NRK Music, UK house label, released material and compilations from artists such as Peace Division, Nick Holder, Miguel Migs, Skylark, Chymera, Hipp-e, Trackheadz, Paul Woolford, Joey negro, Magik Johnson, Audio Soul Project, Rolando, X-Press 2, Louie Vega, Kerri Chandler, Quentin Harris, Ron Trent, Karizma, Ame, Ian Pooley, Francois K, Charles Webster & many more
00Deep celebrates another 10 years passing for UK label NRK Music, a label that has always stuck true to the deep, underground house and techno sounds. If the 90s saw house music come to mainstream appeal, then the 00s fought off the inevitable backlash and threw up so many different sounds and styles which won over a new generation of fans.
2000-2009 is the period then that 00Deep delves into, and this compilation really does show the breadth of styles that NRK Music has pushed over the last decade. Kicking off in 2000 with cuts from Sirus and Plastic Avengers (with H-Foundation on the remix), the deep, tribal house sounds pick up pace throughout the following ten years, taking in the tech-house sounds of Jamie Anderson, Peace Division and Rocket, whilst the deeper styles were reflected with the likes of Nick Holder, Joey Negro and the awesome Francois K remix of Audio Soul Project. Middle of the decade saw two bonafide classics come to the NRK stable, in the shape of Kerri Chandler’s “Bar A Thym” and Quentin Harris’ “Let’s Be Young”, nuff said! And the latter years saw NRK’s A&R policy as diverse as ever, with the disco vibes of Blackjoy, the ultra dark minimalism of Radio Slave, the classic garage sounds of Trackheadz and the polished deep techno of Chymera.
00Deep collects the best of NRK’s output over the last ten years, and the label is gearing up for more solid music releases over the next 10 years.
As we approach the end of the decade, the NRK Music blogspot hi-lights each of the years that made up the "noughties", a year that had it's ups and downs for the house music scene, but is certainly come out on top as we approach 2010. So here we go with the first installment...
2000
NRK Music surged into the new millennium with all cylinders’ firing, having already spent the late 1990’s making a big impact on the deep house scene. Already a label noted for bringing forward cutting edge trends in house music, via artists and releases from the likes of Dimitri From Paris, Francois K, Ian Pooley and Nick Holder, the year 2000 saw the label’s long standing relationship with a certain Mr. Miguel Migs, via a release called “Inner Excursions EP”, featuring the classic “Petalpushing” track.
Miguel Migs was already making a name for himself, via super deep and sophisticated releases for Naked Music and Yoshi Toshi. And the “Inner Excursions EP” marked out Miguel’s love of deep, tracky house music, a sound that was to become synonymous with NRK Music over the decade.
The decade also kicked off with one seriously major music trend, that of the reverberating, dub heavy house sounds of the West Coast crews. NRK Music was one of the first UK labels to pick up on these sounds, and in 2000 releases 12”s from Twisted Pair (AKA Dano & Joeski) “Horny Hustle”, Onionz & Master D’s “Celia’s Groove” and Dano’s “Drifting On Continents”. Perhaps the most successful artists emerging from that scene, H-Foundation (AKA Hipp-e & Halo Varga) supplied a killer remix of Plastic Avenger’s “El Bombata” whilst Halo went solo for a devastating remix of Sirus’ “An Eye For An Eye”, a track that was already huge with Danny Tenaglia that year.
It was decided to test the waters in this year with out first ever DJ mix compilation series (a format that the label still excels in to this day), and so “nite:life” was born. The scene’s most celebrated DJs, and the most cutting edge, underground sounds, our first three selectors did not disappoint. Jon Marsh, lead singer and producer of The Beloved, mixed up a great CD to kick start the series, whilst the aforementioned H-Foundation set the standards high with a genre defining double CD mix for “nite:life 02”. Miguel Migs nailed the sound of the Millenium with “nite:life 03”, a mix that has beome such a huge favourite with many fans.
Other notable releases for NRK this year include Nick Holder’s second album for the label “Underground Alternatives” and Sirus’ “On The Edge Of A Dream” featuring the singles “Big Ben” and “An Eye For An Eye”. The year 2000 also saw NRK’s sister label, Honchos Music, make its first steps with a more trackier/tribal sound, and it’s first two releases from Dirty Gringo and George T.