Yamatai has released the third instalment of their Genesis VA, which has 19 tracks.
The label has been busy ever since we talked to them two years ago because the soon-Bristol-based label has got their eyes on the prize: becoming an established label in the scene and building a community around the love and passion for drum & bass. With their plans to organise social events during summer, continue their Yamatai artist meet-ups, and keep a tight release schedule, they are well on their way.
Today, we talk with label head James about their latest release, how to find like-minded people, and what the future has in store for Yamatai.
Hi James, congratulations on your third Genesis VA! What’s the story behind this series?
Thank you! When we first started Genesis, our goal was to establish a network of artists and set them up for future success. With a lot of these artists, we look to work with them more in the future. This first release is their origin story of working with the Yamatai brand. So far, this has worked wonderfully. One of the main artists that sticks out to me is Leks. He was on Volume One of the Genesis VA two years ago and is now a regular release artist with us. He’s been smashing it every single time! Leks is probably the best example of what can potentially happen when we get artists on board. Some of the other producers on the series have gone on to do much more with other labels. We’ve given them a little bit of spotlight. I think the Genesis VA has many success stories, which feels amazing.
What’s the power behind VAs?
They are statement pieces. With a big project, you have to make sure that all the tunes are top-tier to get noticed and get the deserved attention. For us, it’s all about having that multi-sub-genre diversity in there. There’s a track in there for every single person. It’s a way for us to shine more light on artists we want to work with. There are only 12 months in the year, and that limits how many releases we can put out. We love giving upcoming artists a chance with these VAs because I feel like there’s not enough limelight on these guys, and it’s so hard to break through in the scene at the moment. I see us being that platform where they can show their talent off, get seen a bit more, and then end up going to those established or semi-established labels they’re after.
There are 19 tracks on your latest VA. That’s a lot! How did you work?
I scale the drum & bass scene a year before the release date to discover new or upcoming artists. This is done either by looking at SoundCloud or observing Beatport charts and releases. I think it’s a really good way to do it. We then message them and check if they’re up for doing the tracks for us. Getting all the assets and tracks together can be a very long process, but the result always makes it worth it. We went with 19 tracks for Genesis VA Volume III because It has always been a pretty large project. We had 20 artists on the previous release. We split that into two separate releases to ensure it was manageable with social media posts and, of course, Christmas. This VA is the first one we’re doing as a paid release and as a whole 19-track VA. So far, we’ve received amazing feedback and some good indications that people are liking it.
How do you select the artists you want to work with?
After we find them on SoundCloud or another platform, we’ll sit down with them for a good hour, debriefing each other, finding out about each other, and breaking the ice, you would say. We want to build that relationship up from the start. We’ve found that everyone we found so far has a burning passion for drum & bass or just electronic music in general. Telm & Wilson are a good example of this. Last year was their first release ever release. When they sent us their tunes, we were completely blown away. We couldn’t believe they hadn’t released anywhere else before. We jumped on a call, and now we’re good mates. They also have another EP on the way. It’s funny how it all works when you get sent music and build that relationship.
Going back to the VA and the diversity of the tunes… There’s a 140 track in there as well!
That’s a funny story, that one. Paul (Scurrow) sent us a folder of about 10 tracks, and I was going through the tracks on Discord with Kalane and some of our other mates. The one that stood out the most was ‘Cold Start’, the 140 track. We were all like, “Well, we have to sign this now,” it’s nice and refreshing to get something other than drum & bass on the release as well. I’m not a massive 140 fan by any means, but there are certain times when the track has been produced so well that I have to sign it! It’s good to get that little bit of diversity with the genres in there.
You had a label night with Empathy Audio in Innsbruck on April 26. How did that go?
That was a very big event for us. We get on really well with the Empathy guys. When Yamatai first started, we asked an artist called Tozy for a guest mix. We later found out he was best mates with DECAZ, one of Empathy’s running guys. The relationship was built from there. It was at the beginning of 2023 that we started to really get in contact with each other. Discord makes loads of friendships! We started speaking more regularly, and then he proposed the idea of holding a label takeover this year. We’re going to return the favour at a later date, and we’re going to get them down to Bristol. It’s a lovely blossoming friendship between labels, which is always nice to see.
