Label Profile – Detached Audio (UK)
Detached Audio is a label that is synonymous with quality. They also don’t have a strict music policy, which means you can expect anything from dark and brooding monsters from the likes of Shodan to blissed out liquid from Option, Hex and many more.
With a new three track EP by Kipsy due out on August 12th, and having discovered this wicked label via the Twitch producer magnet that is MrBurntYoghurt, we tracked down owner Karan Ponnuthurai to find out a little more about the label’s history and plans for the future.
So Karan, you got involved with Detached around 2017. It was primarily an experimental label at that stage?
That’s right, I got involved roughly in the summer. Before then it was mainly a home for Manu to put out his work, as well as work by his companions, although there was a bit more of a drum and bass influence around the tail end of 2016 and start of 2017.
How did you meet up with Manu, the label’s original owner then?
We met on a drum and bass forum on the off-topic section funnily enough. We’d often end up talking and sharing music that we liked, and Manu would show me what he was doing with Detached Audio, which was always interesting to see. He was the one that gave me the push to start producing, and after realising that we were both really into tracks like ‘International’ by Spirit (RIP), we thought to try out a collab, which eventually became my first ever release.
And what was it that made you both decide to pursue the path of drum and bass?
I can’t speak for Manu here but for me, I discovered drum and bass around 2011, when an old friend showed me two tunes by London Elektricity, ‘The Plan That Cannot Fail’ as well as ‘Just One Second’, which I was completely hooked by. Then around 2014, I came across a tune by Colossus called ‘What I Want’ which was the track that made me think “I’d like to one day learn how to produce music like that”!
The label doesn’t seem to have a particularly strict music policy. Has that been a help in terms of marketing? Some labels are known for their relatively strict styles in terms of output?
There’s positives and negatives to having a broader style in output which I’ve come to learn from. On the one hand, those who believe in the Detached Audio sound will always be excited for what’s to come and know that no matter what style we do, there will be something for them.
On the other end though, for newer audiences who may strictly only be into one particular style, we might be a label that they don’t check out as much, which is also perfectly fine, everyone has their own tastes after all!
Tell us a bit about a few of your artists then. Maybe pick a few random artists from around the world to showcase what Detached is all about?
We don’t sign anyone exclusively to Detached Audio, since we allow them to be free to stay with us or go to other labels, but a few artists I can mention are:
Option – He’s been with Detached longer than I have as he knew Manu before I did. He’s our deep liquid golden boy from Hawaii! Expect lush keys, deep basses and clever sampling techniques like old school hip hop.
Shodan – He only joined Detached recently but has put out 2 stellar EP’s with us already. For those that don’t know, back in the day, Shodan made a huge track with DJ Phantasy and UK Apache called ‘Gimme Da Gal’ which I’m sure some of your older readers may know! Expect huge bass work, old-school, hard-hitting drums and tunes that will cause bassfaces.
Mindloader – Mindloader is the perfect example of a blend between popular styles of drum and bass blended with experimentalism and unique sound choices. He’s put out a few tracks with us which have been very well received. You can expect a versatile range of styles from Mindloader, from blissful liquid to deep rollers.
Hex – Hex ran DNB Dojo for the last 9 years and has been a supporter of Detached Audio and myself since day one. He’s a very versatile artist as well. We’ve put out beautiful liquid from him in the form of his Distances EP, as well as heavy remixes of older Detached Audio material.
You celebrated your 50th release recently with the mighty Shodan. How did that come about?
Shodan encountered me through D Flect, a mutual friend of ours who runs Tesseract Recordings. He joined the Discord server for Think, Breaks, which is the podcast I run alongside Colossus. We got to talking, and although our roots in music are completely different, we found ourselves getting on pretty well and we tried out a few collabs together.
These collabs have yet to be released but there are a number of them which we’ve been working on. Shodan also co-hosts the feedback sessions we do on Twitch as Think Breaks and as a result, that’s brought us closer and he’s often shared his music with me, and since then I’ve been lucky enough to get some music from him for Detached!
There’s a new release due out in August from Kipsy. Can you tell us a bit more about them?
Kipsy is a UK based artist and someone who is an expert in what I call ‘sunshine music’. His music just oozes with funk and jazz vibes and you can tell when you listen to his work across his entire discography that he clearly knows how to write music that instantly becomes an earworm.
His EP with us is called ‘Body, Soul, Feet’ and consists of 3 tracks, one of which is a collaboration with fellow producer Uphonix. The EP will drop on the 12th August and I hope people enjoy it as much as I do.
Production is also something you’re into aside from Detached Audio. How would you describe yourself as an artist and what labels have you released on?
I produce under the name K2T, and I try to make sure that as an artist, I’m always trying new things and different styles. I haven’t had as much time lately to produce music but from my discography, you can expect organic, stripped back liquid as well as some heavier tunes.
I have also been working on a lot of non drum and bass tunes which I’m hoping to get out soon. Labels I have released original music on aside from Detached Audio include Bay 6 Recordings, Calibrate Records, Drum Army, Beats in Mind and Inform Records to name a few.
You also run a podcast – Think,Breaks as well. What’s the mission statement behind that project and who have you had on as guests in the past?
Think, Breaks is a show hosted by myself and Colossus with occasional co-host appearances by Echo Motion, Shodan, MrBurntYoghurt and Millstreet. One part of the project is our podcast which has been running for 3 years, which is a chat show all about drum and bass and electronic music, with topics relating around the genre. We’ve had guests such as Winslow, Flowanastasia, Tyr Kohout, Loz Contreras, Telomic and more on our podcast.
We also do stream on Twitch. You can find feedback sessions on the last Friday of every month where members of our community can send in tracks and get them reviewed by Colossus, Shodan and me. We also do other streams that can range from production sessions, DJ streams or general streams where we hang out with our community.
Alongside the next release in August then, what else have you got in the pipeline, and what advice would you give to others thinking about starting a label?
After Kipsy’s EP, we have the second part of our Segments EP series featuring four familiar faces to the label with some astounding music. After that we have a few more singles and EP’s from some of our regular artists as well as some faces who are fresh to Detached Audio.
Regarding starting a label, I think the best thing to do before starting is to have a plan. What is the aim of the label? What sort of music are you looking to put out and what is it about your label that will set yourself apart? I’d also say that be prepared for the hard work. Doing Detached Audio is incredibly rewarding but there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to ensure that artists are looked after, and I can promote the releases to the best of my ability. Organisation is key!
FIND OUT MORE HERE:
Stream Detached Audio music | Listen to songs, albums, playlists for free on SoundCloud
Detached Audio (@detachedaudio) • Instagram photos and videos
https://detachedaudio.bandcamp.com/album/body-soul-feet
