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

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,

Songs for a life we left behind (w/ Brock Van Wey) – Part II

“Both ambient and drum & bass have always been the music of the future. And they always will be. Which is why they’ll always be there; getting stronger, going deeper. And they’ll never need any outsider’s bullshit help to do so”. Part II Chapter Four: East Of Oceans I have an affinity for intriguing, memorable

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

Tracks I Wish I’d Written (issue #17): 36 – Fade To Grey

“… I can’t understand those musicians who make the most beautiful music, but show little care or attention for the visual side. It’s like stuffing a Rembrandt painting inside a £5 plastic frame from IKEA …” The ‘Tracks I Wish I’d Written’ series is perhaps the most personal, preferential and esoteric category of the blog.

Songs for the misfits: Inside Klute’s ‘Whatever It Takes’ LP

‘Whatever It Takes’ is a phrase I’ve been saying to myself over the last few years, when I despair with manipulative behaviour, in the face of what seems to be happening in the current climate of media/consumer culture; the lengths that people will go to, the things that they will do to get attention or

Count To Ten: Drum & Bass Illustrations and Record Artwork (part 2)

What the sleeve notes never tell you It’s been 16 months since the original post , which was meant to be a one-off feature; however I always felt that it’s been somehow incomplete. The constructive feedback I received, occasionally bordering on debate over a matter de facto subjective, convinced me to revisit the topic; paraphrasing

Brand New, You’re … Metro

“… it would be true to say the labels would not be where they are without Scott’s invaluable vision, design and input” – Tony ‘Justice’ Bowes Despite having a soft spot for bespoke artwork design and illustration, it has taken me an embarrassingly long time to adopt a decent site icon and logo for the

Count To Ten: Drum & Bass Illustrations and Record Sleeves

“… drawing a fine line between the sublime and the ordinary, the initial presentation criteria have been the aesthetic quality of the imagery, the nature of its production, the relationship to the music on the record and obviously my personal attachment …” Something completely different for the last post of 2016; instead of the music

Memoirs Of a Vinyl Junkie – part 2

Tuesday morning, October 1993 09:50 He is staring anxiously at the classroom clock counting the nanoseconds. It’s almost 10 and in about an hour or so the boxes with the new releases at the record store downtown are bound to open. There is no way he can make it before 2, unless he skips the