The Formative Years

X-Mist Records

X-Mist Records has been around ever since Germany saw its own hardcore scene evolve in the mid-80es. What started as a cassette label, eventually grew to a veritable record label that was significantly involved in creating the foundation for bands like Spermbirds to blossom and bloom and thereby shaping the beginnings of the German and European hardcore scene.

Over the years, X-Mist has not merely remained relevant as a label by pushing the boundaries via releasing the emissions of new bands and genres off the beaten track  paired with an unrivalled instinct for detecting bands whose ethics were imbued with the DNA of DIY punk rock spirit, independently from stylistic confines or classifications.

There was a time in the early nineties when I spent a significant amount of my earnings on a monthly basis on ordering records from X-Mist and more often than not, Ute and Armin included additional items they thought I would like without me ever feeling the need to return them.  

X-Mist Records was a reliable authority and an arbiter of good taste when underground music started to gain traction in mainstream media in the mid-90es as they kept focusing on innovative subgenres with the respective bands carving out their own niche to express themselves without falling prey to the tropes that had become commercialized.

Few entities have coined me in the nineties like X-Mist Records’ approach to music and art at large, with the notion of the only constant thing being change having always been at the very core of their operations along with an actively cultivated disdain for repetition.