Forever Underground 3CD out now

NRK's parting shot, the triple CD 'Forever Underground (Artifacts 1997-2012)' is out now.

Not many record labels can lay claim to a 15 year stretch, but NRK Music has been a consistent and trusted source of the finest deep house and tech house music for the last decade and a half. Set up in 1996 in Bristol, UK, NRK Music quickly delivered a hefty slew of releases from the off from artists like Ian Pooley, François K, Dimitri From Paris and Nick Holder, and have never looked back since. Now with over 170 single releases and 45 albums, plus the mix compilation series Back In The Box, The Lab, nite:life and Deep Sensations, NRK prepare to celebrate it's 15th, and final year in the business with “Forever Underground”. 

 A 3CD package, “Forever Underground” collects some of the finest moments from the label’s career to date, and showcases the variety of sounds and trends within the house music scene over the last 15 years. CD1 features such hi-lights as Quentin Harris’ epic “Let’s Be Young”, the sensationally deep Charles Webster mix of Shara Nelson’s “Go That Deep”, Blackjoy’s awesome disco jam “Moustache” and Foremost Poet’s legendary call to the dancefloor “Moonraker”, plus truly memorable deep house cuts from Nick Holder, Sirus and Twisted Pair. 

 CD2 continues the delve into the NRK catalogue, opening up with perhaps one of the defining deep house records of our time, François K’s “Time & Space”, swiftly plucking another bomb from the vaults in Tom Middleton’s remix of Kerri Chandler’s “Bar A Thym”. The underground vibes continue with the luscious King Britt remix of “Innocent”, Nick Holder’s classic “Summer Daze” and DJ Q’s pounding and hypnotic “Superclique”. Throughout it’s 15 year tenure, NRK have always reflected the evolving sounds of electronic dance, and the trio of tracks that round off CD2 are some classic, analogue techno sounds from Paul Woolford, Ed Davenport and the legend that is Carl Craig, confirming that NRK has been a label that stands by quality underground music, regardless of the many sub genres out there. 

 CD3 is a bonus mix CD from NRK founder, DJ and producer, Nick Harris. With not an easy task to pick out a CDs worth of 170 releases and upwards to 700 tracks & remixes, Harris deftly programs and mixes some of the standout tracks from over the years along with various Dub Mixes, Bonus Beats and underground goodies from the vaults. And so, along with many of the catalogue favorites, Harris pulls out tracks and remixes from Spencer Parker, Pete Heller, Kings Of Tomorrow, Trackheadz, Joey Negro and Chris Lattner, creating the perfect mix to encapsulate NRK’s forward thinking music policy and ear for an underground dancefloor bomb!

The 3CD is now available from the NRK Shopify here

Digital download album will be available as from Monday 21st May 2012.

00Deep - A Review Of The Decade - 2002

2002 saw NRK continue to nuture the existing talent on the label, as well as reaching out to artists new on the label. Miguel Migs had another busy year for NRK, releasing the "Dubplate Sessions EP" and "Satisfied EP", on each one throwing down his trademark dub inspired house tracks. NRK continued to work albums from the previous year from Audio Soul Project (pictured) and Jamie Anderson, with key single releases.



The legendary Francois K enlisted studio partner Rob Rives to create his timeless mix of Audio Soul Project's "Community", a track that has since been sampled to death, but FK and Rives did the original justice with an epic mix. Also enlisted to remix the ASP "Community" album were artists such as Rob Mello, Tony Thomas, Joeski and Ricky Montanari & Davide Ruberto. A "Community Remixed" album was released in this year. Meanwhile, Jamie Anderson's "Blue Music" album was revisited with the "Rebel Sound" single, complete with remixes from The Beloved and Jeno. Ian Pooley was also busy in '02, unleashing a trilogy of 12" singles; "Missing You", Ready To Flow" and "The Fly Shuffle", all released on coloured clear vinyl!



NRK Music has always liked to 'keep it in the family' and certain artists were brought back to the label to keep a sense of continuity. The aforementioned Ricky Montanari & Davide Ruberto released the killer "Redzone EP", a huge Italian deep piano track, and Jeno cropped up again on the label via his now legendary "Stormy Weather Remix" of Rocket's "People".

Other big singles for NRK in 2002 included Q-Burns Abstract Message and their "Innocent" single, remixed by King Britt and Magik Johnson, Sandy Rivera & Jose Burgos produced a great tracky EP titled "Keep Flowing", and UK stalwart, Pete Heller, supplied some great remixes of Louie Balo's mystical "Guiding Light".

The nite:life series continued, again breaking down genre barriers, as we brought to the platters some great mix comps from Joeski & Onionz "Nu-York nite:life", the dark and druggy sounds of Peace Division's "nite:life 010", the solid tech-house sounds of Lexicon Avenue, and a great double mix CD by Danny Krivit, one of the Body & Soul crew and all round NYC legend. His "Expansions" mix was a masterclass in mixology, including cuts from 808 State, Pal Joey, Blaze, DJ Food, Dennis Ferrer and Kerri Chandler.



Our sister label, honchos Music, delivered its biggest record to date. "Piha" by ex-pat Dick "Magik" Johnson, and Germany's Ian Pooley, was picked up by Pete Tong who hammered it on his BBC Radio 1 show for five weeks on the trot. With a remix package from DJ Sneak and Jamie Anderson, "Piha" was released at the end of the Summer 2002, narrowly missing a Top 40 chart position, but certainlybecoming one of the most memorable house cuts of the year, with its blazing disco strings and funk driven beats. Honchos also released key singles from Noel Nanton (including the still huge Ian Pooley remix of "Your Love"), and A J Scent's "ahead of its time" vibes on "I Love Digital".

New Audio Soul Project EP coming soon with remixes from Vincenzo & Scope

Audio Soul Project, AKA Mazi Namvar, makes a welcome return back to NRK this month with a brand new production, "Don't Sleep". Featuring Nathan Drew Larsen on vocal duties, Mazi carves out a great jackin analogue house track that works great with Nathan's deadpan vocal delivery. On the remix duties, Vincenzo from Berlin weighs in with a fabulously deep house working, very atmospheric, floaty and warm. Vincenzo should be no stranger to house heads, with lots of great productions and remixes on labels like Poker Flat, Dessous, Liebe Detail and Naked Music. Also supplying a fantastic remix is Belfast's Scope, AKA Ric McCelland, a producer who is creating some great deep music right now, and has recently had his "Omoplata" track released on NRK.

Don't Sleep gets an exclusive release on Beatport in November. Check out the audio clips below.

Don't Sleep (Original Mix)
Don't Sleep (Vincenzo Remix)