Culture
Label Focus: Viper Recordings
The label that's introduced some of the finest names in drum ’n’ bass
Even in the hyper-evolving, multiple-subgenre world of drum ’n’ bass, there’s something to be said for the slow and steady strategy. Take Futurebound’s Liverpool/London-based Viper. Fourteen years deep and only just hitting their 100th release, it’s never rushed things, instead gradually rising to prominence, sculpting its own multiple-subgenre-eschewing dancefloor d’n’b sound in the process.
Check those 100 releases and you’ll find career-changers from some of this decade’s heavyweights such as Sigma, The Prototypes, Camo & Krooked and Nero. But it’s what’s ahead that excites Futurebound the most. In recent years it’s put on parties from Austria to Australia, and consolidated a tight family of diverse artists including Brookes Brothers, Jaguar Skills, InsideInfo, Cyantific, Koven (above), Matrix & Futurebound and newer, next-gen talent such as Dossa & Locuzzed, BMotion, Dub Elements and Toronto Is Broken.
As time goes by, we’ll hear serious artist albums from the Viper family. InsideInfo’s remarkable debut LP earlier this year is an example of the creative weight Viper is punching at, and four more major LPs are set to follow in the coming months, with more on the cards after that. Viper’s slow and steady strategy is beginning to pay off.
