Audio Dregs

Audio Dregs is an independent American record label associated with Evan Peter Mast, the electronic producer and Ratatat member known professionally as E*vax or E.Vax, and his brother Eric Mast, who performs as E*rock. The label is connected to the Mast brothers' early electronic and instrumental music activities and is generally described as an independent imprint rather than as a large commercial music company. The label's documented catalog includes Evan Mast's album Parking Lot Music, released on April 4, 2001. That record represents the project's early aesthetic: compact electronic compositions built from everyday sounds and arranged into simple, rhythmically focused beats. The music's use of found or ordinary sonic material gives Audio Dregs a producer-led identity, positioned between home-recording experimentation, beat music, and electronic pop rather than conventional mainstream record-label programming. Audio Dregs is also part of the broader career context of Evan Mast. Mast later became one half of Ratatat with Mike Stroud, and he subsequently worked as a producer and songwriter for artists including Despot, Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Nas, Teyana Taylor, Vory, Tainy, Travis Scott, and others. Those later credits do not necessarily constitute Audio Dregs releases, but they help explain the label's place in the development of Mast's production work and electronic music profile. Publicly available reference material identifies Evan and Eric Mast as the people operating the label, but does not provide reliable information about a formal corporate parent, capitalization, staff structure, distribution agreements, headquarters, or current release schedule. Audio Dregs should therefore be understood as a small independent label imprint whose documented significance rests primarily on its relationship to the Mast brothers and the early release Parking Lot Music. Its present operating status is not sufficiently documented to classify it confidently as active or defunct.

Audio Dregs emerged as an independent record-label project operated by brothers Evan Peter Mast and Eric Mast. Evan Mast later became widely known as E*vax or E.Vax and as one half of the New York electronic rock duo Ratatat, while Eric Mast has performed under the name E*rock. The available reference material does not establish a precise incorporation date or formal founding year for Audio Dregs, so the label's chronology should not be reduced to an unverified date. The earliest specifically documented Audio Dregs release is Evan Mast's Parking Lot Music, issued on April 4, 2001. The album reflects an exploratory production method based on transforming everyday sounds into simple electronic beats. This approach places the label within an independent electronic and beat-making culture in which the producer's studio practice, rather than a large artist roster or conventional genre marketing, is central to the identity of the imprint. Mast's subsequent career expanded substantially beyond the label. He met Mike Stroud while both were students at Skidmore College, and the two formed Ratatat, releasing their self-titled debut album in 2004 and four further studio albums. Mast also issued singles and an EP through other labels and developed a parallel career as a hip-hop producer. His credits included work with Despot, Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Nas, Teyana Taylor, Vory, Tainy, Travis Scott, and other artists. These collaborations demonstrate the breadth of Mast's production career, but the available sources do not establish that each later project was released by or owned by Audio Dregs. Consequently, Audio Dregs is best documented as a boutique independent imprint connected to the Mast brothers' early recording activities. Public sources do not provide enough information to describe a continuing commercial operation, distribution network, staff, corporate parent, or definitive current roster. The label's documented historical importance is therefore concentrated in its role as an outlet for Evan Mast's early electronic work and in the experimental, sound-based production aesthetic represented by Parking Lot Music.

• 2001

  Parking Lot Music is released

  [1]E*vaxen.wikipedia.org

  Evan Mast's first album, Parking Lot Music, is released on April 4, 2001. The work is associated with Audio Dregs and uses everyday sounds as source material for simple electronic beats.

A small independent imprint centered on experimental electronic, instrumental, and beat-oriented music associated with Evan and Eric Mast.

• Album · 2001

  Parking Lot Music

  Parking Lot Music is Evan Mast's first album and the principal release identified in connection with Audio Dregs. Released on April 4, 2001, it presents concise electronic compositions built from everyday or found sounds and shaped into straightforward beats. The record documents the experimental, producer-centered character associated with the label's early work.

1. 1E*vaxen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Audio Dregs official websiteaudiodregs.com