Imprints: Glacial Sound

Imprints brings you weekly profiles of the most exciting independent record labels the world over, written by movers and shakers from within their own electronic music communities.

Name: Glacial Sound
Vibe: Low light, heavy bass, thick coats of grime. "Cryogenically frozen riddims."
Founded: 2012
Location: NYC/Dublin
Claim to fame: Dance music tastemakers like FACT are calling Glacial Sound "grime's new wave."
Upcoming release: Murlo's Last Dance EP, out October, 2013.
By the numbers: The label has released only two EPs.
Artists-to-watch: Rabit, Murlo, Slackk

What's the Deal:
I didn't hear about Glacial Sound until two months ago, when I saw that an artist named Rabit was visiting NYC from Texas, headlining Dune's Broke City party in Brooklyn. He was also on the bill for another Brooklyn party called Gold River that same week. Music heads in NYC were buzzing on the Facebook event and in some of the dance music forums in anticipation of the gigs. I checked out his Soundcloud, and as I kept digging I saw that Rabit, and his label Glacial Sound, had been getting some support on London radio station Rinse FM from DJs like Scratcha DVA, Dusk & Blackdown, and the Hyperdub crew. I played "Wolf Spider" by Rabit and thought, man, this dude is making fire grime instrumentals. I was also drawn to the label's album art.

That next week was the bi-weekly Fourth Temple night in Manhattan, an event run by Reconstrvct resident DJ True Nature. When I found out that the night's special guests were none other than Rabit and Glacial Sound himself (the eponymous DJ and label head Paul Purcell) I knew I couldn't miss it. That night, after a four-way B2B set between Prism, Glacial, True Nature, and Rabit, I pulled Paul aside and asked him some questions about the label. Paul also let us premiere the far out Slackk remix of Murlo's "Velvet Wall" to give us a taste of the forthcoming EP.

THUMP: Can you explain the name?
Glacial Sound: I wouldn't say that the name Glacial Sound is really a reflection of the music, even though the first release was described as cold or icy by a couple of people. It probably has some influence on my curation of the label on some subconscious level though, and it does contain a slight nod to a certain pioneer of grime.

THUMP: What's the scene in Dublin like as opposed to NYC? 
In Dublin the clubs close at 2:30AM, which is earlier than New York's more liberal closing times. More time is always a bonus. I'd say the NY scene—in regards to grime, dubstep, or footwork—is more united than the Dublin scene. You see guys in NY working together more from what I've witnessed, promoting each other, collaborating and stuff. Dublin has better sound, though.

THUMP: Who are your favorite grime producers currently?
From the older guys: Low Deep, DaVinche, Wiley, Rapid, Wonder, Young Dot, Skepta, and JME. From the newer guys: Rabit, Visionist, Murlo, Samename, JT, Logos, Major Grave, MssingNo., Slackk, Epoch, and Wen are all making some great stuff.

You can catch Glacial Sound this Saturday, August 17 at SRB in Brooklyn, alongside Coki, Dave Q, and more.

Vik Rai is an ad-hoc party promoter and music enthusiast from New York who has worked with many crews including Reconstrvct and Deep Space, amongst others.