All work and no BASS makes Jack a dull boy.
UK bass label Senseless Records began life, as these things so often do, as a twinkle in the eye, a growl in the tummy, several rumbles in the jungle of Leeds' banging soundsystem culture. The label is now fully-fledged, London-based and about to celebrate their fifth birthday. Founders Theo and Liam talk technicolour bass music and soundsystem roots to Spoonfed.
“The label started from soundsystem culture in Leeds,” says Theo, “working with crews like High Pressure who we still do parties with, inspired by Iration Steppas [massive Leeds-born sound system and self-proclaimed Vanguard of Dub]. An obsession with sound system-sized bass has never left us – but we're pushing it in lots of new directions. Musically we still take inspiration from soundsystem culture, but now it's an expanded, international take on it.
'Technicolour bass music' is the Senseless tagline. Bass in all its frankenstein forms, yes – but their output is not really fixed in one scene. A flick through their back catalogue reveals plenty of international flavours: Venezuelan duo Pocz and Pacheko, The Phantom – a Polish producer with a propensity for old skool rave synths – reggae vocalist Max Romeo, Las Vegas female MC Cheasleauen (“lil Kim meets Spankrock”) . They have an EP coming out next month from international bass nomad Maga Bo. He mixes traditional Ethiopian instruments with electronics.
To hear what technicolour bass music sounds like, Senseless suggest you check out 'Zarbak' from last year's Pocz & Pacheko debut release. “It summons up all the colour and energy of Venezuela but also fits right in with UK bass. We started using that tagline about two years ago and I'd say any of the releases since then do it.
As well as releasing music and doing club nights, underground parties in warehouses and fields remain a massive part of the Senseless ethos, (“The spirit of rave never died!”) but they're also focused on the artwork which accompanies their releases. “We put as much time and energy into the art that goes with the music, on releases and at the parties we do – like getting a whole warehouse in Hackney last summer painted by artists before a rave there, or the one-off screen prints for the birthday releases.”
Rising star of the illustration world Chris Pell from Brighton has designed their latest artwork [pictured above] which will be used on all the birthday releases. To celebrate turning five they have a series of five limited vinyl releases based around the five senses. Each one will have a hand screen-printed sleeve and an art print by a different artist. Each EP is three tracks from their favourite new and old producers and will also be released digitally. “We're announcing the line-ups nearer the time but there are some great names in there. We're doing an art exhibition/party to launch that too somewhere in London.”
“Bass music is in a good place,” says Theo. “Dubstep for example has gone full cycle from ground-breaking, to lowest common denominator and back and now there's lots of good and bad stuff being made. The same can probably be said of all the different strands of the sound. There's more than ever of both good and bad, but the net result of that is good. I think the line-up for the party this month demonstrates how that kind of diversity can all sit under one roof now which we love.”
The party he is referring to is, of course, The London Borough of Bass, this Saturday February 26th at Corsica Studios, where six upstanding, bass-obsessed promoters unite to form a consortium of rave, bass, filth.
The line-up is sumptiously massive and sprawls through dubstep, drumstep, bassline, glitch hop, mutant bass, ghettotech, booty, turbo crunk and a shed load more. You are in capable hands....
And Senseless Records' five essential ingredients for a banging party?
1. A good, diverse line-up. We've got tropical bass, grime, booty, dubstep, bassline, electro, jungle and more all covered by some of our favourite artists including legends like Remarc and Dexplicit.
2. Good venue and soundsystem. Corsica is a great space and has one of the best club systems in London – Funktion One, mmmm.
3. Good promoters. Promoters who actually live the music they are promoting always make better parties and we've got six: Senseless, The Z-Shed, Coin-Operated, Spam Fritta, Rag&Bone & Creeps Law. Between us we've put on hundreds of parties so all coming together you can expect huge things.
4. Late license. A lot of parties in clubs don't go on late enough, but this one is pretty good (6am).
5. Hats. I like people to wear a lot of hats.
So there you have it. And if you book a ticket here and mail the confirmation to info@senselessrecords.co.uk they'll give you a code to get any release for free from the whole Senseless catalogue here.
Check out their back catalogue here: http://soundcloud.com/senselessrecords
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