South Coast Vibez – Codename: RCRDS

“The vision we have always had for the artists is: ‘when the tide comes in, all ships rise together’, and we very much believe that.  We look at the meteoric rise of other labels over the past few years, and are looking at ways we can emulate that, but with our own musical vision, which

A Summer & A Thousand Autumns (w/ Ludvig Cimbrelius)

“Sentimental music, just like the change of seasons, has this beautiful way of taking you back somewhere and then forward, so you feel nostalgic and hopeful all at the same moment.” In the blog feature with A Strangely Isolated Place 3 years ago, Ryan Griffin had disclosed that there would be a forthcoming drum &

Postcards from Vienna – Plus Plus Plus Music

“Music put together for every pair of ears, regardless of their colour, size or shape” Back in 2014, I met in Athens with Chris Marigold, who was extremely excited about his latest discovery; the new drum and bass wunderkind he’d met at a ‘Vollkontakt’ gig in Vienna. Although the snippets I heard didn’t divulge much,

Postcards from Canada: Stasis Recordings

“We fit in where people decide they want to give us space to fit in, because of our label DNA, I believe we can fit in a lot of places – crevice or chasm. I tend to describe Stasis Recordings like a person and the styles represent character traits one sees depending on the vantage

Postcards from Wales – Serein

“There is a thread that runs through all this music that ties it together. Listening to ambient came much later, but again you hear similarities. I mean, in the early days you could just remove the beats and call it ambient! No beat? Ambient!” The first blog post of 2020 is the third part of

Killer Smile (The sequel I never thought I’d write)

“The name Killer Smile just seemed to fit with our vision of the label, a multi-genre label putting out dancefloor tracks built around killer breaks and basslines, as well as more emotive tracks made to put a smile on your face…” There’s music that captures and echoes a beautiful time and place, staying with you

Adrift in your very own strangely isolated place

“As musical cultures, I think ambient and drum & bass certainly find parallels in each other – they both loosely connect around personal freedom – be it euphoric or mindful, as genres they are similar in the emotions they elicit …” – Ryan Griffin In last year’s anniversary feature I had given a hint about

South Coast Vibez: Rotation Audio

“I wanted to use a methodical, timeless word, which could have different meanings. Obviously, ‘Rotation’ for circular motion on a turntable, ‘Rotation’ in life’s cycle, ‘Rotation’ in art forms that appear, fade, reappear, ‘Rotation’ as a whole; and then ‘Audio’, because audio production is what we’re involved in”. I have been browsing through my notes

Postcards from the Fjords – Nord Label

“Electronic music is art, not just entertainment” – Simon Viehoff, Nord Label founder Nord Label is a small independent electronic music record label, based in Berlin, Germany. The brainchild of Simon Viehoff (aka Lebowski), resident dj and co-founder of the Impulse bass culture project, Nord has been established as a genre-defiant creative platform to cater

Short Trips (down memory lane)

“Modern, cinematic takes on ambient electronica and vintage aesthetics, sprinkled with bitter-sweet nostalgia” In the dawn of the 90s emerged a new musical hybrid, fusing various elements and structural forms of electronic music, relying upon composition, experimentation and innovation rather than adhering to formulaic standards associated with specific genres and styles. Free from dance-floor reactions