Each month, we are focusing on a record label founded by an active digger. We are stopping with Cyril Yeterian (right) (from Bongo Joe, a record shop in Geneva), the man who created Moi J’connais Records in 2009 with Robin Girod (left). Together they founded the band Mama Rosin, and they are releasing new records and rare reissues, inspired by Mississippi Records.

When did you start digging records?
We started when we were still teenagers.

What Lps did you buy at first ? Do you still listen to them ?
The first LPs I bought were underground UK dub like Aba Shanti-I or Earthquake. I went to London when I was 17 to buy those records directly from the producers. This stuff was not really distributed. I don’t listen to this music anymore and offered my collection to young reggae/dub lovers since.

Do you have a particular style or favorite period?
We always consider that 78s sounds better than anything else. I wish Lps could sound like 78s.. We have listened to a lot of early recordings in all areas of world music. We are big fans of Folkways Records and people like Alan Lomax. Of course, we also like the 60s and 70s when musicians from all around the world discovered rock’n’roll, funk & soul and did their own stuff under those new influences.

What was the first record you put out?
We are musicians first. We decided to start our own label to release our own music with our band Mama Rosin. The first release was on 7inch, printed and glued with our own hands. The second release was a compilation of obscure & hypnotic old cajun & zydeco songs.

Why Moi J’connais records? A bit of irony? Humor?
We really are into creole languages. The way it’s spoken. Simple and direct. Simple words to express deep feelings. Moi J’Connais comes from that. An old creole cajun french expression that says: you can’t trick me, « me I know » : this is what it’s all about. We like this way of dealing with life.

What is the editorial/esthetic line?
Just our all time favorites. No limits of time or style. We like reissuing albums. But we really like adding our personal touch to them by doing silk-screen printed covers or adding an extra song or releasing the best of an artist. Thinking deeply about a track list is really important for us. Especially today (as opposed to listening randomly to never ending mp3 lists). An album tells a story. And a track list is something really important.

How do you decide on the choice of reissues?
It depends on how focused we are on the artist and its music, how much work it’s going to require, if another label is interested in a co-production, if the reissue corresponds to the mood we’re in, etc… a lot of « if ».

What could be your leitmotif for the label?
Very special and unique artists in their own style. Silkscreen hand-printed covers.

Is it easier to run a record label when you have your own record shop?
It can be logical to start a label after years of dealing with records. You discover a lot of records and rarities while running a record store. We have done the opposite. We started the label first, feeling the urge of spreading out the music that we deemed necessary. With the record store, we are now dealing with a lot more Moi J’Connais fans, after years spent in a cellar packing tons of records for distributors of all countries and rarely seeing people that buy our releases. We like it.

Have you receive many negative answers on some of the LPs you were trying to reissue?
Yes, more and more actually, with a growing number of people starting labels, but variety is good. We really enjoy collaborating on projects. I like to see several labels sharing effort to release something.

There are more and more reissues of old LPs. Do you think that the LP reissue market could ever reach saturation point?
I often talk to record store owners who are not happy with today’s reissues supply : so many bands and so many reissues. Distributor newsletters are longer and longer every time. Yes we are reaching saturation point. Do we need a record store day and tons of very special and very limited and very unnecessary records? Hard to know how to deal with this. I trust the better labels work maybe.

What are your next releases?
We have been working on 2 releases that are very important to us for a few years now. One is the Spacelines compilation vol.2 made by Peter Kember a.k.a Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3. We are also planning to reissue vol.1, with unknown music from the Reunion Island. Alain Peters is one of the true heroes of that music and most of his best works have never been released on vinyl. Indian Ocean islands have produced fantastic music that few people know. We are going to try and have it discovered by vinyl lovers.

What is the LP you dream of reissuing?
I would love to do a best of Los Zafiros, a fantastic and unique cuban doo-wop band from the 60s.

http://www.moijconnais.com/