Crammed Discs


Crammed Discs is an independent record label whose output blends avant-rock, experimental music, pop, global music, and electronica. Based in Brussels, Belgium, Crammed was founded in 1980 by Marc Hollander of Aksak Maboul and has since released over 400 albums and 300 singles, working with artists from all over the world.
Crammed Discs is run by Marc Hollander with Hanna Gorjaczkowska and Vincent Kenis.
Crammed has been described as "one of the most boldly eclectic independent labels around", as "innovative and groundbreaking" and "visionary", a.o. for steadily avoiding to confine its roster "to one, potentially homogeneous category" and encouraging artists with plural identities to create new forms of music.
Marc Hollander and Crammed Discs received the WOMEX award in 2004 at the World Music Expo international music trade fair, for being "one of the seminal players on the world music field". However, the label has always systematically worked with electronic music, indie pop and rock artists, and "doesn't see itself as a world music label: it just happens to enjoy working with artists from around the world, some of whom sing in languages other than English".
In 2011, Crammed Discs celebrated its 30th anniversary by setting up the Congotronics vs Rockers project, a "superband" including ten Congolese and ten indie rock musicians, who collaborated to create a common repertoire and performed at 15 major festivals and venues in ten countries.
For the last couple of decades, the label has been working with a series of transnational artists, whose post-genre aesthetics coincides with the directions pursued by Crammed since its inception. From 2008 to 2015, the following artists have joined the Crammed Discs roster: Chicago band Allá, indie pop act Lonely Drifter Karen, London-based Moroccan electronic artist U-cef, Congolese band Staff Benda Bilili, musician/composer/producer Mocky, Belgian band Hoquets, Belgo-Congolese rapper Baloji, Belgian-Colombian band La Chiva Gantiva, French-American artist Maïa Vidal, US bands Skeletons & Megafaun, South African/Dutch band SKIP&DIE, Belgian band Amatorski, Lebanese singer Yasmine Hamdan, Argentinian artist Juana Molina and Ghanaian/Swiss band OY.
The label's signings since 2016 are Parisian electronic music collective Acid Arab, Portuguese singer & musician Lula Pena, young French-Welsh band Fauna Twin, French experimental pop band Aquaserge, Matias Aguayo & The Desdemonas, the new rock band founded by the German-Chilean electronic music producer, Berlin-based Spanish experimental musician Don The Tiger, French-Chilean band Nova Materia, Lagos/London project Ekiti Sound, Ugandan/British band Nihiloxica, Californian musician Scott Gilmore, producer Pascal Gabriel and his new Stubbleman project, German/Peruvian electronic music duo Los Pulpitos, and Palestinian techno duo Zenobia.
WWW crammed.be

Sub-labels

Because of the diversity of the label's output since its early days in the 1980s, its founders chose to create several sub-labels. This policy was discarded during the latter part of the 1990s, because Crammed felt that genre-blending had finally become acceptable.
Crammed also had several specialized and one-artist sub-labels:
Currently the only subsiding Crammed Discs imprints are Congotronics and Made To Measure. Congotrononics is not a sub-label per se, but a collection of releases by Congolese bands who play their own respective styles of electrified traditional music. The series is curated and produced by Vincent Kenis.
As for the Made To Measure composers' series, it is being discreetly revived since 2013, as 6 new volumes have recently come out.
A new imprint was launched in 2025: CrammedLab, devoted to emerging acts, experimental projects, as well as archival releases. True to its parent company’s ethos, CrammedLab will be exploring various musical directions. CrammedLab is managed by Marc Hollander and Sofia Rasquin.

Discography (albums)

