Valentine Sound Productions

Malaysian label that licensed extreme metal on cassette, unique in that they included full art and band photos. VSP history from a Malaysian blog translated via Google:

"Early History of Joe Siva

Joe Siva, a pioneer in the Malaysian independent music scene, record producer and deejay, ed away on April 26, 2016 after a brief battle with lung cancer. She is 61 years old.

Throughout his career, Siva has worked to create and create a solid track for local hip hop, club and remix culture in local popular music.

Siva, known for his style of wearing a baseball cap, began his deejay career in Kuala Lumpur in 1976.

In 1989 He founded the Valentine Sound productions label, Joe Siva helped expand the list of hip hop and dance label labels. In the 1990s, he continued to feature, sign and issue independent licenses for early local underground bands, especially early recordings by Cromok, Slumscums, Sil Khannaz, Carburetor Dung, Xtroverts, Suffercation, Lost Souls, Subculture, Ftg, Senseless ... and many more.

In his early days, he played Mizi disco and showcased organized clubs around the country, before finally taking on the challenge of making records in the late 1980s. The Seremban -born entertainment maverick is still known for his work as label boss, producer and later artist & reporting (A&R) manager at Kuala Lumpur independent music label Valentine Sound Productions (VSP).

In 1989, Siva began his production career with deejay / rap -based group Krash Kozz, one of the pioneers of the local hip hop scene.

As a major figure in early local hip hop, Siva also introduced the concept of homegrown deejays who produced their own musical mix.

Two locally produced dance / hip hop mixes - Pump It! (1990), with Krash Kozz, and Rap It! (1991), with DJ Black Stallion, - set the tone for the initial production of Siva's "radio dance party album" on VSP.

Siva produced two more Krash Kozz releases - an EP based on self -dance in 1992 and Jack’s New album The Streetbeat (1993).

Featuring homegrown talent and helping various charity campaigns is also part of Siva’s music -making mission. In 1991, he was responsible for organizing Save The World, featuring 16 local representatives, to benefit the Malaysian Society of Nature Lovers.

At VSP, Siva also helps expand the list of label labels. In the 1990s, he boldly, signed and issued independent licenses, mainly for early recordings of local bands such as Cromok, Slumscums, Sil Khannaz, Carburetor Dung, ion, FTG, Xtroverts, Suffercation and Lost Souls.

"As an A&R label, he's not afraid to sign bands that go against the flow.

Joe doesn't discriminate when it comes to music genres. He welcomed Sil Khannaz to VSP and helped us to get our debut album to a wider audience," Jaie said. Jokkhannaz, Sil Khannaz’s frontman, who recalls how Siva got the label marketing team behind his 1993 debut album Conception Of Madness.

In 1994, Siva further split the Malaysian club culture when he gave local visitors the opportunity to participate in the DMC World DJ Championship, the world’s largest DJ competition. As a director of DMC Malaysia, Siva holds the competitive franchise rights and builds a strong foundation for a culture of turntablism here.

The early era

When Vsp started, it was just a label that marketed Album2 from an international extreme Metal band .... Based in the first Complex, Jln tunku abdul Rahman k. Lumpur. It also has an official office in Singapore at Paradiz Center on Jln Selegie. Vsp is the earliest and first Metal Rock Album distributor in Malaysia & Singapore.
Early release around 1989 Creator-Endless pain & Extreme aggression. Helloween -walls of Jericho, Sabbat - history of a time to come, Backwater - revelation, Sepultura - morbid visions & Schizophrenia, Coroner - punishment for decadence, Bulldozer -IX, AMQA -mutants cat from hell ..... etc. Vsp's cassettes are quite interesting because they are complete with lyrics and photos of the band. Also included is a sticker with the words "thrash metal" on the outside of the cassette that attracts buyers in addition to the box and the cassette is white.
Entering the early 1990s ... more and more extreme Metal Albums on the market .... at this time Metal fans have spread to all corners of the country ... making Metal albums get a high response.
Destruction -live with out sense, Dark Angel -darkness descends, Morbid Angel -altar of madness, Tankard -zombie attack, Kristie -pleasure to kill, Death SS -blackmass ... and many more.

