It could be said that kismet planted the seeds for musicians Landon Caldwell, 35, and Mark Tester, 41, to create their music label, Medium Sound.
They were driving through Belgium and the Netherlands, touring with their band Burnt Ones, when the beauty of the European countryside reminded them of “back home.” They were both living in California at the time, but had roots in the Midwest.
“It all felt like a dream, like some utopia. And then it became clear there was this through line between the aesthetic direction of our work and this vision,” said Caldwell in an interview via email.
After their trip, Caldwell and Tester moved back to Indianapolis. While unraveling their trip experiences, they realized they’d had the same thought at the exact moment. They founded Medium Sound. That was nine years ago.
The label is celebrating its 50th album release March 28 with “Homes,” a 12-inch record with songs by the duo’s project Caldwell/Tester.
The LP release party is 8 p.m. on March 29 at State Street Pub. Caldwell/Tester will perform music from “Homes” along with some special guests. Admission is $8 or free with the purchase of a $20 LP.
To help us kick off the spring season, Caldwell/Tester shared the single “A Catalogue of Seeds” with Mirror Indy. The full album, “Homes,” will be available on Bandcamp and other streaming services on March 28.
Although launching a music label was a big step for both Tester and Candwell, neither were newbies when it came to recording or being part of the music scene. Tester is the owner of State Street Pub and books all the acts that perform there.
Caldwell is an experimental composer and sound designer for different artists, museums and companies. He’s also the space and sound manager for Big Car, which includes running 99.1 WQRT.
“Mark and I were regularly seeing all these amazing performances by improvisers, experimentalists, new projects, side projects, etc in the early days of State Street Pub,” said Caldwell. “Especially what was jokingly referred to by folks in the SSP orbit as ‘Noise Box Night.’ We wanted to document these things. Not just because they were cool, but because they tell a story, paint a history of a community and place.”
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Tell me about your latest release. What inspired the music in it?
Mark: “Homes” is a bit of a full-circle moment for us, as we essentially started the label to release our own music. The sound is largely inspired by the domestic calm and warmth found in the places people call home.
From quiet and seemingly mundane daily experiences, like noticing new growth in the yard or hearing a new bird call with your morning coffee, to the protective nest and shelter homes provide from an increasingly tense outside world.
The album was quite literally recorded at our individual homes together, in our studios and backyards. Musically, it falls somewhere between the electronic and acoustic — occupying a sparse holistic zone where one doesn’t overtake the other. Tender instruments and sequences combine and vibe into an orchestra of aural energy.
How do you decide what gets released on tape or vinyl?
Landon: We started manufacturing and releasing tapes a few years before we officially started Medium Sound. I’ve loved cassettes since I was a kid, ripping my favorite songs off the radio on my boombox. It’s such a democratic medium. If you have an old tape you don’t like, you can just record over it. Or anyone with a tape deck could start a tape label.
When we started Medium Sound, we both threw in $100, and the label has done a pretty good job of sustaining itself since then, if you don’t count the few thousand unpaid hours Mark and I have put into the label.
When we started the label, tapes were incredibly cheap to manufacture. But now that major labels are pressing platinum albums on tape, the price has gone up. Same story as vinyl.
This is our first LP. Primarily because experimental music labels don’t make any money and pressing LPs is really expensive.
Do you have a process for choosing which bands you work with?
Landon: A large part of it is organic relationships. Who is around, doing stuff, pushing boundaries, exciting us.
We accept submissions because we love hearing what people are up to, but we are typically initiating conversations with artists about releases. Trying to bring things into the world we wish existed.
You’ve released so many albums. How do you choose the visual artists you work with for cover art? Do you have favorites?
Mark: Oftentimes, the musicians whom we’re releasing already have art or an artist in mind. We are a pretty small operation, so we want to make sure that anyone that puts out a release on our label is happy with how it looks.
I think my favorite art for any of our releases was for a Caldwell/Tester cassette single, “Smiley (Endless Smile Mix),” that one of Landon’s sons did the art for. I also really love Dan Davis’ art on the Jim Marlowe tape “Mirror Green Rotor in Profile.”
Is the process of releasing your own music different from working with a band? Do you give yourself more room for deadlines or to not make your mind up about things?
Mark: We try to set deadlines, but they always end up becoming pretty amorphous. The production process goes through so many steps that we generally have a pretty lax attitude about deadlines and whatnot. Last year we put out nine tapes in the first half of the year, but other years things have moved a little slower.
What does a normal recording and editing day look like for you?
Mark: I don’t know that either of us have a normal process. A lot of stuff that we do together starts from jams where we essentially come up with a mental prompt (wind blowing through tree branches, the smell of freshly baked bread), and then record and edit down.
We have a long history and love playing improvised music together. I’ve always felt Landon and I share a musical language that I have never been able to speak with anyone else, so we find that’s usually the best spot to start.
Landon: Mark and I have known each other for 20 years. We met at the first show I ever played when I was 15. Mark’s band was on the bill.
For the last 10 years, Mark and I have been playing together in our own bands, Burnt Ones and Creeping Pink, and other improvisational groups like Crazy Doberman, Open Sex, Eternal Husk. We’ve played hundreds of shows together across North America and Europe. We clicked from the get-go. To what Mark said, we like to play with processes because we have this history and connection and can dial it in.
Do you ever get post-album release sadness? Like, after working very hard on something, and then you’re done, and then you find yourself wondering what’s next.
Mark: I think I used to, but these days by the time one of my releases comes out, I’m usually pretty deep on the next one. I personally love discovering the common musical thread that ties everything I do together. So in that way, it’s always exciting to see where I gravitate to next.
Landon: To what Mark said, that thread between the albums always seems to truly reveal itself afterward. It’s this extra bit of self-discovery that probably hits especially hard creating work steeped in intuition and improvisation.
If you could suggest an ideal scenario for listening to “Homes” what would that be?
Mark: Anywhere you call home, in the morning right after the sun comes up, you’ve brushed your teeth and have some free time to burn.
Jennifer Delgadillo is Mirror Indy’s arts and culture editor. You can reach her at jennifer.delgadillo@mirrorindy.org.
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