Editions Mego Explained

Founded:1994 as Mego
Url:https://mego.at/

Editions Mego is an experimental electronic music independent record label founded in 1994 as Mego in Vienna, Austria. The label was renamed in 2006 as a new company, set up both to keep the Mego albums in print and to issue new albums,[1] and was run by Peter Rehberg a.k.a. Pita. The label has released over 400 records in 30 years of activity.[2]

Musical style

The Mego label (and its second iteration, Editions Mego) has stood out for its unpredictability, as it has not been tied to any particular musical style. It has released music by artists as diverse as Fennesz, Russell Haswell, Oneohtrix Point Never, Bill Orcutt, and the band Emeralds,[3] [4] in styles ranging "from electroacoustic music to metal, synthwave, drone, and ambient".[5]

Among the albums that had a strong impact and launched the careers of musicians, journalist Tristan Bath mentions Endless Summer by Fennesz, Returnal by Oneohtrix Point Never, and Ecstatic Computation by Caterina Barbieri.

Impact and critical acclaim

Mego's efforts were awarded a distinction at the Ars Electronica 1999. In the jury's statement, Jim O'Rourke lauded the label's work as defining "a brand new punk computer music".[6]

History

1994–2005: First phase as Mego

The Mego label was founded in 1994 by Ramon Bauer, Andreas Pieper, and Peter Meininger in Vienna. The label's name allegedly refers to the expression “My Eyes Glaze Over” coined by American futurologist and geostrategist Herman Kahn,[7] or to a “hacker expression to indicate that you've spent too much time in front of the screen”. Mego's founders were joined in 1995 by Englishman Peter Rehberg.

In 2005, after 10 years and 75 releases, Mego faced financial difficulties, and Bauer and Pieper decided to shut down the label.[8]

2006: Launch of Editions Mego

In 2006, Peter Rehberg founded Editions Mego to continue Mego's exploratory work and keep the Mego back catalogue available.

In 2010, two releases by American artists, Does It Look Like I'm Here? by Emeralds and Returnal by Oneohtrix Point Never, marked a new direction for the "Mego" sound, less noisy and heavily influenced by analog synthesizers.[9] Both albums featured in Bleep website's top 10 albums of 2010.[10]

Among the iconic albums released during Rehberg's final years of activity at Editions Mego, journalist Philip Sherburne cites Hubris (2016) by Oren Ambarchi, Ecstatic Computation (2019) by Caterina Barbieri, and Peel (2020) by Kenyan musician KMRU.

Mego releases

Selected Editions Mego releases

See also

Notes and References

  1. https://www.residentadvisor.net/record-label.aspx?id=964 Mego
  2. Web site: Sherburne . Philip . 2021-07-26 . 9 Records That Capture the Spirit of Editions Mego, the Experimental Label Founded by the Late Peter Rehberg . 2025-09-10 . Pitchfork . en-US.
  3. News: Genzlinger . Neil . 2021-08-19 . Peter Rehberg, a Force in Underground Music, Dies at 53 (Published 2021) . 2025-09-10 . . en.
  4. News: Beaumont-Thomas . Ben . 2021-07-23 . Peter Rehberg, underground musician and Editions Mego head, dies aged 53 . 2025-09-10 . . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  5. Web site: Bouaici . Smaël . 2024-06-14 . Au festival ManiFeste, un hommage à Peter Rehberg, figure de l’avant-garde électro . 2025-09-10 . www.telerama.fr . fr.
  6. "Rather than splitting the prize between the two Mego entries: Christian Fennesz's Hotel Parall.lel and Pita's Seven Tons for Free Remaster Version 1.2, the Jury [decided] that the Distinction should be awarded to the Mego label as a whole."
  7. Web site: Editions Mego V . 2025-09-10 . . en.
  8. Web site: Editions Mego’s Peter Rehberg on His Leading Experimental Electronic Label . 2025-09-10 . Red Bull Music Academy Daily . en.
  9. Web site: 2015-10-15 . Reminiscent of Club Music: 20 Years of Editions Mego - BR . 2025-09-10 . BOILER ROOM.
  10. Web site: Bleep . Label Spotlight: Editions Mego . 2025-09-10 . Bleep.

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