Warp (record label)
Warp Records | |
---|---|
Founded | 1989 |
Founder | Steve Beckett Rob Mitchell Robert Gordon |
Distributor(s) | FUGA |
Genre | |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Location | Sheffield (1989–2000) London (2000–present) |
Official website | warp |
Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.[1] It is currently based in London.
In the early 1990s, the label initially became associated with the UK's northern
.In 2004, Warp opened the online store
History
1989–1991: Bleep techno
Warp was founded amidst the development of
Warp was opened in 1989 by Steve Beckett and the late Rob Mitchell, who had both gained experience working at
Warp's third record, "Testone" (1990) by
1992–1999: Artificial Intelligence
Warp went on to release a series of singles and albums from 1992 under the Artificial Intelligence heading, a series of experimental electronic music releases by artists such as Aphex Twin (as Diceman and later Polygon Window), Autechre, B12, the Black Dog, Richie Hawtin and Alex Paterson (of the Orb).[13] Initially all the album releases used gatefold sleeves and coloured vinyl, often designed by the Designers Republic or Phil Wolstenholme. A VHS compilation of digitally animated music videos called Motion was released in conjunction with the second Artificial Intelligence compilation, and featured an early work by director David Slade.
In 1996, Warp started the Blech club night in Sheffield,[6] also in London between 1997 and 1999,[14] and released an accompanying compilation CD under the same name. The artwork, created by the Designers Republic, had a distinctive Japanese manga influence. Blech club nights include:
- Blech01 (31 Oct 1997): Seefeel with Boards of Canada
- Blech 02 (28 Nov 1997): Autechre with Cylob
- Blech 03 (30 Jan 1998): Plone
In 1998, Warp signed Boards of Canada, a duo that would go on to release some of the most highly revered electronic music albums of their time: Music Has the Right to Children (1998) and Geogaddi (2002).[15][16] '
In 1999, the label released Warp 10: Influences, Classics, Remixes, a compilation spanning six discs, featuring early acid house and techno music that influenced the label and its artists, as well as tracks from Warp's back catalogue, and new remixes of Warp material. The collection celebrated the label's tenth anniversary.
2000–2009
In 2000, the label moved its operations to London along with its physical music and merchandise store Warpmart.
Co-founder Rob Mitchell was diagnosed with cancer in early 2001. He died later that year, aged 38.[17]
In January 2004, Warp launched an online digital music and entertainment store,
On 27 September 2004, Warp released its second music video compilation, named WarpVision, featuring most of the videos produced from 1989 to 2004.[19]
2005 saw the release of Warp, the first book in the
The label continued to expand its roster, signing acts including !!!, Battles, Born Ruffians, Maxïmo Park, Gravenhurst and Grizzly Bear.
For the label's 20th anniversary in 2009, several Warp20 concerts took place in Paris, New York City, Sheffield, Tokyo, Berlin and London.[21] Warp also celebrated by releasing the Warp20 box set,[21] composed of six parts:
- Warp20 (1989-2009) The Complete Catalogue: a 192-page book of artwork from every Warp release since the label began.
- Warp20 (Chosen): a double CD album, with ten songs chosen by Warp fans and ten chosen by founder Steve Beckett
- Warp20 (Recreated): a double CD album that included twenty brand new cover versions of Warp songs by Warp artists past and present
- Warp20 (Unheard): a triple 10" vinyl set of unheard tracks from artists such as Boards Of Canada, Autechre and Broadcast.
- Warp20 (Elemental): a CD album featuring an hour-long piece by Osymyso, made from sections, samples and fragments of Warp music from the previous twenty years.
- Warp20 (Infinite): a double 10" vinyl of loops from Warp tracks.
2010–present
Warp continued to release albums, from artists such as
2013 saw the release of Broadcast's album
In 2013, Warp also won Independent Label Of The Year at the
In 2019, Warp celebrated their 30th anniversary (stylized as WXAXRXP, a combination of WARP, and XXX, the roman numeral for 30) with three days straight of broadcasts on NTS Radio[26] featuring old radio performances by various artists, as well as a few new ones. In addition Warp released a 10 EP set (vinyl-only) of 20 minute radio sessions,[27] featuring (among other things) Aphex Twin's 1995 Peel Session 2 and a version of Boards of Canada's 1999 Peel Session that included the final track ("XYZ", which was cut from almost all previous releases of the EP).
