Buckling through the ever-changing trends and developments within electronic music is no easy feat. To succeed, a great label will set trends instead of trying to keep up with the rest of the world. This is something UK-based label Hotflush Recordings has succeeded at. Founded by Paul Rose (aka Scuba) 20 years ago, Hotflush found itself in the post-dubstep scene, releasing music that transcended genres, and championing new artists and styles.
Dubstep did not exist at the time of Hotflush Recordings’s founding two decades ago, yet the label’s early output were some of the scene’s most formative releases.
Over the past 20 years, Hotflush has released records across the electronic music spectrum, everything from UK funky and techno to house. But the label’s early influence on dubstep remains its greatest legacy, which is why its founder decided to return to Hotflush’s earlier sound with its 20th anniversary release, “Opposites.”
Back in 2003, Hotflush was becoming associated with the sounds of UK garage and breaks through DJ nights and Rose’s show on then-pirate radio station RinseFM. “At the time, we were part of an intake that was reflective of what became early dubstep,” Rose explains. “The scene was this kind of crossover point of early grime and breaks and was much wider in terms of its sonic output than what dubstep eventually became known for.”
Having always wanted to start his own label, Rose figured it was as good a time as any. Shortly after that, he dropped his (and the label’s) first release, “Red Hot” b/w “Motion,” under the name Spectr. “Without any knowledge of how to do it, we just pressed some white labels and tried to sell them,” says Rose. “It was mostly unsuccessful but good enough to put out another one. It then just snowdived [snowballed -ed.] from there.”
Hotflush released records on a steady basis—roughly every three to four months—helping to curate an alternative garage sound that ran contrary to mainstream sounds of the time. “We were part of this ‘heady’ side of garage, with Ghost, El-B, and Zed Bias, that was relatively small, but people were beginning to notice us,” says Rose.
Everything changed in 2006 when DJ Mary Anne Hobbs hosted the Dubstep Warz show on BBC Radio 1, elevating the burgeoning micro-scene into the limelight. “Dubstep became a huge thing,” says Rose. “For those of us who’d been around since the start of it and sat through five years of not much happening, being told our music was not good enough, it was just bizarre and weird for all of us.” There was an upside, though: the would-be label owner could now elevate his niche hobby into a full-time job.
Rose packed up his things and moved to Berlin in 2007, where he also began moving away from dubstep and started embracing German club music sounds. Under his primary pseudonym, Scuba, Rose released his first record, A Mutual Antipathy, in 2008, which he followed up with a series of remixes from some of the scene’s leading names in techno, including Surgeon and Marcel Dettmann. “That was the first time we did a proper house and techno release, and it was really well received. I was a really big fan of British Murder Boys, and I was really into going to Berghain at that point.”
Hotflush’s ethos branched out accordingly, honoring the bass music traditions of the UK while embracing the experimental sounds bubbling up from the underground. That’s when Rose discovered Mount Kimbie.
In the early ‘10s, Hotflush was helping break new talents such as Locked Groove, Sigha, and George FitzGerald, all the while gravitating more and more into house and techno. And then, in 2016, Rose released Slide Away by Trevino, along with releases by OR:LA and Oliver Deutschmann, solidifying Hotflush as a hotbed for house music.
After two decades, Hotflush is still going strong. This year, Rose marked the label’s 20th anniversary with a series of parties and releases, beginning with “Opposites”: a collaborative project with Distance (one of Hotflush’s first signees) saluting the label’s garage and dubstep roots.
The nostalgic release doesn’t mean the label or Rose will be regressing back to his earlier sound aesthetics at any point soon. “Normally, I’m not too keen on that kind of thing, but I was really happy with how it turned out. In regards to it being nostalgic, you will always get these kinds of things coming around, but it couldn’t be further away from the original dubstep ethos. Dubstep was the most anti-nostalgic scene that ever was—and it was not cool to play old records.”
Below, Rose reflects on four of the label’s key releases.
Toasty
“The Knowledge“
Vinyl LP
In 2004, Rose released one of the label’s breakthrough records, “The Knowledge” by Toasty: an explosive slice of proto-dubstep filled with razor-edged breaks and finely tuned, post-rave vocal samples. “Toasty was someone I got to know through the dubplate.net forum,” Rose says, about finding the artist. “And everyone who was operating in our small corner wanted to put out that record,” Rose says.
Mount Kimbie
Maybes
Vinyl LP
The unconventional, leftfield sound of the UK duo’s first EP, Maybes, released in 2009, embraced some of the early dubstep aesthetics, merging them with indie rock and experimental song structures to create something extremely new. “Once they made Maybes, something clicked for them, and there was a steep, upward trajectory after that, which is great to see to be honest,” Rose recalls about working with the UK duo.
Trevino
Slide Away
“When it came to Trevino, by that point, we had totally jettisoned dubstep,” says Rose. “Trevino would make so many tunes. Every couple of months he would just send over a folder with about 20 tracks, and I remember playing a set at Berghain, and half of the set were just his tunes. I’m really happy we got that release out, and very sadly he passed away not that long afterwards.”
Scuba & Distance
“Opposites“
Honoring the label’s original dubstep sounds, Rose teamed up with Distance, one of the first artists signed to the label, to make a record of raw, early-sounding dubstep. “If we’d have done a collaboration, and it wasn’t for the 20th anniversary, it wouldn’t have sounded like that,” he says. “It was a fun track, and I like to keep things fun. I was really happy with how it turned out, and it really worked.”
