Founder Garrett Yim Official website zoom-lens.org | Status Active Founded 2009 | |
Genre electronic, Dream pop, j-pop, shoegaze, ambient, noise Location Los Angeles, California | ||
Zoom Lens is an independent Los Angeles-based record label founded and operated by Gary Yim since 2009. The label was created "in order to explore the implications of popular culture on the human condition and the duality of musical creations discovered across the digital landscape."
Contents
Founding
In 2009, Zoom Lens was founded by Yim, who was at the time "fascinated with Japanese harsh noise and film" and sought out to release his own music due to the influence of the Orange County experimental music scene.
Eventually Yim released the first album on Zoom Lens, a Yuko Imada album entitled "Ome," which came packaged as a CD-R contained in a DVD case soaked in Yim's own blood.
In January 2015, Zoom Lens had its first video broadcast on national television through Adult Swim with Meishi Smile and their video "AJS."
On March 15, 2016, Zoom Lens had its first official SXSW showcase.
Sound
Zoom Lens' sound has been categorized as "unpredictable", exploring sounds ranging from ambient music, noise music, chiptune, electropop, shoegaze and other forms of experimental music. The sound of Zoom Lens has been described as "broadening definitions of punk," as well as "dreamy indie with 8-bit and rave euphoria."
Aesthetics & Main Imagery
The Fader has noted Zoom Lens as "one of the most aesthetically compelling labels in existence.".
Many of Zoom Lens' images have revolved around the concept of burnt photography. This practice was first put to use for an EP by Party Girl released in 2011. The imagery has said to be providing feelings about the disconnection towards memories, a commentary on "silver age" Japanese idol music (or Kayōkyoku) and the over-saturation of the digital music market. This theme has also been explored in Zoom Lens merchandise.
In 2014, a shirt based on a manipulated image of Yukiko Okada was released on Zoom Lens' official site, with a banner reading "burn a face of forgotten idols to obfuscate the memories of the truth you lost." In a Red Bull Music Academy interview, Yim noted that he had felt a sadness in Okada's music and story, and "wanted to show people that Okada was a real person with real feelings, and that we all have such humanity."
Music critic Adam Harper has noted some of the imagery as "a conscious attempt at confronting and defamiliarising the visual objectification of women (and its consequences)."
East-Asian & Global Influences
The label has been referenced as one of "the best places for Japanese-inspired indie pop in the online underground," and has hosted a variety of online shows with Japanese venue 2.5D.
Red Bull Music Academy has also noted Zoom Lens' international roster, which "encompasses artists from Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and the US." and "[spans] cultural and continental canyons through our digital world."
While Yim has identified Zoom Lens as something far more encompassing beyond his own personal views he has noted much of the label was established due to the influence of being a fourth generation Japanese (or Yonsei (Japanese diaspora)) and Chinese American, expressing that his identity felt rather unusual, lonely and that Japanese culture in America is still seen as taboo.
The label has ultimately sought out for the artists to "represent themselves for who they are, not just for the assumptions people make about their country." Despite heavy East Asian influence, Yim has said that the label is also about being unashamed of who you are and sharing the weight of existence.