Music videos
Warp has released a number of ground-breaking and original videos that have launched their directors' careers. Much of these videos were compiled for the 2004 WarpVision: The Videos 1989-2004 DVD.
Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker directed some of Warp's earliest videos while at London's Central Saint Martins art school, including LFO's eponymous "LFO" in 1990, Nightmares On Wax's "Aftermath" in 1991, and Aphex Twin's 1993 single "On".
In 2013,
Artists past and present
- !!!
- Africa Hitech
- Alexander's Annexe
- Anti-Pop Consortium
- Aphex Twin (and the aliases AFX, GAK, and Polygon Window)
- Autechre
- B12
- Babe Rainbow
- Battles
- Beans
- Bibio
- The Black Dog[n 1]
- Black Mojo[33] (John Gilpin and Raz Shamshad)
- Boards of Canada
- Born Ruffians
- Brian Eno
- Broadcast
- Brothomstates
- CANT
- Chok Rock
- Chris Morris
- Circle City
- Clap! Clap!
- Clark
- Coco, Steel and Lovebomb
- Daniel Rossen
- Danny Brown
- Darkstar
- Death Grips
- DJ Mink
- DJ Mujava
- Diamond Watch Wrists (Scott Herren and Zach Hill)
- Disjecta
- DiY
- DRC Music
- Drexciya
- DSR
- Duncan Lloyd
- Elecktroids
- Eskmo
- Evian Christ
- F.U.S.E. (Richie Hawtin)
- Flying Lotus
- Forgemasters
- Future Brown
- Freeform
- GAIKA[34]
- Gang Gang Dance
- Gonjasufi
- Gravenhurst
- Grizzly Bear
- Home Video
- Hudson Mohawke
- The Hundred in the Hands
- Jackson and his Computer Band
- Jaco[35] (Solitaire Gee and Hotline – John Gilpin, Raz Shamshad, Tony Powell, Trevor Russell)
- Jake Slazenger
- Jamie Lidell
- Jeremiah Jae
- Jimi Tenor
- Jimmy Edgar
- Jockstrap
- Joey Beltram
- John Callaghan
- K-Hand
- Kelela
- Kelly Moran
- Kenny Larkin
- Kwes.
- Lafawndah
- Leila
- Lex Loofah[36] (John Gilpin)
- LFO
- Lonelady
- Lorenzo Senni
- Luke Vibert
- Maxïmo Park
- Max Tundra
- Mark Pritchard / Harmonic 313
- Mike Ink
- Mira Calix
- Modus Vivendi
- Mount Kimbie
- My Best Fiend
- Nala Sinephro
- Nice Nice
- Nightmares on Wax
- Nozinja
- Oneohtrix Point Never
- Oli XL
- The Other People Place
- patten[37]
- Plaid
- Plone
- Prefuse 73
- PVT / Pivot
- Red Snapper
- Req
- Resoraz[38] (Raz Shamshad)
- Rhythm Invention
- Richard Devine
- Richard H. Kirk
- Russell Haswell
- Rustie
- Sabres of Paradise
- Savath and Savalas
- Seefeel
- Simon Pyke
- Slauson Malone 1
- Solitaire Gee[39] (John Gilpin and Raz Shamshad)
- Sote
- Speedy J
- Squarepusher
- Squid
- The Step
- Stereolab
- Sweet Exorcist
- Sympletic
- THK
- Tim Exile
- TNGHT
- Tricky Disco
- Tuff Little Unit
- Two Lone Swordsmen
- Tyondai Braxton
- Ultradyne
- V.L.A.D.
- Vincent Gallo
- Wild Planet
- Wu-Lu[40]
- Yves Tumor
Warp subsidiaries and partnerships
Warp launched a film company,
A number of music sub labels have also been set up by Warp, namely
Warp assists in the distribution of certain records released by LuckyMe and Night Slugs/Fade To Mind; the aforementioned labels are partner labels (not imprints) of Warp.
