"We're Only Just Starting To Flourish": In Conversation With Hypercolour

As music continues to evolve, all the time it spawns fresh variants on the way and a pressure exists for artists and musical outlets to remain relevant and stay ‘on trend’. Whilst this can produce some phenomenal new music, there are times where the market can seem a little oversaturated. For Jamie Russell and Alex Jones, it was this particular trait of the industry that sparked the fundamental direction for Hypercolour, one that prioritised creative freedom and pure quality of production over quantity, back when they forged the label almost eight years ago. Eight years on and Hypercolour has since sliced through the electronic scene with boundless, high profile releases from the likes of Maya Jane Coles and Groove Armada whilst simultaneously building up a solid family of talent. Somehow, whether it was the immense artist roster that’s streamed out of the label or it was the unparalleled A&R strategy executed throughout the years, both the label’s managed to successfully deliver some of the most refreshing and esteemed off-kilter music, suitably defining them as one of the most charismatic and interesting outlets the UK has to offer. So prior to the team venturing to Farringdon on February 15th when Hypercolour take to our third floor alongside the The Analogue Cops, we had a quick chat with Alex Jones and Jamie Russell on all things Hypercolour, new releases and Antigua weddings. It’s been about eight years since it all began - how do you feel the past eight years have been? Is this where you imagined Hypercolour to be in 2014? Jamie Russell: The last eight years has had its fair share of ups and downs. I think we're just starting to flourish though, to be honest. The label has far exceeded our expectations. Alex Jones: It’s not really where we saw the label ending up; I think we thought it would fail at some point. Jamie Russell: True, but we stuck to our principles. Why do you think it’s only beginning to flourish now? JR: Because we're about to embark on probably our most exciting year yet, with the label and some big releases with some of our ultimate heroes. It’s quite surreal to be honest but it’s also a huge testament to how respected the label is I think? Were there any releases or specific moments over the years which completely changed the game for you? AJ: I suppose signing the first bigger records. I think from that point on we slowly carved our own sound. JR: The game-changer for me was signing Kris Wadsworth's ‘Mainline’. I think that’s when people started to sit up and take notice what we were doing. I read an interview you did with RA a couple of years ago, where you said that the kind of vision you had with Hypercolour was to release off-kilter, slightly leftfield futurehouse/techno… JR: Yep, spot on. I think we definitely avoided trends in the past and I like to think we still do. AJ: It’s very hard to get people to buy our stuff though! It must have been quite difficult to stick to that as for a lot of other outlets and for music in general, keeping with the times and remaining on that wave seems to be the main policy. How did you manage to stay relevant without jumping on that band wagon? AJ: By churning out one trendy sound at a time… JR: There are lots of UK labels recycling their mates for remixes and shit because they love the scene... There seems to be no quality control with that mind-set, it’s more of a back slapping exercise, where as we have a strong filter here at Hypercolour HQ. AJ: Half of them out there just run a label to look cool… and DJ for the same reason. JR: But we did that in the beginning to be fair! So you have quite a definitive A&R strategy then I guess? AJ: We do, yeah… JR: We have a really close knit family of friends and crew where the doors always open for them to send us stuff. That said, we don’t always put out what they send… AJ: We've offended bigger artists in the past by turning them down. JR: But we don't sit on our hands. We are constantly striving to be bigger and better and with the schedule this year, that will become very clear. A prime example is kicking this year off with two amazing albums from Kris Wadsworth and Luke Vibert… Was this strategy the basis for starting your six other sister labels? JR: I think we was just coming across a lot more different music, also, UK sounds were coming to the forefront again. After the demise of dubstep, we had this crazy unification of various genres and because we grew up in the 90's, this was always part of our musical diet. So we pretty much just started other imprints to cater for these new sounds we were digging at the time. I still think there's a common thread to be found with all the sub labels and what we do with Hypercolour though… How do find the time to manage all of them though? JR: We got a label manager now! Me and Alex have got our own little things going on, Alex is full on with the Dense & Pika stuff which has smashed it. It’s the best thing in UK techno as far as I can tell… So overall it's been a pretty amazing journey since you set Hypercolour up? JR: Yes definitely. It’s why I get out of bed for each morning. AJ: Considering what a pair of muppets we are, the family has actually expanded now - we took on Ste Roberts as a third pair of ears and also Nick Harris, as our label manager. What do u guys have in store for 2014 then? JR: We can't say too much actually, as we don't want to spoil the surprise but we can tell you, other than the albums just mentioned, we’ve got a Maya Jane Coles remix EP with some amazing versions from Kowton, Bonobo and Dark Sky. As well as 12”s from House of Black Lanterns, JoeFarr, Marco Bernardi, Kevin McPhee, James Walsh, Last Magpie and Bareksin. There’s also a load of stuff we can’t mention though… You’re taking over room 3 for us next month, tell us more about that… AJ: We have The Analogue Cops, who are also now key members of the family. Their Plain Clothes EP actually drops this week. JR: It’s also the same night as Alex's UK wedding party (the first Hypercolour wedding!) so it’s going to be carnage with shirts and skirts everywhere! How did The Analogue Cops EP come about? JR: I met Lucretio in Berlin last year, who is one half of the cops. I was literally at the counter buying some records at Space Hall, and funnily enough Jerome Sydenham was playing one of Alex's tracks, ‘SMP’ off his last Hype LTD EP through the main system in the shop. I had this record in my hand ‘Competing Motivations’ by Lucretio on Warm Sounds, and Lucretio came up to me and was like “hey that's my record” but at the time I didn't realise he was in The Analogue Cops, until I got home and did my research and from there I just hit him up and asked for some tunes. AJ: It looks like we'll be doing another record with them also… So it all happened quite naturally then… JR: Yeah, I guess it might not have happened if I’d of nut bumped into him… So one last thing I want to ask, what does fabric and the musical direction it takes mean to you both? AJ: I grew up in it. Tyrant is why I do what I do. Same for Jamie. JR: Yeah, It means a lot. It’s a big inspiration for the label, especially what Craig would play. It’s the best club in London and one of the best in the world, ran by great people who really care. We often would ask ourselves ‘would Craig play this record?’ when we sign something, so the club - and Craig for that matter- are solid measures for what we do. It's an honour to be involved.