As Moshi Moshi turns 20, Label Manager Rachel McWhinney lets us in on how they’re celebrating (there’s vinyl involved!), and shares her advice for getting into the music industry…
When did you get into record collecting?
Embarrassingly quite late! Not until my last year of university when I discovered some brilliant charity shop finds in Cardiff. When I moved back to London I got my first record player and the rest is history.What’s your most cherished record?
Guilty pleasure alert and not very cool, but a really battered copy of Paul Simon’s Graceland which I played every weekend for about 2 years.What do you love most about running a record label?
Being part of such a small team at Moshi Moshi means that I get the chance to be involved in lots of different aspects of a record campaign – production, helping the artist realise their artistic vision for their LP (and the feeling of relief when the finished product turns up and it looks and feels amazing!), marketing, promotion and just having the chance to be in direct contact with all the bands we work with. They’re a nice bunch.What are your tips for getting into the music industry?
Work really hard and always be nice to everyone you meet.How is Moshi Moshi celebrating women in music?
We have lots of great women on our roster at the moment – Beth Jeans Houghton who has just released her third album as Du Blonde and is a beacon of creativity; Anna Meredith who is paving the way for female composers and producers and who’s output is simply staggering in breadth, quantity and quality!; and Girl Ray – a 3-piece girl band who released one of my favourite albums of 2017. I’m very excited to be working on their new record coming out this year – it’s going to be Moshi Moshi’s big pop hit.Tell us more about the label’s 20th birthday release…
It took us a long time to whittle 20 years into 31 tracks but Stephen has done a sterling job of it. Who can resist a triple red vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with artwork by the wonderful Babak Ganjei?Which female musicians are you loving most right now?
I am a big fan of Aldous Harding, Kelly Lee Owens, Peggy Gou, Stealing Sheep and that Planningtorock song ‘Beulah Loves Dancing’ won’t leave my head.
Twenty Years of Moshi Moshi is out now.
