Mute is one of the most revered and influential indie labels of all
time. Through the music of its tight-knit community of artists--ranging
from Cabaret Voltaire, Nick Cave's The Birthday Party and Moby to
Depeche Mode, Erasure, and Goldfrapp--it has had an incalculable impact
on popular music for forty years.
Daniel Miller created Mute to release his debut single ("Warm
Leatherette"/ "T.V.O.D."), a pioneering electronic sound with a
defiantly DIY punk attitude. Mute quickly established a reputation for
cultivating the experimental, releasing cutting-edge industrial sounds,
and chart-topping electronic music by the likes of Depeche Mode and
Yazoo. The label was equally at home with the savage punk of Nick Cave's
The Birthday Party and--to critical acclaim--his next outfit, The Bad
Seeds. It also proved to be an Internet pioneer, launching the online
site Mute Liberation Technologies in 1994.
Mute features stunning artwork and photography--much of it previously
unseen--and revelatory behind-the-scenes insights from the vibrant cast
who have worked with the label.