 12” promos. Jamie had one, and he mistakenly thought I did too. Dropping me a line to check before the reissue. Either Chee Shimizu, of Organic Music, or Dubby, at Ondas, had given Tako a copy for his birthday. 

The System’s Vampirella, a simply stunning shot of proto-techno from the early `80s, was something, in yet another interview, that Isabelle Maitre, then of Syracuse, had tipped me too. 

The reissue wasn’t a coincidence, and these last two releases / examples serve to highlight how Music From Memory, and Red Light Records, connected / connects a worldwide network of committed “diggers”. They all know each other, show off, and share what they find. A couple more names on this roll call of mutual respect are Frenchmen, Jerome Qpchan and Raphael Top Secret. The latter teamed up with Mr. Tiller to produce Uneven Paths, an incredible, indispencable, double LP of utterly fantastic European flea market finds. When asked, in 2016, what was the key to Music From Memory’s success, Tako said it that they, the extended Amsterdam family, Red Light Records, Red Light Radio, Rush Hour, Dekmantel, Safe Trip… all stick together, and offer each other a helping hand. 

The breathtaking compilation of Brazilian “alternatives”, Outro Tempo, and the man behind it, John Gomez, are the reason that Ban Ban Ton Ton exists. I’d done an interview with John, and suddenly without an outlet, started the blog / site to host it. The interview, and review, were BBTT’s first posts. 

John was also MFM’s link to Suso Saiz, another ambient giant that the label has helped the world rediscover, and who, like Gigi, continues to create truly wonderful works. John also penned the sleeve notes for their recent terrific 10th anniversary collection. 

I talked to Richenel, around the release of La Differenca. Primarily to pump them for info on Ibiza’s hedonistic heyday. Between poking fun, making double entendres of my clumsy questioning, they told me it was all over, ruined, too commercial by 1985, and we both laughed. I reposted the piece when Richenel sadly passed. 

Dub Oven’s Skin’N’ Bones was a landmark for me, because it was the first release on Music From Memory where I already owned an OG. Having been given a copy by the lovely Yozo at Kouenji’s EAD Record. 

I’ve written reviews of pretty much everything Music From Memory have released, so it was a real honour to asked to do the liner for MLO’s Oumuamua. Jamie, editing, very politely pulled me up on some of my more pointlessly pretentious prose. 

When I DJed at photographic exhibition, in the fall of 2022, all three of us on the bill span The Zenmenn’s Bella Fantasia. 

The records mentioned are all those that I have a personal connection to, memories attached, but if I were to actually list favourites from the label it would go on for pages and pages… 

The Roberto Musci retrospective, Tower Of Silence, is a spellbinding set. Experimental, and in places challenging, Nexus On The Beach and Claudia, Wilhelm R And Me are especially beautiful. Its a comp that’s a fixture in my “chill out” box, and it led to other labels, such as Soave and  ЯēR, resurrecting Roberto’s back catalogue. Becker / Stegmann / Zeumer’s Abends is a haunting, muted horn-led, cinematic, noir score. Suso’s early incarnation as Orquesta De Las Nubes still gets constant spins. Drummer Curt Cress’ Dschung Tek is dynamite. The “ambient techno” compilation, Virtual Dreams, was a rewind to Tako’s roots. In 1992 he was the chillout room resident at a party called Kadance, playing music by people like The Orb, The Black Dog, and Peter Namlook. For most of the tracks included, it was their first time on vinyl. Norio Sato and Eiji Taniguchi’s Heisei No Oto did something equally essential with the underground music coming out of early-mid `90s Japan. 

The depth of Music From Memory’s catalogue only dawned on me as I made a series of mixes that will shortly be broadcast on Music For Dreams Radio. Seven hours in total. It seems it was easy to forget, and take for granted, the tons of ultra high quality. The label’s legacy is incredible, and here I haven’t touched on their more dance-floor directed offshoot, Second Circle. 20+ forward-thinking deviant disco sides that mutate techno and electro. Titles by names such as Zatua, Yu Su, Sandoz, Giuseppe Leonardo, Khan, ISOR29, DJ Normal 4, Dazion, Benedek, Androo, and my multi-talented mate, Adam Oko – who designed the Dr. Rob logo. 

Music From Memory were / are important because, even though only a tiny indie, they showed everyone how to do something with love, passion, and how to do it properly. Hindsight and retrospect are wonderful things. It’s sometimes hard to see an aesthetic, a sound, take shape as it happens, piece by piece. Occasionally, at the time, hands up, I didn’t get it, but it becomes glaringly obvious when looking back at the whole. 

Music From Memory’s 10th anniversary compilation, 10, is out now.

When photos of Jamie Tiller began appearing on Instagram on October 15th, I thought it must be his birthday. While I’ve had to come to terms with my heroes and contemporaries passing, I honestly couldn’t believe that someone, such as Jamie, with so much energy, and so much younger than me, was gone.