Imagine you go 2 years back in time - what has happened?

Ram have signed too many artists which makes their direction unclear, imagine if Coca Cola had a million different drinks on their roster including Pepsi, Fanta and Tango, it just makes it bare confusing for the consumer. Why have Chords and Culture Shock, Audio and Teddy Killers etc. all these artists that clash? Better to just have a small core offering of artists that offer the label something different each IMO

sorry bro but coca cola does, Fanta, sprite, powerade, monster etc are all part of the coca cola company

Edit: I do get your point, just being a smart ass lol
 
Ram have signed too many artists which makes their direction unclear, imagine if Coca Cola had a million different drinks on their roster including Pepsi, Fanta and Tango, it just makes it bare confusing for the consumer. Why have Chords and Culture Shock, Audio and Teddy Killers etc. all these artists that clash? Better to just have a small core offering of artists that offer the label something different each IMO
I forgot Chords still exists. I imagine he's got no career now that Culture Shock is back? :teeth:
 
Nothing else is really worth mentioning I guess.
I beg to differ just a tad ;)

- Boston's output on Symmetry was very welcome
- Fokuz Recordings if you're into the liquid/melodic side of things, it's been pretty much buy on sight for me the latest two years
- Oh, and noone mentioned the return of Hive yet, so I'll plug Repentance again because I still haven't had enough of that tune
- And while Hospital has been doing a lot of hit and miss, the S.P.Y. Back to Basic albums were great, and Etherwood's albums are great listens
 
I beg to differ just a tad ;)

- Boston's output on Symmetry was very welcome
- Fokuz Recordings if you're into the liquid/melodic side of things, it's been pretty much buy on sight for me the latest two years
- Oh, and noone mentioned the return of Hive yet, so I'll plug Repentance again because I still haven't had enough of that tune
- And while Hospital has been doing a lot of hit and miss, the S.P.Y. Back to Basic albums were great, and Etherwood's albums are great listens

You got my back :) The return of Hive definitely deserves a mention, as well as somewhat of re-launch of DSCI4 and Quarantine. Although I like quite a lot of what's coming out on Fokuz, I can't help myself thinking it wouldn't actually hurt for them to slow down a bit, they are churning out loads of music and while there are some gems, you can easily get lost in their releases as they sound quite similar to each other. Boston is definitely a promising talent, although he's gone quite in the last months (fingers crossed for an album in the making) and sadly, none of his tunes got pressed (loved both singles very much).
 
What's going on with chords, i love this guys music. Always thought he brought something refreshing by not really following typical dnb sounds
 
Whoa, where to even begin... I'll try to break it down somehow, let's see, sorting by the imprint might work the best I guess:

RAM - not really much has changed, they still continue to push the dancefloor-orientated sound...they've signed Audio, Teddy Killerz, Bensley, June Miller, Stealth and Legion & Logam since the end of 2013, with most of the signings not really standing up to the possible expectations (personally I only really enjoy Bensley's and Legion & Logam's output, Stealth's a hit & miss and the rest is just dissapointing). Again, based on the personal preferences, I actually like Bensley's album very much, granted, it's nothing really groundbreaking as claimed, but musically speaking it's by far the best album to come out of RAM camp since Sub Focus' debut. Andy C did Nightlife 6 by the end of 2013 and it's worth a listen, especially the Green/Blue Mixes. Culture Shock may put out his third release in 12 months which is, quite frankly, a miracle if you ask me. Probably the only producer on RAM keeping the bar high is Rene LaVice.

Hospital - a tough one. Lately they've been putting out more and more quality material, especially the stuff from Krakota is great. Med School releases are on point as always, I'd suggest Anile's LP as the first release to check out there.

Shogun Audio - basically the first major outlet that has stopped pressing vinyl for some of their releases, albums are usually pressed 3 or more tunes a side. They've signed Fourward, Technimatic & Joe Ford, while getting rid of The Prototypes. Technimatic has released splendid Desire Paths LP in summer 2014. Icicle has released his Entropy LP a few months later and as much as I like some of the tunes, it's nowhere near Under The Ice or even better, his previous works. SpectraSoul has put out The Mistress LP this year which is probably worth a listen if you liked their previous one. What is really worth checking out though is the Friction Vs series of singles/EPs as there are some great tunes featured so far.

Critical - personally the greatest letdown of a label in the last few years. The only 2 releases I really liked and would vouch for are Foreign Concept's Make Meals EP and Kasra & Enei's Inside The Box EP. Mefjus' album was one dimensional as expected, Emperor's output has been nothing but a dissapointment after promising Begin EP and Liberation, Ivy Lab's output is hit & miss (their best tune in the last 2 years being Baby Grey featured on Underground Sonics). What has been great though is the Systems series, both Halogenix' and Fre4knc's EPs are immaculate. Binary series is nowhere near that good I'm afraid. Anyways, I'm sure many would beg to differ on topic of Critical's output. That all being said, I really look forward to Enei's forthcoming LP as it's shaping to be great so far, so fingers crossed.

