Westwood Recordings

Westwood Recordings is an independent record label based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, which releases primarily electronic music. The label was founded in 2013 by music producer Nick Middleton. Middleton is a founding member of Canadian electronic act, The Funk Hunters.

The label boasts an international roster of music producers with releases that span a wide variety of electronic dance music genres. The label's catalog is distributed worldwide in all territories available for download and streaming on popular online music stores such as iTunes, Spotify, and Beatport, and also often made available for free or by donation through their Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and official website pages.

Although the label continues to release music from a wide variety of electronic dance music genres, it has had considerable success in the Glitch Hop category. In 2014, Westwood Recordings was listed as the 8th record label in the world out of the top 100 for the Glitch Hop category on Beatport.[1]

Westwood Recordings currently works with acts as diverse as electronic duo The Funk Hunters, global groove band Delhi 2 Dublin, and acclaimed hip hop MC Chali 2na from the legendary Los Angeles group Jurassic 5.

History

Nick Middleton formed Westwood Recordings in early 2013 as a central platform to distribute new music he was making as The Funk Hunters. Middleton also conceptualized the label as a distribution portal for the work of both Canadian and international artists that he was already connected to or interested in working with.

In a January 2016 interview with Label Engine, Middleton explained: "I think back in 2013 when I started the label I had already had enough personal interactions with labels around the globe releasing my music or doing remixes for them that I knew exactly why and how I wanted Westwood to be different.” “I was frustrated with my options for releasing music so I felt it was time to just start something on my own. I’ve been super fortunate to have so many amazing and talented friends that believed in what I was doing and who decided to release their music on Westwood.”[2]

Middleton who continues to oversee the A&R for every release, states that his clear intention from day one was to focus on working with particular artists and maintaining a “quality over quantity” motto, rather than being a label that only releases a specific sound or genre: “With Westwood I had a clear goal. I wanted it to be focused 100% on original sample free music, I wanted it not to be bound to any particular tempo or genre, I wanted to limit the number of releases we had so we could really help push each release (quality over quantity), and ultimately I just wanted it to grow into something that my friends (and myself as an artist) would be proud to release on.”[2]

Artists

Artists signed to Westwood Recordings include Delhi 2 Dublin (Canada), Chali 2na (United States), The Funk Hunters (Canada), Defunk (Canada), Moontricks (Canada), CMC & Silenta (Germany), Krossbow (UK), K+Lab (Australia), Freakvent Flote (Hungary), and SugarBeats (United States), among others. Outside of the label's roster of signed artists Westwood Recordings has also released work by an additional thirty five artists during the label's first three years of operation.[3]

Artists signed to Westwood Recordings

  • The Funk Hunters (Canada)
  • Chali 2na (USA)
  • CMC & Silenta (Germany)
  • Crazy Daylight (Australia)
  • Defunk (Canada)
  • Delhi 2 Dublin (Canada)
  • DJ Wood (Canada)
  • Flavours (Canada)
  • Freakvent Flote (Hungary)
  • K+Lab (Australia)
  • Krossbow (UK)
  • Moontricks (Canada)
  • Scrumb (Canada)
  • SkiiTour (Canada)
  • Shylow (Canada)
  • SugarBeats (USA)
  • SoDown (USA)
  • Vespers (Canada)

Affiliated artists released on Westwood Recordings

  • Adham Shaikh (Canada)
  • Beat Fatigue (Netherlands)
  • BreakBeatBuddha (UK)
  • Basement Freaks (Greece)
  • Cervendos (Hungary)
  • Chris Munky (UK)
  • Dan Dakota (Canada)
  • David Starfire (USA)
  • Damian Marley (Jamaica)
  • Dub FX (Australia)
  • Ed Solo (UK)
  • Funkanomics (Germany)
  • Gift of Gab (USA)
  • Grid Division (USA)
  • Harj Nagra (Canada)
  • JPOD (Canada)
  • Ketatonic (Australia)
  • Kingfisha (Australia)
  • Leo Napier (USA)
  • Maggie Miller (USA)
  • Marshall McGee (USA)
  • MetaphOracle (Canada)
  • N-Jin (Austria)
  • Neighbour (Canada)
  • Odjbox (UK)
  • Opiuo (New Zealand)
  • See-I (USA)
  • Sepalot (Germany)
  • Stephen Marley (Jamaica)
  • The Human Experience (USA)
  • The ReMinders (USA)
  • Timothy Wisdom (Canada)
  • Tigerstyle (UK)
  • Toby Emerson (Canada)
  • Tonye Aganaba (Canada)
  • Utah Jazz (UK)
  • Willdabeast (USA)

References

  1. ↑ Mahin, Julien. "Best Of 2014 Glitch Hop - Labels - Beatport Top Tracker".
  2. 1 2 "Interview with Nick Middleton of The Funk Hunters".
  3. ↑ "Artists - Westwood Recordings".

External links

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