13 Deep Years

The weather turned in the past few days and as I type this, the grey clouds light drizzle that are the de facto conditions where I live have returned. I'm not going to make a habit of doing weather-related posts, but my listening soundtrack for the past few days, 'Delsin 2', has suited the shift back to less sunny conditions. It's hard to believe that it's been 13 years since Marsel set up his label, but what's more difficult to comprehend is how Delsin has almost without fail managed to consistently release great techno music -  my feeling is it's down to the fact that it has never followed trends and just puts out music that Marsel himself loves. While they have drawn inspiration from Detroit, Marsel's observation that this music acted as a "starting point" for the label is spot on - as the 'Delsin 2' compilation shows, deepness of all hues and shades is represented, be that Redshape's ominous bass killer 'Misc Usage', Quince's more slamming 'Contracting' or Vince Watson's string soaked 'Ethereal'. Just as importantly, the label has allowed its roster to indulge their caprices, not always forcing them to release music that has to specificially work on the dance floor. This is what acts like Nubian Mindz, Aardvarck, the excellent Newwworldaquarium and his 154 side-project (responsible for one of my favourite Delsin releases, the 'Strike' album) have been allowed to achieve, while Marsel has also kept his ears open to new acts -  with Shed, Chymera and Rolando joining the roster in recent years. If that weren't enough, Delsin's offshoot label Ann Aimee put out some fine, darker, dubby techno by Delta Funktionen and James Kumo last year. It's for all of these reasons athat 13 years later, Delsin is one of the few labels that still has a 'buy on sight' target on its head. Here's to another 13 years...

Comments

[Neil]

Hoping this will hit the shops this week!