Above is the 20th anniversary logo for warp music record label. The picture beneath is of Steve Beckett (right) and Rob Mitchell (left), who were the original founders of the label in 1989.
The label is an independant English label founded in Sheffield although later moved to London. It originally is noted to find the most succesful electronic music artists.
Their very first release was named 'A track with no name' by the Forgemasters and produced by Robert Gordon. The follow up track of this was 'Dextrous' by 'Nightmares on wax', which sold 30,000 copies in comparison to 500 with the first release. By the fifth release, the label achieved it's first top 20 chart record with 'LFO' by LFO. It sold 130,000 copies and hit number 12 in the UK chart in July 1990.
The first album that Warp released was called C.C.E.P by Sweet Excorcists in 1991, which was also the year that the original producer, Robert Gorden, left the label.
From 1992, the label went on to release various singles and albums under the heading 'Artificial Intelligence' which experimented with different artists in the electronic music genre. For example; Aphex twin, Autechre, B12, Black Dog, Richie Hawtin. Originally, all the albums were gatefold sleeves and coloured vinyls with covers by 'The Designers Republic' or 'Phil Wolstoneholme'.
As the label established, artists widened and the influential DJ Andrew Weatherall and Red Snapper and the experimental hip hop group Antipop Consortium were included.
Warp10, consisting of influences, remixes, and classics was a 6 disc compilation released in 1999. It featured early acid house and techno music that influenced the label and the artists as well as classic tracks from the original warp catalog and new remixes of Warp material. This was a celebration of the companies 10th anniversary.
In 2000, the label moved to London alongside its merchandise store 'Warpmart'.
Rob Mitchell, co-founder of Warp, died in late 2001 after being diagnosed with Cancer.
In 2004, Warp launched an online music store called Bleep. On 27 September 2004, Warp released its second music video compilation named 'Warpvision' which contained most of the videos from 1989 until 2004.
In more recent times, the label has expanded out of solely the electronic music and began to sign rock bands such as; 'Battles', 'Born Ruffians', 'Maximo park', 'Gravenhurst', and 'Grizzly bear'.
Last year for the companies 20th anniversary, they toured concerts in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Berlin, London, and of course it's hometown; Sheffield.
No comments:
Post a Comment