‘Cosmic Balearic’ Label Be With Records Celebrates 10 Years with Joyride (the record) and Labour Of Love (the book)

For the past decade, Manchester, England-based reissue label Be With Records has been resurrecting classic 1970s smoothness in all its forms, inspired by what owner Rob Butler describes as his “cosmic Balearic” aesthetic. Butler’s a longtime DJ and collector with a resume that includes residencies at legendary London clubs Spiritland, Brilliant Corners, and the Heavenly Social. He’s also a resident at the Manchester hi-fi bar and listening room Ōdiobā.

We wrote about Rob last year when he joined us for a listening session, noting that he “has managed the Herculean task of running the label completely by himself, which has allowed the label to retain a unique soul that’s fully representative of the eclectic tastes of its founder. South African jazz, library music, balearic downtempo, west coast soul, electronic Brit-funk – nothing seems to be off the table for Rob and his insatiable taste/love of music keeps the label going strong into its 10th year.”

He added:

In terms of wanting to start a label – that’s just one of those things that I’ve had in my head since the late 90s and being obsessed with the output of Stones Throw and Rawkus at the time. I started working in earnest on the ideas around a reissue label in the background of my day job in 2012. My job was in arts & culture marketing – the ‘marketing’ side of which I really didn’t like, the subject matter and long lunches I did like – and I’d been working there for a couple of years. However, I wasn’t happy and I knew I needed a career change. Yet, this time, I wanted to do something I was genuinely passionate about.

Be With catalog includes essential records like Ned Doheny’s Hard Candy, Wally Badarou’s Colors of Silence, Bobby Caldwell’s Bobby Caldwell, and Willie Hutch’s Foxy Brown soundtrack; it’s also released new stuff by artists including Wilco offshoot the Autumn Defense.

This year has been a remarkable one for the label, with a dozen or so full-length album and 12-inch reissues either in the racks or on the way. They include trumpeter Al Hirt’s 1967 soul jazz freakout Soul in the Horn, British library music composer Alan Tew’s Drama Suite I and Drama Suite II, and the classic 90s hip hop record Kollage by Bahamadia. Earlier this year, they repressed the great house producer Maurice Fulton’s sought-after remix of Rhye’s “The Fall.”

Be With has recently announced a covetable new LP and book package to celebrate the label’s decade in business. The LP is a compilation called Joyride, and the book is called Labour Of Love. We’re currently taking preorders on it at our web shop. Details, via Be With.

Joyride showcases 10 exclusive never-before-on-vinyl tracks from 10 Be With family members: Thomas Almqvist, Lewis Taylor, Mic Murphy, 52nd Street, Coastlines, Maston, Kenny Dickenson, The Autumn Defense, Stimulator Jones and Andre Cymone.

Labour Of Love contains exclusive interviews with Ned Doheny, Leon Ware, Lewis Taylor, Tommy Guerrero, Wally Badarou, Steve Moore, Pete Fowler, Kimiko Kasai, 52nd Street, The Autumn Defense, Coastlines and The Mighty Soulmates.

We also have Gilles Peterson on Ned, Trevor Jackson on Nucleus, Efficient Space on Steve Hiett, Bill Brewster on Marti Caine, Balearic Mike on Kylie and Lou Hayter on Air.

Per the release page, the book is “310mm square softcover … printed on a 350gsm woodfree uncoated board. Book block printed on 120gsm Dadong Lucky Bird woodfree uncoated paper. 140gram vinyl with a 380gsm jacket. 1000 copies only for the world, no repress!”

Preorder Joyride/Labour Of Love here.

In late October, Be With will be coming out with Steve Leach’s Ocean Potion, which it describes as a “Balearic beach-funk beast … recorded with the Crystal Grass Orchestra” and “a Ned Doheny-adjacent funky AOR / blue-eyed soul BBQ classic from 1976.”

Below, a shot of Manchester hi-fi bar Ōdiobā.