Mort aux Vaches

Mort aux Vaches is the name of a limited-edition album series created through a collaboration between the independent Dutch record label Staalplaat and the Dutch public radio broadcaster VPRO. Rather than functioning as a conventional standalone record company, the name identifies a curatorial and release concept centered on live studio performances by individual artists. The recordings were made at VPRO studios and issued as albums under the Mort aux Vaches title. The series is associated with the experimental and exploratory side of Staalplaat's catalog. Its releases primarily represent electronic, ambient, and other forms of avant-garde music, while also extending into noise and metal. This breadth reflects the project's interest in documenting distinctive performances rather than adhering to a narrow commercial genre. The live-session format gives the series an archival role: each release preserves a particular artist's appearance in the VPRO studio while presenting it as a focused album-length document. Mort aux Vaches is also distinguished by its physical presentation. In keeping with Staalplaat's broader interest in unusual formats and artist-oriented production, releases in the series were packaged in unconventional materials and designs, including editions associated with sandpaper and copper. The packaging is part of the project's identity rather than a merely decorative addition, reinforcing its position within the experimental-record culture that Staalplaat developed from Amsterdam. The editions were generally limited to approximately 1,000 copies. This restricted scale, combined with the unusual packaging and the series' specialist musical repertoire, positioned Mort aux Vaches toward collectors, experimental-music audiences, and listeners interested in live documentation. Its connection to VPRO also linked the project to a broadcasting environment capable of presenting non-mainstream music and providing a studio setting for artists whose work might not fit ordinary popular-music release structures. The name is a French expression that literally translates as “death to cows.” In slang usage, “cows” can refer to police officers, giving the phrase a meaning broadly comparable to “death to pigs” in English. The provocative title fits the series' outsider and anti-conventional presentation, although the available reference material does not establish a separate political organization or independent corporate entity behind the name. Mort aux Vaches should therefore be understood primarily as a branded record-release series within the Staalplaat and VPRO ecosystem. The available material does not identify a separate headquarters, founder, legal company, website, current operating structure, or confirmed end date for the series. Its documented significance lies in the collaboration, the live-session recordings, the limited production runs, and the experimental physical and musical character of the releases.

Mort aux Vaches emerged as a release series associated with Staalplaat, an independent record label based in Amsterdam and founded in 1982 to provide a forum for sound artists and new experimental music. The series was developed in collaboration with VPRO, the Dutch radio broadcaster, and used VPRO studios as the setting for live recording sessions. Each installment focused on a particular artist and transformed a broadcast-studio performance into a physical album. This origin gave Mort aux Vaches a position between radio documentation and independent record publishing. VPRO supplied the studio and broadcasting context, while Staalplaat supplied the label framework, curation, and distinctive physical-release approach. The project therefore did not present itself as a conventional artist roster or mainstream label imprint; it functioned instead as a continuing series of artist-centered documents. The music represented in the series is principally electronic, ambient, and experimental. Its scope also includes more abrasive or genre-adjacent work, including noise and metal, indicating that the defining criterion was the artist's experimental character and the suitability of the live session rather than membership in one genre. The releases preserve performances made in the VPRO environment, giving each album an individual connection to a specific artist and recording occasion. Physical design became an important part of the series' identity. Mort aux Vaches editions followed Staalplaat's practice of treating packaging as an extension of the work, with releases described as using unusual materials such as sandpaper and copper. The series also generally used runs of about 1,000 copies, creating a limited-edition model suited to specialist audiences and collectors. The combination of live documentation, restricted availability, and unconventional packaging distinguished the series from ordinary recordings of studio albums. The title itself is a deliberately provocative French phrase. Although its literal translation is “death to cows,” “cows” is described in French slang as a reference to police, making the expression broadly equivalent to an anti-police slogan such as “death to pigs.” The name reinforces the project's underground and nonconformist aesthetic, but the available sources do not document a separate political program or a corporate entity operating independently under the name. The supplied reference material does not provide a definitive launch year, a complete release chronology, a list of participating artists, or a confirmed current status. It does establish Mort aux Vaches as a Staalplaat series made with VPRO, focused on live experimental recordings and limited, unusually packaged editions. Accordingly, its historical importance is best described within the development of Dutch experimental-record culture and the broader practice of using radio studios as spaces for documenting unconventional music.

• 1982

  Staalplaat is founded

  [1]Staalplaaten.wikipedia.org

  Staalplaat is established as an independent Dutch record label with a mission centered on sound artists and new experimental music, providing the institutional setting from which the Mort aux Vaches series later developed.

• Mort aux Vaches series is established

  [1]Staalplaaten.wikipedia.org

  Staalplaat and VPRO create a series of limited-edition albums documenting individual artists performing live in VPRO studios. The available source does not specify the first release year.

• The series develops a distinctive physical-release format

  [1]Staalplaaten.wikipedia.org

  Mort aux Vaches editions become associated with unusual packaging materials, including sandpaper and copper, and with production runs of approximately 1,000 copies.

A collector-oriented experimental music series combining Staalplaat's independent record-label practice with VPRO studio performances and distinctive limited-edition packaging.

• Limited-edition experimental music recordings

  Mort aux Vaches live-session albums

  The core offering is a series of albums, each centered on a particular artist's live session recorded at VPRO studios. The repertoire is weighted toward experimental electronic, ambient, and other avant-garde forms, while some installments represent noise and metal. These are not described as conventional studio albums; their identity comes from documenting a specific performance within the VPRO broadcasting environment. The releases are generally limited to around 1,000 copies and are notable for packaging that may incorporate unconventional materials such as sandpaper or copper.

1. 1Staalplaaten.wikipedia.org