It’s curious, isn’t it? Back in January 2021, our editor published a post querying the type of promotional material being posted by Nervous Records. It nearly all seemed to consist of pictures of half-naked ladies – the type of thing you might have expected to see at the height of the lads mags culture of the 90s.

Over the past 20 months, we’ve written about the subject frequently – and despite Nervous being contacted by this site on a number of occasions, they’ve never felt the need to respond to anything. Nor have the label ever objected or complained about any article which has appeared during that time – there has literally been no contact from them.

No matter. Silence is a response just in much the same way speaking out is – but the problem with staying quiet is that people can infer things from doing so. Curiously however, when dance music press darling Annabel Ross comes along and queries things, the Nervous machine rushes into action…

Ross herself seems convinced by the label’s response – but do forgive us at Ears To The House for daring to not be so easily swayed. Nervous has been using this promotional strategy online for a number of years – the mere idea they’re going to simply drop it with no idea what to replace it with is absurd.

We’re also aware that the label’s use of the strategy varies. During the pandemic, they used it a lot more – presumably to keep people watching, as releases were still ongoing during this time. When restrictions began to ease off in New York, Nervous almost stopped using the strategy entirely for a time – but it inevitably returned a short while later.

Will there now be a real change? They say so – but unlike the dance music press, we’ll be keeping an eye on this to see whether they keep to the word. Seeing is believing…