Welcome to Chiku~Taku Records

A little about Chiku~Taku Records

In the UK we say Tick-Tock as the onomatopoeic term for the sound of an analogue clock. In Japan this is heard as Chiku~Taku.

Chiku~Taku  is also the name of a new recording label started by Ace Records’ Roger Armstrong. Ace is one of Europe’s leading catalogue companies but started as a recording company in the mid 70s, working in Pop, Rock and Roll and Punk Rock music. Roger produced many of the early records, then on the Chiswick label, culminating in The Damned’s classic Pop/Punk Rock LP ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’. The post New Romantic backlash of the London Garage bands was fertile ground for Ace’s Big Beat label and Roger produced occasionally into the 80s as Ace concentrated more on catalogue.

Later Roger and Ben Mandelson developed GlobeStyle Records recording World Music, both in Europe and in the field in Madagascar, Mozambique and Zanzibar. And it is to Zanzibar that Roger has returned for the first release on Chiku~Taku.

In some ways starting a new label after 33 years of helping to build Ace Records, seems like an act of madness and it may well be. However as Roger says…

“Though Ace is very rewarding and has allowed me to work with many different styles of music, I really miss recording new music. So the idea of Chiku~Taku came to me, as an occasional venture that would allow me to be involved again in the recording process. As I withdraw from the front line at Ace and hopefully have more time on my hands, what better thing to do that to start all over again.”

The name for the label leapt off the pages of David Peace’s exceptional novel ‘Tokyo Year Zero’ set in immediate post war Tokyo. Harrowing times, and the overstretched Inspector Minami, investigating a series of murders of young girls, constantly refers to his watch, chiku-taku, chiku-taku…

The words sound so great and as we get older the passage of time becomes more urgent, so it seemed to fit. Chiku~Taku - an occasional label for passing time to.

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