You’ve also done quite a few events with Stellar Audio and Transparent Audio.
I met Iwan a couple of times. He’s come to a couple of mine and Tom’s events down in Bristol, and we just got chatting, exchanging ideas between us to see what we could do together. Iwan asked me and Tom if we wanted to do a label showcase at Motion, which was our first event together, and it went really well. This then set in stone the idea that we could work together and see good results. Even though we all release different styles of drum & bass, it went great. We’ve got a couple more cool events coming… We’ve got a super secret one to announce sometime in June, and we’ve got a couple more lined up to fill out the rest of this year. It’s good when you work with labels you get along with; you don’t see it too much, but we are very lucky. When you get two or three labels working together, you’ll have different ideas and thoughts on the lineup. That’s how you’re going to get unique events that people have never seen, and then you’re appealing to each other’s audiences as well. There’s a lot of power in working together rather than alone, which is crucial at our level.
What have I learned from working together with Transparent and Stellar? Ewan is a wizard when it comes to events. I have no idea how to run events, so Tom and I have taken a lot of information from him regarding the event side. I think we all just share ideas with each other, especially running the labels and any tips and tricks for that side … It’s been really helpful for us to get to know each other.
Since you last spoke with us, it’s gone quite fast for Yamatai. How are you looking back on everything you’ve accomplished so far?
Things have ramped up a lot since then. It’s easy for me not to reflect on the progress that we’ve had,I can get very tunnel-visioned. There’ll be days when I think we’re not doing enough, but then I look back on it and see how far we’ve come, and it makes me happy to see all of the work paying off. Each year, we’re going to try to 1up ourselves from the year before. We want to push hard to become a better platform to showcase these artists and develop and fine-tuned list of core artists. We want to put on many more events and have more summer social events because you don’t see them happen too much. We have got a lot of ideas from the Sofasound event that we went to a couple of years ago. Everyone could come down, they did interviews, you could meet all the artists… That’s the kind of stuff that we want to do. We want to be more of a community rather than just a label.
When we first started up, we had a good 30 people in our chat as our little hub community. That was during lockdown, so we all came together, supported each other, did all these live streams… We were talking to each other every day. That’s where it stems from. Every now and then, we do a Yamatai meet-up. We will get the crew living in and around London to meet and get beers in Bermondsey. It’s to get everyone to come together and make sure that our artists know each other. It’s formed lots of collaborations and friendships that we didn’t think would happen. That whole sense of community has been built up more and more every year.
What are some of the goals you’ve set for yourself and that you managed to achieve already?
I’ve actually got a whiteboard up here, on which I wrote 18 points when we first started doing paid releases. There’s only four left on there. It’s there to remind me how far we have come and to remind me that we are well as a label. I’ll list a few of them. One of our goals was to have a UKF article that happened this year with our ‘Label Spotlight’; another one was to have a number one on the 140 Beatport charts, and we hit that with Nukes ‘The Devil You Know EP’. I also wrote down getting a Skankandbass and Drum and Bass Arena premiere. It doesn’t seem like a big achievement, but it’s always been a goal of mine to get onto those premier platforms. There are a couple there that I want to get in next year. The main one would be to become more of an established name within the scene. That’s what my eyes are set on.
What’s next?
We have a potential mini-European tour this year. We wanted to push a bit more to get out of the UK and see our audience in Europe, so more info on that very soon. Another thing we’re working on is an MC-focussed project. There’s not too much focus on MCs in terms of highlighted releases. They are a big thing for drum & bass, so we want to highlight them, and we’ve got some really solid tracks so far. I think next year is going to be a bit more interesting. So we’ve got the Foundations of Yamatai Vol. 2 coming back next year with more big names. We’re also in talks about a super secret label collab EP….
I would like to thank all of the crew involved on the Genesis VA. They’ve been stellar, and they’re all lovely people. I couldn’t ask for a better squad. Always having good people around you and supporting you is a massive factor. Just having a pure love for drum & bass, I’m very fortunate to be where I am now. Having that love for it pushes me every day. That might sound incredibly corny and cheesy, but when it comes down to it, that is the main factor that keeps me running Yamatai!
