May 2004: a young and fast-rising DJ named Friction levels up and launches his own imprint – Shogun Audio.
It’s a move so many artists make in the emergent chapters of their career it’s become a rite of passage. Few imprints, however, reach the influential stages that Friction’s label has. Over the years Shogun Audio – and its sibling imprints Elevate Records and SGN:LTD – have blessed the world with a dizzying array of agenda-setting artists, game-changing sounds and benchmark albums.
From the early days of Alix Perez, SpectraSoul and Icicle to the current troop of new-gen headliner heroes Emily Makis, Pola & Bryson, GLXY, Monrroe and Sustance, Shogun Audio’s discography is a full-spectrum snapshot of the last 20 years of drum & bass but through its own unique character, dynamic and perspective.
Forever evolving and always searching to reflect the widest range of sounds within drum & bass – from the soulful depths of Technimatic to the uncompromised experimentalism of Rockwell, from Spor’s face-melting Aztec to Monrroe and Emily Makis’s heartfelt Never Too Old – the label has done well to transcend subgenres and generations and battle the trend-heavy trappings that often cause problems for labels once they’re past that early exciting hype stage.
It’s not always been easy, especially in an industry as ruthless as the music industry, but the label have always held their heads high and surged forward with the passion that underground music requires to thrive. And it’s paid off hugely as they hold their heads high on levels comparible to the 90s titans that inspired them. If not higher. To celebrate, the label have many projects, releases and events rolling from now until the rest of the year.
Announced earlier this week is a 20 Years Of Shogun Audio release which will comprise a series of exclusive tracks and remixes, a collectors box set, a detailed coffee table book with extensive history and interviews with owners Friction, K-Tee and their roster of international talents, a classy new line of label garms and a European club and festival tour that launches in Motion, Bristol, on June 15.
Find out everything you need to know on the Shogun Audio website. We wish Friction and the team a very happy anniversary!