The Vsp release is also special because it also includes the band poster, even though it is not a new Album2 cassette release. Mid -1990s, the Vsp office moved to the Campbell k Complex. Mud .... and more and more extreme Metal albums are released ..... Death Angel, Necro Death, Decide, Testament, Anthrax ... ... etc. Most of these albums are copied from Lp vinyl. Entering 1991, Vsp still dominates the Malaysian Rock Metal music market, Singapore .. and Vsp's albums are also distributed in Indonesia.
In '91 Joe Siva and his partner Richard started opening a production house by g a contract to record an album by a local artist@band. Vsp's first artist release was 'Cromok' Image of purity's debut album (1991). Originally, the Cromok demo that was distributed in the Australian market in 1989 was re -mastered and made Cromok's debut album. "This album was originally brought by Jig's brother. (Cromok engineer in Australia & is a friend of Cromok who also studied there) and Jig gave the demo to Joe Siva and Vsp finally marketed Cromok's first album with a new cover.

This album sparked a phenomenon in the heavy music arena of the country! Got a great response from rock music fans. Through this success, Vsp started looking for local metal bands to be featured ... 'Suffercation' was the 2nd artist under Vsp. At the end of '91, Vsp organized the first Cromok concert which had just returned from Australia. The Cromok concert was held in Life center k.lumpur with the invitation band Suffercation got great coverage and response. Karl Cromok next worked under Vsp as a sound ingineer. In 1992, Vsp marketed Suffercation's first album "Day of darkness" and Malaysia's first Death Metal band recorded an album, published by Karl Cromok. Another Vsp product that triggered a phenomenon in the history of heavy music in the country.

Cromok then came out and took shelter under the big EMI labels. The year 92, also saw the emergence of new labels that became competitors for Vsp such as Dark Journey Records, & Sonic Asylum Records, but the marketing was not as big as Vsp. At this time, Vsp also began to sign contracts with several other local bands such as Ftg-after the promise (1992), .. Vsp's cassettes also began to turn into clear white ..
1993 ... Vsp continued to suffer by releasing the classic album Sil khannz- Conception of madness' which also achieved great success.

Carburetor Dung -song for friends', is the earliest alternative punk rock album in Malaysia after The pilgrims.

1994 .... Vsp also marketed the first album from the legendary Death metal Sarawak Senseless -'EME ', Slum Scum -menace to insanity including the 2nd album Suffercation which remained loyal to Vsp -Cryptic exitense.

This is one of the country's classic Death metal albums! All of them are marketed under Vsp. This label was the first to pave the way for local metal bands in the country such as Sil khannaz, Suffercation, Senseless, Slum Scum, to be able to record and market their first album where at this time the big mainstream labels did not open the way for local metal rock bands. 1995 ... Vsp still dominates the market with great products such as D'cromok's debut album-iv year, iv day 1 (1995) & iv year iv day 2 (1996) including several compilation albums such as The Gathring. At this time Vsp also began releasing albums in cassette and cd format. Entering the year 1997, the rock metal music market began to be a bit dim, coupled with the economic crisis in the country at that time, which was quite severe, making Vsp activities also a bit slow ....
Joe Siva as the founder started to find a way by marketing albums from groups@rap/dance, hip hop, reggae ... including g contracts with alternative bands such as Lost Souls, Extrovert .....

Among the releases of Vsp in the late 90's. 1999, the last metal album from Vsp was from the Singapore band Sakaratul maut-the land called mashyar, and after that, Vsp no longer marketed the album. Finally, at the end of '99, Vsp changed to the new name Muzik Trax prods. not as lively and as great as Vsp. Muzik trax only remarketed the old albums released by Vsp in the form of cd/cassette. It only lasted for a while and finally in the mellinium era there is no more Vsp @ Muzik trax.
Vsp's services and contributions in the country's heavy music arena are quite large ... The first label dared to go against the flow by marketing Extreme Metal album products that have not yet entered the Malaysian market. The first label to release albums from local metal bands in the country where none of the mainstream labels at that time paved the way for bands to record albums. Even in the context of business and the profit of Vsp services is still large. Through these Vsp cassettes, many young people are starting to pay attention and listen to metal albums! The early cassettes of the Vsp release are now historical and are again sought after by item collectors.
Among the works of VSP masterpieces:
• Cromok - Image of purity (1991)
• Suffercation - Day of darkness (1992)
• FTG - After the promise (1992)
• Carburetor dung - Song for friends (1993)
• Slum Scum - menace to insanity (1994)
• Senseless - EME (1994)
(Valentine Sounds Production in memories) "