Now in its second decade...
Marine Parade remains one of the pioneering independent labels driven by new electronic sounds... and beyond. Started in 1998 by Grammy-nominated DJ/Producer Adam Freeland, Marine Parade took its name from a street in Freeland's homebase of Brighton, England. The imprint has since become a flagship label for quality grooves, home to numerous seminal tracks: its discography spans everything from classic dance-music anthems like Freeland's iconoclastic 2003 global smash "We Want Your Soul" and ILS' "Next Level" to Jape's recent genre-smashing space-folk hit "Floating" (later covered brilliantly by the Raconteurs) and Freeland's widely-successful club mixes of the Doors "Hello, I Love You."
Since its inception, Marine Parade's vision was to push sounds that not only rock nightclubs, but also have the musical depth to move beyond the dance floor. Indeed, Marine Parade has released some of electronic music's most enduring albums, like Freeland's Now&Them, Evil Nine's You Can Be Special Too, and ILS' Soul Trader, and continues to innovate on the DJ mix CD format. Over the years, the label has continually put out classic tracks from the likes of Beber, Bassbin Twins, and Steve Bug and DJ T, a practice that continues on with the label's latest releases, which receive support from turntable legends spanning Rob Da Bank to Laurent Garnier... As well, Marine Parade has commissioned remixes from the tastemaker likes of Prins Thomas, Switch and D.I.M, and featured collaborations with the likes of artists ranging from Aesop Rock to Josh Wink and Tom Middleton. Indeed, Marine Parade has proven itself no slave to genre: legendary avant-garde electronic-music producer Bill Laswell is a fan, while drum-and-bass royals from High Contrast and Andy C to Ed Rush and Optical have also created infamous re-rubs out of the label's best-known tracks.
Year after year, Marine Parade has proven itself a dependable hothouse of new talent, having helped launch the career of esteemed Australian dance-music band Infusion, UNKLE collaborator Richard File (as Forme), and Bjork musical director Damian Taylor (as Stone Lions). The label's newest artists, like the acclaimed Alex Metric and Canadian electro iconoclast STA, continue to make waves across the globe. 2008 saw the second album from Evil Nine 'They Live' - acclaimed by press and fans alike. With stomping electro drums, '80s Italian horror-movie synths, dirty punk basslines, and a wanton disregard for genre rules, the infamously subversive dance/electronic duo created an unstoppable soundtrack for the new zombie revolution, with vocal collaborations from Def Jux head honcho EL-P, Beans (Anti Pop Consortium), Autokratz and Seraphim. In 2009 the label released the second Freeland artist album Cope™ on which Tommy Lee of Motley Crue played drums, Alex Metric co-produced, Twiggy Ramirez plays bass. Joey Santiago of the Pixies and Tony Bevilacqua of Distillers/Spinerette play guitar. Plus there is a collaboration with Soundpool, Vocals from Brody Dalle (Distillers / Spinnerette) and Gerry from DEVO. Freeland toured throughout the year with new frontman Kurt Baumann who also sings on four songs. At the end of the year a double disc Cope™ Remixed compilation was released, with remixes spanning a kaleidoscope of sounds from the likes of Joker, Gui Boratto, Emalkay, Prins Thomas and Siriusmo; the artwork was the result of an Artwork 'remix' competition. The label also released the debut album of PANTyRAiD (Ooah of Glitch Mob and MartyParty) to critical acclaim, their West coast hip-hop meets UK dubstep sound was named as one of Bleep.com's best of 2009.
2010 looks to be the label’s strongest year yet: with the greatly-anticipated debut full-length from Alex Metric, as well as some exciting new signings and new material by Adam and Evil Nine. Marine Parade continues its second decade right where it began: on the forward edge of the most groundbreaking music, circa now