In just 10 years High Focus Records has become a cult label in the UK both as guardians of boom bap and as trailblazers for new sounds.

After twenty years under the sign of the hybrid groove, the London label has found its second wind. It never forgot where it came from and continues to shine a light on the best developments in the alternative music scene.
 

It started with turntables and steadily grew to include a huge range of production methods. The first two decades of Ninja Tune were spent ahead of the curve, laying the groundwork for the future of music.

Away from major labels and the flavours of the month that rule over them, Chicago’s Numero Group are flying the flag for unsung artists and musical oddities. 

The iconic indie label Stiff Records was home to some of the great music of the 70s and 80s. It gave us Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Madness, and others.
 

‘Afrophone stories from the Atlantic and Indian Ocean.’ This is how the New York label Ostinato Records describes itself.

A major independent label focussing on the most notable new musical genre of the 21st century – dubstep – Hyperdub have built a fascinating back catalogue with Burial and the label’s boss Kode9 as figureheads.

During the 2000s the Cologne label established itself as one of the most important houses of electro music, managing to unite rigid techno, sensuality, and ambient beauty.

InFiné, the multifaceted recording group will celebrate its fifteenth year of musical activism next year. Meet the label behind Rone, Arandel, Bachar Mar-Khalifé, Bruce Brubaker, Murcof, Vanessa Wagner or Deena Abdelwahed.

U.S. punk rock on a silver platter.

Decca’s offshoot label showcased some of Britain’s most happening pop, psychedelic and progressive artists of the late 60s. 

Enter the Infamous Brick Squad.

Founded in 1994 by Laurent Garnier and Eric Morand, the Paris-based label contributed greatly to France’s emerging electro scene, before closing its doors in 2008.

How Tim Armstrong, the lead singer of Rancid and a figurehead of Californian punk, proved to be perfect Artistic Director for Hellcat Records, a subsidiary of Epitaph.

The label that brings to light forgotten gems of the Arab world.

Discover the British avant-garde crate-digging label run by Andy Votel and Doug Shipton.

The perfect playlist to get your kids dancing, open them up to the world, and help them develop the same impeccable taste in electronic music as you.

Hard rock is still alive and well and is a genre that the whole family can enjoy.

Born in the 90s, this is the playful and soothing side of electronic music, matching your wildest dreams and maybe even fulfilling them.

Children understand Aphex Twin better than grown-ups...

The perfect playlist to help your kids develop the same impeccable taste in punk and alternative rock as you.

The perfect playlist to help your kids develop the same impeccable taste in classical music as you.

Long drives can easily become a nightmare if the kids get bored…

Built on the heritage of Japanese music’s Golden Age (the 60's to the late 80's), the current Tokyo music scene is vast, hosting many genres, subcultures and niches, and making the city one of the most exciting local music scenes in the world.

An international selection of the best new dancehall and reggae-influenced music from Jamaica in 2021.

A selection of the best new sounds from Jamaica from acoustic reggae to digital dancehall, 2020 to 2021.

In Brazil a new generation of artists are fusing rhythms and shaking up established musical codes. 

It’s where reggaeton meets sensual pop, MC’s scathing flows describe blatant social inequalities and soaring electronica tries to soothe a violent populous. Welcome to the new sounds from Medellín.

A selection of UK rap, trap, drill, grime and garage spanning January 2020 to April 2021.

Rich in European, Latin American and Caribbean influences, Buenos Aires is an open-air musical laboratory, where you can find anything from the most danceable cumbia-reggaeton, to soaring organic electro.
 

A vast metropolis at the crossroads of Africa and the Middle East, Cairo is once again home to a music scene whose stylistic diversity bears witness to its creativity. It’s a panorama that ranges from club hits to post-punk bangers.

Ever since the cultural revival brought about by the Jasmine Revolution, the electro and rap scenes in Tunis have been blooming.

Morrocco’s rap scene is setting itself free, establishing itself as a source of inspiration, and developing its own rich soundscape. This is the Winter 2020/21 edition of our New Sounds from Morocco playlist.

Far from its iconic harbour and sun-soaked beaches, Sydney's outer suburbs are home to the beating heart of Australia's burgeoning rap and hip-hop scene.

Whilst neoperreo, a digital DIY subgenre of reggaeton, might be a child of the internet worldwide, its flame burns brightest in Santiago.

Defeating the stereotypes rooted in Bristol past, this playlist captured the ongoing cultural and experimental buzz of a city in constant evolution and of its multi-faceted underground scenes.

With its ears wide open to the world, Mexico City’s musical melting pot is like no other.

Did you know that Nigeria isn’t only the home of afrobeats? Here’s a spotlight on some of Lagos’ semi-underground artists.

The continuously crashing crest of modern pop’s wave, found in the up and comers of Atlanta hip-hop.

If jazz has been revived in London then it’s on the dancefloors, thanks to a growing audience of twenty-somethings.

"The lusophone sound is coming" – Dino d’Santiago

Kendrick Lamar, Louis Cole, Khadja Bonet, Flying Lotus, Anderson .Paak, Jonwayne and Tyler, The Creator all come from the same place? It seems neither vain nor overrated to remember that everything happens in Los Angeles.

Chicago has all the musical richness of Great Black Music with a remarkable rise in rap and jazz over recent years.

In the beginning there was Hiatus Kaiyote, a quartet of "future soul" formed in Melbourne in 2011...