Rob Butler started Be With Records in London in 2014 with the re-issue of Leon Ware’s self-titled LP and has been making rare and expensive records accessible again ever since.
Over 200 releases later, and now thoroughly based in Manchester, the label keeps working to put out the best possible reproductions of classic, and should-be classic releases. The reward for all that effort is a reputation for great sounding records that even Discogs struggles to argue with!
From KPM to Kylie via Korallreven and Kimiko Kasai, the “baffling roster” (to quote Pitchfork) makes perfect sense to Rob and so far it seems to make sense to a few others too.
The catalogue has expanded beyond straight re-issues to now include first time vinyl versions of music previously only available digitally or on CD, and it’s only a matter of time before something happens with one of the many opportunities to release music, both new and old, that has never before seen the light of day.
But Be With has no plans to turn into a proper record label just yet and is content for now to keep scratching the surface of the practically infinite repository of music that deserves to be pressed on vinyl again.