1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
  • Bel Canto: Shimmering Warm and Bright
  • David Cunningham: Water
  • Various Artists: Roots Of Rumba Rock 1
  • The Gruesome Twosome : Candy For Strangers
  • Les Snuls: Les Snuls, bien entendu
1993
  • Sainkho : Out of Tuva
  • Bobvan: Water Dragon
  • Various Artists: Roots Of OK Jazz
  • Brion Gysin: Self-Portrait Jumping
  • Tuxedomoon: Solve et Coagula
  • Benjamin Lew: Le Parfum du Raki
  • Lone Kent: Granite & Sand
  • Avalon: Earth Water Air Fire
1994
  • Ramuntcho Matta: 2 l'Amour
  • Various Artists: Freezone 1: The Phenomenology Of Ambient
  • Zap Mama: Sabsylma
  • Dominique Dalcan: Cannibale
  • Taraf de Haïdouks: Honourable Brigands, Magic Horses & Evil Eye
  • Solar Quest: Orgship
  • Various Artists: Around The Day in 80 Worlds, compiled by DJ Morpheus a.k.a. Samy Birnbach
  • Purna Das Baul & Bauls Of Bengal
  • Various Artists: Jungle Vibes
  • Various Artists: Renegade Selector
1995
  • 4hero Parallel Universe
  • John Lurie National Orchestra: Men With Sticks
  • Harold Budd & Hector Zazou: Glyph
  • Various Artists: Freezone 2: Variations On A Chill, compiled by DJ Morpheus a.k.a. Samy Birnbach
  • Various Artists: Miscellaneous
  • Various Artists: Jungle Vibes 2
  • Various Artists: Roots Of Rumba Rock 2
  • Bio Muse: Wrong
  • Zelwer: Les dieux sont fâchés/The Gods Are Angry
  • Aural Expansion: Surreal Sheep
1996
  • Tek 9: It's Not What You Think It Is !!?!
  • Snooze: The Man In The Shadow
  • Various Artists: Freezone 3: Horizontal Dancing, 23 exclusives by Herbert, Kruder&Dorfmeister, Carl Craig...
  • Various Artists: Miscellaneous, The 2nd Edition
  • Endemic Void Equations
  • Hugo: La Formule
  • Aural Expansion: Remixed Sheep
  • Various Artists: Moving House, compiled by DJ Geoffroy a.k.a. Mugwump
  • Various Artists: Junglized
  • Various Artists: The Deepest Shade Of Techno, compiled by 4hero
  • Ziryab Trio: Mashreq Classics
1997
  • Carl Craig More Songs About Food And Revolutionary Art
  • Barbara Gogan with Hector Zazou: Made On Earth
  • Various Artists: Freezone 4: Dangerous Lullabies, 22 exclusives by Basement Jaxx, Rhythm And Sound, Thievery Corporation...
  • Juryman vs Spacer: Mail-Order Justice
  • Tuxedomoon: The Ghost Sonata
  • Kočani Orkestar: L'Orient est rouge
  • Elixir: Alien Rainbow
  • Meira Asher: Dissected
  • Qmoog: The Arc Of Blueness
  • Subject 13: The Black Steele Project
  • Tao: Esoteric Red
  • Various Artists: Moving House 2, compiled by DJ Geoffroy a.k.a. Mugwump
  • Various Artists: Lysergic Factory, compiled by DJ Morpheus
1998
  • Taraf de Haïdouks: Dumbala Dumba
  • Buckfunk 3000: First Class Ticket To Telos
  • Auto Repeat: The Unbearable Lightness Of Auto-Repeating
  • Circadian Rhythms: Internal Clock
  • Various Artists: Freezone 5: The Radio Is Teaching My Goldfish Ju-Jitsu, 21 exclusives by Shawn J.Period, Jigmastas, Joe Claussell...
  • Bossacucanova: Revisited Classics
  • Telex: I Don't Like Music, a collection of remixes
  • Various Artists: Moving House 3, compiled by DJ Geoffroy a.k.a. Mugwump
  • Various Artists: If U Can Beat 'Em, Break 'Em, compiled by DJ Morpheus
  • Various Artists: Phax'n'Phixion, The Nu Hip Hop Underground, compiled by DJ Morpheus
  • Various Artists: Junglized 2
  • Various Artists: The Family Album, exclusive tracks by artists on the Language label
  • Kevin Saunderson: Faces & Phases
1999
  • Telex: I Don't Like Music 2, a collection of remixes
  • Meira Asher: Spears Into Hooks
  • Various Artists: Freezone 6: Fourth Person Singular, 22 exclusives by Alex Gopher, Stacey Pullen, Mark Pritchard...
  • Zuco 103: Outro Lado
  • Phosphorus: Pillar Of Salt
  • Various Artists: Brasil 2mil - The Soul Of Bass-O-Nova
  • Suba : São Paulo Confessions
  • Niko Marks & Eddie Fowlkes: City Boy Players
  • Various Artists: Moving House At Food Club
  • Various Artists: Tags Of The Times 2.0
  • Various Artists: The Beyond Real Experience, produced and compiled by DJ Spinna
  • Various Artists: Electric Kingdom - New Skool Breaks & Electro
  • Various Artists If It's Not 100% U.K. Hip Hop You Can Have Your Money Back, compiled by Tony Thorpe & Dave Watts
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
  • Tartit Abacabok
  • Think Of One: Trafico
  • Cibelle:The Shine Of Dried Electric Leaves
  • Electric Gypsyland 2
  • Tuxedomoon: Bardo Hotel Soundtrack
  • Hugo: La Nuit des Balançoires
  • Wise In Time: The Ballad of Den The Men
  • Various Artists: Roots Of Rumba Rock 1+2
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
  • Aksak Maboul: Un peu de l'âme des bandits
  • Aquaserge: Déjà-vous?
  • Lio: Lio canta Caymmi
  • Yasmine Hamdan: Jamilat Reprise
  • Nova Materia: It Comes
  • Don The Tiger: Matanzas
2019
2020
  • Doctor Fluorescent: Doctor Fluorescent
  • Aksak Maboul: Figures
  • Zenobia: Halak, Halak
  • Nihiloxica: Kaloli
  • Ekiti Sound: Abeg No Vex Remixes vol.1
  • Stubbleman: The Blackbird Tapes
  • Nova Materia: Live At Home
2021
2023
  • Acid Arab: Trois
  • Aksak Maboul: Une aventure de VV
  • Ensemble 0: Jojoni
  • Ekiti Sound: Drum Money
  • Nihiloxica: Source of Denial
2024
  • Amatorski: Curves and Bends, Things Veer
  • Aquaserge: Le fin de l'économie
2025
Crammed Samplers
  • It's A Crammed, Crammed World 1
  • It's A Crammed, Crammed World 2
  • The World According To Crammed
  • Crammed Global Soundclash 80-89
  • 20 Ways To Float Through Walls, a selection of tracks released between 2001 & 2007
  • It's A Crammed, Crammed World 3, tracks from 2008/2009
  • Crammed Walks With The Animals, tracks with titles containing animal names
  • Crammed Goes To The Movies'', tracks from or inspired by films

Awards and nominations

Awards
Nominations

Crammed Discs artists (past and present)