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
Nick Harris talks 15 years of NRK Music, from the early days right up to the present day decision to retire the label. On this special Resident Advisor Exchange interview, Nick discusses his future plans and new labels, as well as reminiscing over a decade and a half of running one of the world's most consistent deep house labels.
“Underground Goodies” is a collection of some of the rare nuggets, forgotten classics, heavy dubs and criminally ignored tracks to be found in NRK Music’s envious back catalogue. The label, now in its 14th year, digs deep……
Hi-lights on this digital compilation include older cuts from Chicago's Gemini, DJ Jes, Plastic Avengers, Sirus, Kings Of Tomorrow and Ian Pooley, and some tasty dubs and stripped down mixes from the likes of Nick Holder, Peace Division, Spencer Parker, Peter Dildo (Mountain People) and many more. All the material picked for the album holds up very well against todays productions, and firms up NRK's reputation as one of the best deep house labels around.
“Underground Goodies” also includes a new and exclusive track from NRK's Nick Harris. Titled "Under The Bridge", Nick submerges deep underground for a sparse, old skool house workout.
This digi album is available now on Beatport and Traxsource, with all other reputable digi sites to follow in the coming weeks. A 12" sampler is also out this month, featuring cuts from Kerri Chandler, Foremost Poets and Nick Holder.
Amir, AKA Rimah Khalouf, has been bubbling under on the house fraternity for a couple of years, and with a slew of stella releases for high profile labels such as Nick Curly’s 8Bit, Trapez, Great Stuff Recordings and bouq, he debuts for NRK with a cheeky 3 track EP. "Uneasy Listening" EP is out now on 12" vinyl, and will be available as a digital download on Beatport as from 1st March, with all other digital sites to follow a few weeks later.
“Narrativity” is a funky, bass driven workout with some frenetic percussion and shuffling groove, and is backed up on this release by a Justin Drake remix. “Drakey” is no stranger to the NRK label, being one half of house ‘legends’ Peace Division, who recorded for NRK many times over the years. Justin delivers a murky yet swinging remix, holding down some strings for a bit of drama.
“Anekdote” on the flip is a stripped back percussive track, not too dissimilar to that old Derrick Carter style from back in the day, with assorted vox clips, heavy stabs and teasing FX easing the track along. Perfect deep, jackin house.
DJ support;
Paul Woolford (Intimacy) - "Anekdote" is fuckin killer and I'll be playing loads. Johnny D (Oslo) - I like the rhythms here Rocky (X-Press 2) - Drake remix is for me Timo Maas - "Narrativity" is very cool Luke Solomon (Freaks) - Justin's mix is killer Stacey Pullen (Transmat) - "Narrativity" is da bomb! Dylan Hermelijn (2000 and One) - Great Justin Drake mix Holgar Behn (H.O.S.H.) - Justin Drake is the master of swing and groove! He does it again. Great and will play and support. Franck Roger (Real Tone) - I love "Anekdote", Blue Cucuracha style! Dave Mothersole (Ministry Of Sound) - "Anekdote" is a cool track Nils Nurnberg (8-Bit) - Wow, both original mixes are great, definately in my box! Timeless deep groovers. Anja Schneider (Mobilee) - Justin Drake mix is very sexy! Matthias Vogt (Motorcitysoul) - Another strong release from NRK Alex Tepper (Drumcode) - Great release, will play all tracks. James Teej (Rekids) - Liking the Justin Drake mix and "Anekdote", got a dope roll to it Burnski (Back To Basics) - Justin Drake mix is nice and dubby Stuart Geddes (Mulletover) - Justin's mix is cool Robert Owens - Very nice vibes
Amir, AKA Rimah Khalouf, has been bubbling under on the house fraternity for a couple of years, and with a slew of stella releases for high profile labels such as Nick Curly’s 8Bit, Trapez, Great Stuff Recordings and bouq, he debuts for NRK next month with a cheeky 3 track EP entitled "Uneasy Listening EP".
“Narrativity” is a funky, bass driven workout with some frenetic percussion and shuffling groove, and is backed up on this release by a Justin Drake remix. “Drakey” is no stranger to the NRK label, being one half of house ‘legends’ Peace Division, who recorded for NRK many times over the years. Justin delivers a murky yet swinging remix, holding down some strings for a bit of drama. Great club tackle from a seasoned pro!
“Anekdote” on the flip is a stripped back percussive track, not too dissimilar to that old Derrick Carter style from back in the day, with assorted vox clips, heavy stabs and teasing FX easing the track along. Perfect deep, jackin house.
"Uneasy Listening EP" will be released on 12" vinyl on February 15th, with a digital release two weeks later on 1st march.
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.
Things started to get a little bit more experimental in 2006, co-incidentaly our 10th year in the business. The wave of European "minimal" techno and house was beginning to take a hold, not that this was a bad thing when we were able to call upon hot producers such as Radio Slave and Paul Woolford to rise above the identikit minimal sound and produce for us some amazing techno influenced singles and remixes....