Viper - not really even worth a comment sadly. One kinda good tune is surrounded by another 20 which are not even remotely interesting. Even signing multiple acts including Brookes Brothers, TREi and The Prototypes didn't help.

Metalheadz - arguably the best imprint in the last 2 years, definitely out of the big names anyway. Since Ant TC1 has took over the managing duties, their output got really solid (with maybe the only exception which was the dreadful Grooverider single earlier this year). I strongly advise to check out every single release since META013, especially The Platinum Breakz 4 compilation and Ulterior Motive's The Fourth Wall LP are not to be missed.

Dispatch - definitely a go-to imprint in terms of keeping the high standard of releases, apart from a tasty range of singles and EPs they've also put out 3 incredible albums by Cern (my personal favourite), DLR and Zero T. They've also started their DISDUB series featuring some sought after alternative/VIP mixes pressed in limited amounts, the only "fault" in their release schedule was not pressing Hyroglifics' Terra off their Limited sub-imprint and a few of their latest releases on the main imprint (Philth, Ed:It, Survival & Silent Witness / SCAR single).

Exit - after a rather (and arguably) strange array of 2014 releases they've been killing it in 2015, be it absolutely spot on Imperial EP by Skeptical, great EPs by Calibre and Alix Perez or splendid LP from Mark System.

Samurai - as mentioned, they have shifted towards a more experimental music in general, all of the releases on the main imprint since the "re-launch" are worth checking out, you definitely can not miss Tokyo Prose's output on Red Seal, be it his immaculate Presence LP from last year or this year's Dawn Chorus EP. I'd also strongly suggest to check Djrum's single and Theme's EP on Red Seal as well.

Horizons - absolutely nailed 2014, every single release is worth a buy. They've gone silent for almost a year after the latest EP from Digital and are now coming back with killer EPs from Release and Amoss.
They are still pushing vinyl and even dared to release their Ten LP compilation from last year in form of 2 2x12" EPs plus sampler single.

Spearhead - another imprint which keeps the quality high as ever. A strong chain of releases over the past 2 years, I'm sure you'll find a lot of stuff there to please your ears.

Integral - that one needs to be mentioned as it's finally back on track with loads of great EPs being released lately. Lovely stuff.

Soul:R - as mentioned, FourFit series are THE SHIT. As is DRS' Mid Mic Crisis LP from this spring and everything else in between. Intalex still knows his shit :)

Basically any of the neurofunk labels isn't even worthy of checking out as the sound itself got almost unbearable. Everything you'd loved about the sound some 5-10 years ago is now completely gone thanks to the rise of Mefjus and Neosignal'ish stuff in general, backed by the releases from Noisia, The Upbeats, Black Sun Empire and such. Blackout is boring, Eatbrain has sadly lost it, too, Bad Taste and Lifted being virtually dead, Virus isn't interesting anymore either. Optiv & BTK's Blackjack LP was ok'ish, Ed Rush & Optical's new album is mostly meh and their FabricLive mix CD from this year is basically a showcase of everything what went wrong over the last 2 or 3 years.

Luckily, there's a lot of smaller imprints usually aiming for the deeper sounds which make up for the falls of the great, namely Flexout Audio (really one of the most consistent labels around with an amazing series of releases over the last 2 years), Utopia Music, Warm Communications, Secret Operations (obviously, duh), Tempo Records, Intrigue Music, Prestige Music, Demand, Blu Mar Ten Music (check out Kimyan Law!), etc. Loads of great music is coming out every weekend.

Nothing else is really worth mentioning I guess.

I feel like reading newspapers after being in a coma for 2 years. Interesting read packed with information - not just what labels and acts to check out, but also what directions they've heading/headed. So thanx a lot FG. ;)

About Mefjus - listened half-way through his album... suicide bassline? Really? *facepalm*. To be honest for me any of that new neuro thing isn't neuro at all. The term neurofunk makes me think about Matrix, Konflict, Stakka & Skynet and of course and Sinthetix crew and the likes.

Anyway, thanx again everyone for the input . This thread is a goldmine - for me at least ;)
 
Forgot one more important thing:

Releases are now coming out on Fridays instead of Mondays, not sure if that's a good or bad thing for you!
 
The best label going right now is Diffrent, but nobody seems to notice. Every release is original and every release is stellar.

Also, Fre4knc.

If not the best definitely in the top three....flexout has been having a solid year and still kind of under the radar so to speak.
 
Back
Top Bottom