It’s OK if an album doesn’t recoup its costs for 20 years, Bill Kellum says while sitting in his Albemarle County home office, surrounded by hundreds of LPs and CDs.
Kellum’s VHF Records has been releasing albums since the early 1990s, issuing work across shoegaze, electronic experimentation, stringband and improvised musics. Some of the groups he’s worked with have been based in Europe or Asia, but a fair amount of the VHF catalog’s been drawn from Virginia talent.
Kellum began performing in his own bands while studying at James Madison University, merging avant-rock and burbling electronics. The guitarist eventually settled in Northern Virginia and connected with the D.C.-area rock scene that at the time included Teenbeat Records acts like Unrest. He caught live shows at d.c. space and the 9:30 Club, but also traversed the Commonwealth playing and seeing live music, including a few notable Charlottesville bills…