Label Realm: Evoking music mEmoriEs

Another letter with a few labels to mention...

If you are familiar with the Balance series, then EQ Recordings should ring a bell. The Aussie label was set-up at the start of this century to release electronic dance music of international DJs. The legendary series was released on this label from 2001 until 2010, initially featuring DJs mainly from Australia (Sean Quin, Kasey Taylor, Phil K, Anthony Pappa) and expanding to others from all over the world. The fifth installment has been already mentioned twice in the blog, since it is considered the quintessential DJ mix by progressive house fans. The series continued to be released from 2010 until today by Balance Music.

Eternell is a small imprint of Swedish producer Ludvig Cimbrelius, set up to release his own works and collaborations. His two albums as Purl (Deep Ground & Stillpoint) are superb dub techno albums and they are a fine reason to reference the label!

What a legendary label Eye Q Records is! It was established in 1990 by Sven Väth, Matthias Hoffmann & Heinz Roth. The label encapsulates the true essence of old school trance: hypnotic, trippy and ethereal. The production trio of Ralf Hildenbeutel, Matthias Hoffman and Steffen Britzke produced a ton of classics under the label, such as
- Sven Väth - L' Esperanza
- Zyon - No Fate
- Cygnus X ‎– The Orange Theme
- Barbarella ‎– My Name Is Barbarella
and many more!
Even the seminal Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar was originally featured in 1992 behind the Eye!

The history of label was basically over in 1997, since the parent German company went bankrupt in August of the same year due to financial problems by the American division Eye Q USA. The UK division continued for two more years, but the label has changed its musical style dramatically, resembling no more its contribution to trance music...

Happy 2020 to all!

Label Realm: Dope recorDs

Enter the "D" section of label realm:

Dance Pool was a successful mainstream dance label company in Frankfurt Germany. Several famous acts released music in the label, such as Culture Beat, Jam & Spoon, The KLF. In the 90's, it served as the label to release classic eurodance tracks (Culture Beat - Mr. Vain, Ice MC - Think About The Way, Maxx - Get-A-Way) that ruled the dance charts. The last release can be found in 2003...

Data Records was not a classic label per se, however it was a great introduction for trance newbies at the turn of the millennium (1999-2002). Some indicative examples are ATB - Till I Come, Storm - Time To Burn, Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400 and releases by Kamaya Painters and Oliver Lieb (the original version of Subraumstimulation is a tech-trance masterpiece). It was a sublabel of Ministry of Sound, originally focused on trance music. After the unification of all genres in one label, Data Records lost its touch.

A classic one! Deconstruction Records was established in 1986 by Pete Hadfield and Keith Blackhurst, but it reached its glory days when Hacienda's resident DJ Mike Pickering joined as A&R. All the masterpieces from the early days of UK house music can be found here: T-Coy - Carino, Guru Josh - Infinity, N-Joi - Anthem, M People ‎– How Can I Love You More and K-Klass ‎– Rhythm Is A Mystery are a handful of them. The label was also the first production home for Sasha and Way Out West. The legendary status of the label was maintained until 2000.

Dedicated was a British independent record label that released music between 1990 and 1998 by Spiritualized, Spacemen 3, Global Communication, Beth Orton (in the U.S.), Chapterhouse, Cranes and others. It was based in London and founded by Doug D'Arcy. The label deserves a reference just for the release of Global Communication - 76:14, one of the best ambient music albums (thank you Mr. Pritchard & Mr. Middleton for the blissful experience of 12:18).


Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Label Realm: Classy seleCtions

I am sure there are more label in "C" section. However, my collection does not contain more results, worth mentioning...

Circulation Recordings was the production home of Circulation, an alias used by Brits Matt Jackson & Paul Davis. In my opinion, they were the finest producers of tech-house. Unfortunately, their output ended abruptly in 2005. It is strange though, that a Twitter account has been set-up since May 2018 for the record company.

Compost Records was a recent finding, after buying two EPs (Jay Shepheard/Lukas Bohlender). The label was founded by DJ Michael Reinboth in 1994, focused initially on jazzified dance music. Over the years, many big names of the scene were presented in the releases either as producers and/or remixers (Carl Craig, Moodymann, Laurent Garnier, Masters At Work, Dixon, Kruder & Dorfmeister). The label continues to release high quality music and on May 2019 a 10-vinyl box set was released, in order to celebrate the 25 years of existence.

Cutting Records is an influential electro US label, founded in 1983 by brothers Aldo Marin & Amado Marin. The seminal electro track Hashim - Al Naafiysh (The Soul) was released by the label, which was a milestone for the history of electronic dance music. Although I do not own a copy of this historic track, the legendary label deserves a spot here!