Label Realm: cuttinG edGe music

Guerilla Records was a seminal label which was set up by William Orbit and Richard O' Dell in 1990. The co-founders had already a business relationship from mid 80's when the former was managed by the latter. The label's name originated from Orbit's studio, which was obviously called Guerilla. It championed the progressive house genre with releases by React 2 Rhythm, D.O.P., Bass-O-Matic (one of William Orbit's early aliases) and The Drum Club, presenting the hottest sound in UK during the first half of the 90's. The label's trademark was the camo sleeve of the releases (designed by graphic artist Steve Cook), which was aligned with the militaristic name. Unfortunately, the output of the company ended abruptly at its peak, with the last release in 1994 (I can only assume that the two guys did not get aligned about the label's future status). Currently, the company exists with a differentiated name (Guerilla Recordings) for licensing matters of back catalog (owned by indie giant Ministry Of Sound).

Good Looking Records was founded in 1992 by Danny Williamson (a.k.a. LTJ Bukem) and is one of the most influential labels in jungle/drum 'n' bass music (along with Metalheadz & Moving Shadow). Bukem created the label in order to release his first production 'Demon's Theme', one of the first dnb tracks. According to the owner of Basement Records (Basement Phil), the track was initially planned to be released in his label, but Danny later decided to invest in a new label, whose distribution was assisted by Phil. GLR's specialties were intelligent liquid dnb productions, curated by essential players (besides Bukem), such as PFM, Artemis and Seba. Logical Progression & Earth compilations can be used an an introductory material for the label. Last traces of the company (even presence in social media) are detected in 2014, indicating its inactive status.

Global Underground needs no introduction for EDM listeners of late 90's - early 00's. The label presented the classic 2-CD mix compilations by famous DJs of the era (Sasha, John Digweed, Paul Oakenfold, Dave Seaman, Danny Tenaglia), influenced by their actual DJ sets in a specific city (even Athens got its release by Danny T!). The GU City CDs became the best selling mix compilation series of the period. Initially, it was conceived by Boxed label (maybe GU should have been included in letter B...), but a few years later a separate company was created with the same name. The last years a revival of the series appeared, with the latest installment assigned to aspiring DJ Patrice Bäumel (supposedly in Berlin city).

Label Realm: euForic melodies

F Communications was (or maybe is?) an electronic music label founded in 1994 by Frenchmen Eric Morand & Laurent Garnier, as the successor of Fnac Music Dance Division (1991-1993). It was the most important label for French electronic dance music (along with its predecessor), curating great artists such as St. Germain, Laurent Garnier, Shazz, Scan-X, Jori Hulkkonen. Mr. Oizo and Nova Nova. One of my favorite artists back in the days was Ludovic Navarre (the guy behind St. Germain alias) with his seminal albums Boulevard (1995) and Tourist (2000), although the latter was released by the jazz-infused Blue Note label. The company folded its operations in 2008, only to re-open in 2015 for vinyl releases of monsieur Garnier. Nowadays, the label celebrates the 25 years with remastered vinyl releases of F-Comm All Stars!

Full Frequency Range Recordings (FFRR) is an influential label that introduced the masses in dance music. It started in 1986 as a subdivision of London Records, run by Pete Tong, the mastermind behind the BBC Essential Mix. Focused on hip-hop and house music releases during the second half of the 80's, it expanded in other electronic music genres throughout the 90's. The label hosted important artists such as Orbital, Goldie, CJ Bolland and Armand Van Helden. Aligned with the digital era of the last 10 years, it continues to release music exclusively in digital format.

Fides is a small Italian label owned by Giuseppe Maffei, known for his Z.I.P.P.O. pseudonym and his participation in project 3KZ with fellow Italian Nico Campanella. Their collaboration produced the seminal album Parallel Reflections, one of the best releases for 2017 (powered by Fides).

The last (but not least) label to be introduced is FM Records. The Greek label was set-up at the turn of the eighties by Giorgos Koutris. Although it does not focus only on electronic music, since the variety ranges from rebetiko, folk music to rock, pop and hip-hop, it engaged the Greek audience into the alternative music scene of various genres. Several Greek artists collaborated with the label, like Stereo Nova, Imiskoumbria, Terror-X-Crew, Goin' Through (before going full commercial), Ypogeia Revmata and Endelecheia. It was one of the first Greek labels to foresee the future of music platforms, releasing its back catalog in digital format since 2005! I believe that this is the main reason that the company continues as an independent label, although physical format continues to be released by the company in small numbers...

Farewell Sir Andrew...

Fail we may, sail we must...