Paul Woolford (also know for his residency at Leeds nighterie Back To Basics, and releases on 2020 Vision) released a trio of heavyweight singles for NRK under the "Modernist" series...what started out as a remix request to Paul spawned into these three singles where no sounds or styles were off limits. Radio Slave, AKA Matt Edwards, was still carving out his sound back in 2006, and NRK alligned with him nice and early, as he produced stunning remixes of Peace Division's "Blacklight Sleaze" and Jamie Anderson's former Honchos release, "Time Is Now".
As mentioned, 2006 heralded our 10th year as a record label, a milestone that we never thought we would achieve from our humble beginnings. A label retrospective, "NRK:10" was released as a triple CD, and showcased the many influential names and records that NRK have released since 1996.
Still though, there was no time to bask in former glories, as the task of breaking new singles was on hand. Displaying our love for all styles of house, NRK picked up Blackjoy's disco heavy "Moustache" (a track that had been building momentum for a couple of years on Bob Sinclar's Yellow label) and we complemented the re-release with great remixes from Prins Thomas and Franck Roger. 2006 also saw single releases from Peace Division (with the aforementioned Radio Slave mixes of their "Blacklight Sleaze" and John "Mood II Swing" Ciafone remixes of "Club Therapy"), Kerri Chandler's awesome "The Promise" (featuring the man himself on vocals) and Trackheadz legendary "Our Music", which also featured on their debut album "Trackheadz".
With the scene started to pick up and get stronger in the more "experimental" circles, it was decided to release a couple of mix album projects, a format that NRK had opted out of for a year or so. And the mix album to end all mix albums came in the spiritual shape of Joe Claussell's "Translate" project. Claussell is known to many as one third of the Body & Soul crew (along with Francois K and Danny Krivit) and he pulled out all the stops to produce a mix album that would differetiate itself from the rest of the pack. "Translate" featured "social commentary", street vox-pops, ambient passages, and the now legendary "10 tracks of silence", as well as stunning music from the likes of Ame, Jeff Mills, Alton Miller, Virgo and many more. "Translate" is truly a mix CD that has to be heard from start to finish, and is a project that we are very proud of at NRK, if only because it confused the hell out of half the people, and totally struck a chord with the other half.
2006 also saw the opening account on our Coast2Coast DJ mix series, and who better to compile and mix for us that Quentin Harris, an artist that had shined throughout 2005 with his "Let's Be Young" cut, and who started our C2C series with an awesome NYC inspired mix that threw down Mick Jagger, Franck Roger, Bizarre Inc, Blaze, Byron Stingly and more into the melting pot.
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".
Honchos Music, NRK's sub label that ran from 2000-2006, released just shy of 50 releases, including underground goodies from the likes of Ian Pooley & Magik J, DJ Dan, D'Julz, AJ Scent, Noel Nanton, Jamie Anderson and George T. Presenting a more trackier and tribal sound to NRK's polished deep house sound, Honchos Music was a firm favourite with a lot of tech-house and tribal DJs of the day.
Honchos one and only label comp, "Brigade Honchos" was released in 2003, and compiled and mixed by Mazi, AKA Audio Soul Project. A veritable romp through the label's catalogue up til '03, CD01 started the ride on a deeper and diskofied tip, taking in tracks from Tony Thomas, Dirty Gringo, Ian Pooley and Mood II Swing. CD02 went darker and more percussive, with remixes from Peace Division, Dano, Piliavin & Zimbardo and more cranking up the tempos.
Get yer wellies out, it’s that time of year again!The Summer Solstice has just passed, and that means it’s Glastonbury Festival time.Team NRK take the short trip down to deepest Somerset to spend 3 days in the sun/rain/mud (delete as appropriate), although the weather forecast is looking very promising for the weekend.
For any of you going to Glastonbury this year, NRK have a little something special going off in the Dance Village this year, so do slide on up with some rotten scrumpy and smacky pills and say hello!
NRK have helped co-ordinate the DJ line-up for The Igloo, which is like a mini IMAX with 360 degree visuals and 4K system, we've done a couple of parties in there now and it's ace!The Sunday line-up looks like this;
El Harvo : 6.00 - 7.00pm Ed Karney : 7.00 - 8.00pm Nick Harris & James B : 8.00 - 9.30pm Dave Beer & Buckley : 9.30 - 10.30pm SilverCity : 10.30 - 11.30pm Peace Division : 11.30 - 12.30am Ralph Lawson : 12.30 - 1.30am Radio Slave : 1.30 - 2.30am
Other DJs and acts to check throughout the weekend include Derrick May, X-Press 2, QuietVillage, Booka Shade, Danny Howells, Black Dog, Hercules and Love Affair, Nicky Holloway & Trevor Fung,
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.
