Ask us to name our favorite record label and our reply will be, “Get back to us in a week … actually, make that two.” The music biz may be in disarray, but it’s practically undeniable that more ambitious, young entrepreneurs with great taste in tunes are running indie labels big and small more than ever before.
With that said, Mumbai, India-based Transcending Obscurity ranks high on our list of the best labels on the planet. The proof is in the publishing: We’ve run two features on the extreme-metal label and its founder, Kunal Choks: one about the animal shelter he operates for strays and another detailing Choks’ innovative strategy for maneuvering around Trump’s moronic tariffs.
In light of our affection for Choks and Transcending Obscurity, we wanted to spread the word about yet another good deed they’ve done: making most of the label’s digital releases available for free throughout the month of November. Here’s the statement that Choks issued in a newsletter yesterday explaining his decision:
“We’ve made our digital albums on Bandcamp to pay-what-you-want,” he said. “The year has remained stubbornly difficult (so far anyway) and this should ease things up a tad. You can enter 0 to download some obscure music for free, or you can pay whatever you feel like. As you all know by now, we’ve turned our house into a personal, Transcending Obscurity-funded animal sanctuary, feeding over 40 cats and dogs daily and this will help support that commitment.”
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