Freedom From is a Minneapolis, Minnesota based record label which primarily focuses on the international noise/weird/rock underground genre.
The label was founded in 1996 with its first official release by a San Francisco three-piece named Job.
Up until early 1998, the labels focus was singularly cassettes, with the most well-known being the infamous Thurston Moore/Beck/Tom Surgal cassette. During the course of its primary existence, FF often released either the first or first widely available release by many bands, including Hair Police, Sightings, No Doctors, Milovan Srdenovic, Noxagt, Violent Ramp, Reynols and many more.
The label went on somewhat of a hiatus after 2006, though still pooping out an occasional cassette or cd during the downtime. However, 2012 will see the return of the label in a revamped format, releasing only cassettes/lathes/vinyl in very limited numbers. The label is maintained to this day by founder and CEO Matthew St. Germain.
Freedom From is best known for its eschewing of conventional record business tactics in favor of an absolute aestheticizing of experience. While this sometimes meant massive headaches for customers, the hiatus gave the label time to collect itself and figure out a business model which would allow a more seamless customer experience. Freedom From's catalog includes a wildly diverse sampling of the fringes of artistic and sonic exploration.