Kou Records, which takes its name from the Chinese word for "mouth," is dedicated to artists have built their own musical languages.
They share an omnivorous appetite for influences and have synthesized them into a highly personal and idiosyncratic manner.
Across generations, Kou Records celebrates artists who share a persistent curiosity and vision which often eschews external forces and market demands.
Kou Records upholds artistic process, collaboration, and context as an integral aspect of music recording. Over a concentrated period of time, artists develop and record material in the studio with Randall Dunn, legendary producer, musician, and recording engineer. Performance and improvisation is integral to the process; the music has minimal post-editing and honors people in a room making things together in real time. The end result is a distinct and immediate sound of the label that feels untethered by era, yet urgent.
Each 12" vinyl also features a commissioned portrait of each artist by highly regarded underground comics artists and illustrators curated by the label. The portrait series is an important aspect of the label's commitment to handmade craft and the continued conversation between visual arts and music.
Founded by Charmaine Lee in 2024. Co-curated and recordings engineered and produced by Randall Dunn. Mastering by Circular Ruin and Dolby Atmos mixes by Ben Greenberg.
Charmaine Lee (b. 1991) is an artist and label founder who uses sound, language, and structure to forge new ways of connection—with one another and with the world around us. Born in Sydney to a family who migrated from Hong Kong, Lee brings a diasporic sensibility to everything she does—attuned to hybridity, translation, and the quiet complexities of belonging. She studied sociology at Princeton University, where she became interested in how people create meaning and connection across plurality—navigating overlapping identities, cultures, and systems.
Her musical path grew out of a deep love for improvised music and the experimental traditions of jazz—American art forms that offered both structure and freedom, and a way of practicing collective action in real time. At the New England Conservatory, she studied with guitarist and theorist Joe Morris, developing an approach to improvisation grounded in active listening, risk, and relational exchange. Since then, she has collaborated widely across genre and discipline—with artists including Conrad Tao, Ikue Mori, the Wet Ink Ensemble, JACK Quartet, and dance artists Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener—while also lecturing at institutions such as Harvard, Princeton, and The New School.
These values also inform her work in building creative infrastructure. Lee has supported cross-cultural exchange and artist development through roles at Rise (Schmidt Futures) and the Asian Cultural Council, helping to advance equity, access, and emerging talent on a global scale. Her belief in artist-led ecosystems led her to found Kou Records, a label devoted to artists who have built singular musical languages.
Across all these projects, Lee continues to build frameworks that support artistic risk, collective agency, and new ways of listening—together.
www.charmainelee.com
Equally at home producing records, composing scores, or directing sound for film, Randall Dunn moves fluidly between genres and mediums. Once hailed as “the underground metal superstar producer” for early work with Sunn O))), Earth, and Boris, Dunn is a critically acclaimed audio engineer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. Pitchfork has described him as “a go-to producer for metal but also for indie acts looking to add more edge and atmosphere.”
Dunn’s path began in 1990s Seattle during its fertile grunge era. There, he studied sound design for film and formed lasting collaborations with Skerik, Stuart Dempster, Matt Chamberlain, Wayne Horvitz, and Eyvind Kang. Under the mentorship of Nirvana producer Jack Endino and engineer Mell Dettmer, Dunn developed a stripped-down, performance-driven approach to recording, alongside a deep fluency in both analog and digital technologies. He went on to found Aleph Recording, a long-running studio and creative hub that served as home to many influential records over the years.
In 2017, Dunn established Circular Ruin, his second studio, in New York City. It has become the engine behind his film, television, and experimental work—including scores for Panos Cosmatos, Candyman (Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe), Benny Safdie’s The Curse (with Nathan Fielder) and The Smashing Machine, and projects with Guillermo Del Toro, Julio Torres, and Harmony Korine.
Dunn’s record productions include acclaimed albums by Marissa Nadler, Zola Jesus, Jim Jarmusch (SQÜRL), Algiers, Kali Malone, Annea Lockwood, Secret Chiefs 3, and Oneohtrix Point Never. Artists such as Björk, Danny Elfman, and Thurston Moore have sought him out for his ability to shape complex material with precision and emotional intensity.
Dunn’s 2018 solo debut Beloved was praised by NPR for its layered, immersive sonic landscape.
www.circularruin.com
