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Music

​Dim Mak Launches "Risk-Taking, Eclectic" Free Label – New Noise

Get the inside story from president Lee Kurisu and A&R Keith Robertson

Steve Aoki's Dim Mak label has proven to be the one of the most adept enterprises at rolling with the phases of dance music in its near 20 year existence. From the indie-dance era that championed everyone from Battles to Bloc Party, to the days of heavy bass turn-up, to its current big room-centric iteration, Dim Mak is ever-changing and ever-present. Keeping in form with this, the label has just announced the launch of a free music imprint bearing the name New Noise.

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"We look at New Noise as a platform to push boundaries beyond genre confines and highlight up-and-comers who we feel have the potential to blow up," Dim Mak president Lee Kurisu tells THUMP. "The fact that we're releasing this music for free speaks to our mission of bringing innovative sounds to forefront sans barriers."

"The initial idea was almost two years ago," says Dim Mak A&R Keith Robertson (AKA AutoErotique). "We were getting all this music and we didn't really have a home for a lot of it. We didn't wanna make it emerging artists like Fools Gold Clubhouse or Mad Decent's Jeffrees. We wanted it to be more about a showcase for sounds that are new, fresh, interesting, different - Almost better than what Dim Mak would be putting out."

"The direction for New Noise is cutting edge, interesting, cool, crafty, unique, versatile, and different. Not necessarily underground," Robertson explains. "And I think we'll focus on a lot more live instrumentation acts, hip hop and rap. I think the future is going back to live performance. I think people are getting over DJs. The market's saturated, there's too many of them. It's gotten out of hand, to the point that everyone and their pet turtle is a DJ."

The label's first release has been from fast-rising Los Angeles based producer Ghastly. The track "Every Night," exemplifies his style perfectly - He takes the sleekness of deeper house, the raunch of bassline, and the upfront energy of big room, and wraps it up one totally fuckin' Ghastly package. The kid's been hotly tipped and rightfully so.

Upcoming releases on New Noise include jungle terror from Jace Mek & BIGGS, instrumental hip hop from Diamond Pistols, and some baile funk influenced tunage from BLITZ.