Profile of Darkvibe Recordings

An article I was commissioned to write by Knowledge magazine. View the original here.

Although only a fledgling label, Darkvibe Recordings has already made its presence felt on the d&b scene. Formed in September 2008 by British producer Plex, the label has been pushing its own brand of 'electro jump up' through releases from an international roster of artists. Tracks such as Hypnotized by Plex and Extraterrestrials by Ravager have been assaulting the d&b charts, with Extraterrestrials receiving radio play on Crissy Criss' 1Xtra show. We caught up with Plex to find out what the label is about and what they have planned for the future...

You were previously signed to Blame's 720 Degrees imprint. What made you decide to set up your own label?

It all started in 2002 when I signed my first release New Episode and Speedfreak. Blame was well established at that point and I was going to all the big nightclubs with him promoting my release. I was meeting all the top artists in the business and passing round CDs. It gave me a good look at how things worked and a proper insight into promoting a label. I then spent a few years promoting Darkvibe Recordings and when the name and logo started to get noticed I launched the label.

'Dark vibes' seems to accurately describe the tone of most of your releases. Is this a deliberate theme?

Yes it is. My music has always had that edge to it. New Episode was a very dark track, but I naturally find myself drawn into dark underground rollers, and this is what the label is all about.

What is happening with the label at the moment?

I have five artists onboard now which are myself, DBRuk, VTech, Ghost, Ravager and a vocalist, Jeffie Dillard, and we all bring our own dark flavours to the table. I have my new single Drug Bust out at the end of May and a new single from Ravager called Satellites out at the end of June. Right now I'm working on a new album called Psychotic Lullaby which is out this summer.

What are your plans for the future of the label?

I'm still focusing on what I've been doing for the last few years: pushing the sound in the right direction, but also giving artists a chance to get their music heard, as a lot of them struggle to find a label that will take them on.

Have you got any plans to expand the label?

Yes most definitely. I'm not just about drum'n'bass, I'm about music. It's in my blood. I have recently been producing the final mixes of an unsigned post-punk band called Dutch Order who many people, including myself, believe are gonna be big news. I also get so many demos sent to me from artists of all genres like dubstep, house and most categories of drum'n'bass, so I decided as I have worldwide distribution I should be looking into setting up some sub-categories on the label to cater for all this.