Conscious consumers labelling labels

The releases on R&S Records rarely disappoint. Founded back in 1983 by Renaat Vandepapeliere and Sabine Maes, the label has a long and impressive pedigree. In its first iteration, contributors included Aphex Twin, CJ Bolland, Joey Beltram and the Future Sound of London.

Then R&S went quiet. Vandepapeliere cited boredom and a perceived sameness in the dance music scene as reasons for shutting down the label in 2000. Since R&S resurged around 2008, many fantastic artists—some who I truly adore—have joined the fold: Blawan, Djrum, Shanti Celeste. Household names for the bedroom deejays.

But R&S has not been without controversy. In September 2020, Eddington Again—a black artist with former releases on R&S—questioned the label’s lack of gender and racial diversity. Vandepapeliere’s response was less than exculpatory. Artists subsequently called off their ties with R&S. Then the label became embroiled in an unfair dismissal lawsuit and allegations of racial discrimination in 2021.

The aim of this piece is not to pass a final judgment on whether R&S is racist or not. Mikahl Anthony, another black artist and R&S contributor, has defended Vandepapeliere. Stories like these are also crucial. But if you look at the artists on R&S, it is hard not to notice the abundance of pale males.

As consumers we can and should make change with our choices. We can support local artists and second-hand shops instead of fast fashion. We can travel in more emissions-friendly ways, literally voting with our feet and reshaping the provision of transport services. In dance music, we can pay attention to the artists, labels and collectives who truly promote the core values of the scene. It should be uncontentious that a record label with as much recognition as R&S promotes diversity. If a label cannot recognise its intrinsic value, then surely it can see it as instrumentally powerful in combatting the boredom and sameness—which Vandepapeliere was afflicted by—of a homogenous cast.

With that said, it is now time to turn to what I hope will become a recurring section on the blog: label highlights. These are labels that, whether in their charter or incidentally, drive the scene forward with more diverse visions for electronic music. The first pick is ANTI-MASS, a queer collective hailing from Kampala, Uganda. Led by Authentically Plastic (AP), Nsasi and Turkana, ANTI-MASS has carved out a space within the repressive walls of Uganda, where same sex conduct remains a criminal offence. AP, who played on home soil at the turn&burn party back in August, has a way with all sounds industrial and techno. Shivers, released earlier this week, is every part heady, cinematic and entrancing. And Diesel Femme, released on the DOXA V/A by ANTI-MASS, fits a big rig like a glove. Kazi Ni Kazi, a four-track run of South Sudanese rap, is slick in its production and blending of influences. While these releases have an underlying tension of resistance, they also hum with a sense of creative connectivity. In the narrowing permissible space between conformity and expression, ANTI-MASS glows.

Joe Negrine

26 September 2024