Selected discography
Artificial Intelligence Series
- Artificial Intelligence (WARP 6, 1992)
- Surfing On Sine Waves(WARP 7, 1992)
- Black Dog Productions – Bytes(WARP 8, 1993)
- B12 – Electro-Soma (WARP 9, 1993)
- FUSE – Dimension Intrusion (WARP 12, 1993)
- Speedy J – Ginger (WARP 14, 1993)
- Autechre – Incunabula (WARP 17, 1993)
- Artificial Intelligence II (WARP 23, 1994)
Compilation albums
- Pioneers of the Hypnotic Groove
- Evolution of the Groove
- Tequila Slammers and the Jump Jump Groove Generation
- The Theory of Evolution
- Blech
- Blech II: Blechsdottir
- Eurowarp
- Warp 10+1 Influences
- Warp 10+2 Classics
- Warp 10+3 Remixes
- Warp: Routine
- Morvern Callar – Official Soundtrack
- We Are Reasonable People
- WarpVision: The Videos 1989–2004 DVD
- Warp Records Sampler 2008
- Warp20 (Recreated)
- Warp20 (Chosen)
- Warp20 (Unheard)
See also
- List of record labels
- List of electronic music record labels
- List of independent UK record labels
- Intelligent dance music
Notes
References
- ^ a b Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, April 2003, Swinstead Publishing
- ^ "A Brief History of Bleep". 7 January 2018.
- ^ "Gone To A Rave: The Genius Of Bleep Techno". www.theransomnote.com.
- ^ a b Reynolds, Simon. "The 20 best bleep records ever made". Fact. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ Future. "The beginner's guide to: bleep". Music Radar. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ ISBN 1-904772-32-3.
- ^ Birke, Sarah (2 November 2007). "Label Profile: Warp Records". The Independent. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ^ "The secret history of Warp Records". Fact (UK magazine). 17 April 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ^ "Bleep: The story of Britain's first bass revolution". Resident Advisor. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ^ ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ISBN 978-0-8143-3438-6, retrieved 28 May 2011
- ISBN 978-1-913231-00-2.
- ISBN 0-7535-0252-6.
- ^ "Powerhaus". BOC pages. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- ^ "The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s". Pitchfork. 28 September 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "The 200 Best Albums of the 2000s". Pitchfork. 2 October 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "The Dummy Guide To Warp". Dummy. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
- ^ "Warp Records Reject DRM, Go Bleep". Slashdot. 28 January 2004. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
- ^ "Warp's Vision on DVD". Resident Advisor. 14 July 2004. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
- ^ West, Paul (Spring 2006). Eye Magazine | Review | Behind the bleeps. eyemagazine.com. Retrieved on 26 February 2013.
- ^ a b Michaels, Sean (27 March 2009). "Warp Records unveils 20th anniversary celebrations". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
- ^ "AIM Independent Music Awards: 2013". Association of Independent Music. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
- ^ "Warp Records: Listen to a preview of 'Universal Everything & You' by Simon Pyke, to be released on deluxe vinyl". Warp Records. 2 October 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ^ "Warp Records: Watch a film from the Warp x Tate event by Teddy Fitzhugh". Warp Records. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- ^ "Jeremy Deller: The History of the World 1997–2004". Tate. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- ^ "WXAXRXP broadcast lineup". Warp Records. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ "Official WXAXRXP website". Warp Records. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- Pitchfork Media. 22 August 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
- ^ "Brits 2000: The winners". BBC News. 3 March 2000. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
- ^ "2013 Sundance Film Festival Announces Jury Awards in Short Filmmaking" (PDF). Sundance Film Festival. 22 January 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ^ "Winners". UK Music Video Awards. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- ^ "BUG: Warp Records Special". British Film Institute. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- ^ "Black Mojo". Warp. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ "Gaika". Warp. Accessed 26 March 2017
- ^ "Jaco". Warp. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ "Lex Loofah". Warp. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ "Patten". Warp Records. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
- ^ "Resoraz". Warp. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ "Solitaire Gee". Warp. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ Kalia, Ammar (16 August 2022). "'Maybe we'll become a genre': Wu-Lu, the punky lo-fi hip-hop star moving fast to transcend labels". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
External links
- Warp – official site
- Lex Records – official site (a now independent abstract hip-hop label that branched off from Warp)
- Warp discography at Discogs
- Warp feature story in Guardian Music Weekly
- A Warped Mind : Steve Beckett On Running A Label Legend - [PIAS]'s Blog, 27 January 2015