This year’s up-and-coming labels to listen for.

words Lulu McAllister and Chris Sabbath

Apple Pips
Run by producer Laurie “Appleblim” Osbourne (of Skull Disco notoriety), this London label has been wading in the deeper ends of the dubstep lagoon since starting up in 2008. Prominent releases from Brackles, Ramadanman, and T++ leave us wanting a whole lot more from this growing imprint.

Brainfeeder
?Brainfeeder is the bastard child of electronic hip-hoppist Flying Lotus. Launched in the summer of 2008 with the debut from 8-bit beatsmith Samiyam, this label has got a pretty diverse platter of goodies to choose from. Ras G’s Brotha From Anotha Planet really caught us with a left hook, and we’re hoping for the same from the likes of Dr. Strangeloop, MatthewDavid, and The Gaslamp Killer.

??Dutty Artz
?DJ /rupture, Matt Shadetek, and Geko Jones operate Dutty Artz out of their Brooklyn digs, with a clear emphasis on the riddim vibes. Lovers of the bassiest of dancehall, dubstep, and cumbia should look no further. Over the course of its run, Dutty Artz has doubled as what its proprietors describe as “a multimedia web 2.0 copacetic media mafia,” and regularly hosts tropics-soaked showcases featuring Eddie Stats, Uproot Andy, and more.

Flamin’ Hotz
?This Philly imprint is dedicated to dishing out the hottest tracks in dance music, regardless of their place of origin. The Big Apple Bounce EP from DJ S (a.k.a. Proper Villains) is the latest offering, but they’ve also dropped some sizzling baile funk and kuduro. Its roster ranges from the Brooklyn crunk punk pair Ninjasonik and B-more master Cobra Krames to Cousin Cole & Pocketknife, who nimbly serve up jacked-up remixes of folk songs (what?!).

Hessle Audio
?The U.K.’s Hessle Audio has been another worthy contender for the dubstep crown over the past couple of years. In its short life, the label has seen banging singles from Hessle proprietor Ramadanman, Pangaea, TRG, and Untold. Check out the latter’s “Anaconda” and the recent bangers from Pearson Sound.

Lovepump United
?Who needs melody, anyway? Lovepump United founders Jake Friedman and Mookie Singerman have found a suitable replacement in volume and fury. Since 2004, the label has championed noise rock and grindcore with bands such as HEALTH and the nearly intolerable AIDS Wolf. This year, look for a slightly softer version of LPU’s usual milieu from Clipd Beaks, in addition to some gritty electronic offerings from Denver’s Pictureplane.

No Hats No Hoods
?For the past two years, the No Hats No Hoods stable has tapped heavily into the U.K. grime scene and has smoked out some fresh and raw up-and-comers in the process. A side-project from the team behind London’s famed Dirty Canvas all-nighters, the label has already gotten its name out with some dope 12-inches from Frisco, Ruff Sqwad, P Money, and Rude Kid.

Sound Pellegrino
?We love this French label co-owned by TTC’s DJ Orgasmic and Teki Latex for its throbbing mix of electro and house tunes. The twosome is off to a good start so far, releasing singles from Harvard Bass, Douster, and Zombie Disco Squad, and we can’t wait to see what comes shooting our way next.

pictured HEALTH

Larry Hardy makes a home for several generations of VU-pushing garage punks.

In the age of hyper-digital music, L.A. label In the Red is putting out songs that sound like they belong on a cherished mixtape from the late ’80s… and that couldn’t be more refreshing. The label has released the punk riot known as Jay Reatard, the plucky shitgaze shitstorm that is Vivian Girls, weird rock magic from Thee Oh Sees, and the catchy licks of The Ponys, not to mention records from a slew of other rebels both modern (Black Lips, Miss Alex White) and classic (Sparks, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion).

It’s not like owner Larry Hardy is on some nostalgia trip—he’s just doing things the way he’s done them since late 1991, when In the Red released its first record, a single by Detroit garage punks The Gories. “[Big Star guitarist] Alex Chilton had told my friend, ‘You have to check out The Gories—they sound like The Cramps if The Cramps were black,” recalls Hardy. “I knew I was going to love them before I ever heard a note, based on that recommendation.”

Hardy, who says he “never dreamt of being in a band,” was nonetheless bitten by the music bug, and dropped out of college and his grocery-store job to obsessively collect and release records. These days, he runs the imprint out of a detached garage in his backyard, surrounded by prized vinyl that includes The Cramps’ glow-in-the-dark “Human Fly” 7-inch, The Stooges’ Funhouse album, and a recent obscure find: a 1965 record by the name of Tortura: The Sounds of Pain and Pleasure. “The record is nothing but the sound of slaps and spanks while a female moans in pleasure,” he marvels. “Two entire sides of this! I can’t believe this record exists or who they were targeting to buy the thing.”

While In the Red’s records are hardly as esoteric, they share a similarly renegade aesthetic—tracing the dirty, visceral, and throbbing side of underground rock music’s lineage all the way back to the blues of the early 20th century. “I think all the bands on In the Red are pretty raw, real, and, above all, eccentric,” says Hardy, when asked to sum up the label’s approach. “Like them or hate them, none of them are boring.”

Hardy also has a secret weapon on the sonic side—Mike McHugh, an engineer at Costa Mesa, California recording studio The Distillery, is the man responsible for the grit, grind, and utterly throat-grabbing directness that’s instantly recognizable from In the Red. “Mike is brilliant,” avers Hardy. “His studio is all analog and he has loads of gear—fuzz pedals, speakers, amp heads—that he built himself. He has no digital equipment whatsoever, which has its pluses and minuses, but he knows the sort of sounds that I like and he’s not afraid to experiment, which is rare for a studio engineer.”

Hardy, who is in his early 40s, says his favorite indie labels seemed to stand for something, and he counts Crypt, Bomp!, Amphetamine Reptile, Sympathy for the Record Industry, and early Sub Pop among his favorites. Like these era-defining outposts, Hardy has made sure In the Red stands for the loveliest, most intense, and loudest garage punk, rockabilly, and experimental American rock on offer. Hey, the logo doesn’t lie.

Reigning Sound’s Love & Curses is out this month, and Vivian Girls’ Everything Goes Wrong will be out in September.

pictured Larry Hardy flanked by Sparks’ Russell and Ron Mael