V Recordings – A Brief History

Few record labels can claim to have changed the face of their respective scene. However, V Recordings, started in 1993 by Bryan G and Jumping Jack Frost, V Recordings, can confidently say that they have done just that.

Having taken a stack of demos from his previous job at Rhythm King offshoot Outer Rhythm, Bryan thoroughly road tested a selection of the best tracks and V Recordings was born. Their first release came from Bristol based newcomers Roni Size and DJ Krust and, along with DJ Die, V Recordings began to build up steam with a string of classics including ‘Jazz Note’, ‘It’s A Jazz Thing’ and ‘Set Speed’.

From their they began to work with a selection of the scene’s freshest talent, including Dillinja, Lemon D and Ray Keith, and with their help unleashed the ‘V Classic’ and ‘Planet V’ LPs, two immense compilations which cemented their reputation as one of the leading independent record labels around.

Meanwhile the V Recordings crew began to investigate the possibilities of running their own night and started Movement, a drum & bass event that is still the longest running in the history of the scene and ran weekly for nearly twelve years! As well as their weekly event Movement tents could be seen at festivals such as Homelands, Lovebox and the legendary Skol Beats in Brazil.

V Recordings is now well known for their Brazilian connection having dropped the Brazilian D&B anthem ‘LK’ in 2004. A Brazilian DJ and promoter called Patife visited Movement while on holiday and after returning home and emailing the Movement crew to enquire about doing events together it was agreed that they should head to Brazil and check out the scene before they jumped into anything.

Having satisfied themselves, Bryan and the rest of the V camp started work with the Brazilian crew of Patife, XRS and DJ Marky, culminating in Brazilian fever that swept the D&B scene and kick started the career of yet another of D&B’s biggest names.

In the last few years V Recordings hasn’t slowed down either, concentrating hard on their sub-labels Liquid V and Chronic and continued to bring through some of the best talent in the game; including artists like Artificial Intelligence, Cabbie and Utah Jazz.

With an eye on the future, V will continue to bring through some of the most versatile producers the underground scene has to offer and, in a scene where too many labels fall by the wayside, it’s inspiring to see one with so much history and with so much to offer the future.

WWW.VRECORDINGS.COM