Catching Up With London Elektricity to Discuss Med School

The London Elektricity name is synonymous with drum & bass. And as one of the driving duo behind Hospital Records, Tony Colman’s influence in the field definitely runs deep across vinyl records, YouTube, the iTunes podcast feed and way waaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond that. Having hosted his Hospital off-shoot label Med School in Room Three numerous times over the past year or so (we’re having them down once again on Friday 22nd March), we felt like there was actually no character better placed to give us a unique insight into the goals and operation of the label so we sent a signal to South London and asked him to pick some of his favourite Med School house releases. I’m thinking more in relationship to Hospital when I say this but what was the initial idea behind the offshoot label? What made you feel like it was something you needed to create? We have always had smaller imprints from day one of Hospital. When we launched Hospital in 1996 as a hive of loungecore activity we also launched a parallel label called Casualty for downtempo music. Casualty became just what it said on the tin - a total disaster! So we folded it after 3 releases. Our next failed sub label was called M*A*S*H - we wanted to release jump up. M*A*S*H lasted a bit longer; I think 6 or 7 releases until we realised it was too limiting musically, although the artwork was a lot fun. Med School became our third attempt at building a credible label to run alongside Hospital, and thankfully we got it right. Why do we need another label? Well it is inevitable that when a label such as Hospital gets as big as it has, the release schedule becomes very full with the artists you sign, and there is not enough room for smaller more experimental releases. Med School enables us to put out niche quality music with no commercial pressure. Obviously it’s become a little bit more known for developing artists and bringing through new talent. Did you ever envision it would develop in the way(s) that it has done? Med School is on its own unpredictable journey and has its own momentum entirely independent from Hospital. That's a great strength - we sign very diverse talent to Med School, from the ambient microfunk of Bop to the cathedral-esque epic lushness of Unquote through to the minimal tech of Joe Syntax, the ambitious songscapes of Lung and the extreme 'neuroz' of Royaltson. Who knows what's next on Med School!? Do you have any plans to expand Hospital further? Like does Med School’s success stir anything else, any other plans for new imprints etc etc. Even though we now have 13 full time staff in Hospital HQ I don't think we could do justice to another imprint. Med School is becoming a senior label in itself now, and we are putting a lot of love into 2013 and 2014 for Med School. Could you pick your top 5 releases on Med School? Yes definitely… Royalston - Cerulean Blue Bop - Song About My Dog Villem – Artifacts Joe Syntax - Bassline Sinker Fracture & Neptune – Ventura Catch London Elektricity playing at the Med School Room Three takeover on Friday 22nd March.