Meet Serial Disc Touchers, Grace Dahl's new no-boundaries label project

Grace Dahl has launched her new label, Serial Disc Touchers, simultaneously christening the imprint by sharing its first EP release.

With the label committed to celebrating sonic diversity and championing the creative liberty of artists - sans genre specifications or expectations - its creation sees the Dutch DJ and producer, most often associated with techno and sounds of a similar vein, showcase her, and fellow creatives', entire sonic palette after years of "sometimes feeling a bit pigeonholed into a certain style, feeling like a certain sound was expected from me if I wanted to be 'successful'".

The imprint's first release landed on July 10, modelling as a collaborative EP between Dahl and Alec Dienaar, playful in its approach. Think infectious high energies, with remixers including BENZA, Elise Massoni, François X,, Jelena, Julian Muller and Vilchezz.

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"It has been such a passion project from the start, and it has been an absolute pleasure to work together with Alec on this," the labelhead tells Mixmag. "One story I’ve been loving to tell my friends regarding this release is about the track 'Ech Wel'. It started out as a sketch Alec already had, but he thought it wouldn’t fit and deemed it to be too cheesy.

"I asked Alec to show it to me anyways, and I really liked what I heard. It’s hard to place into a box, it’s playful, bouncy, euphoric. It had SDT written all over it. It turned out to be quite different than the sketch after we worked on it, but it eventually became one of, if not thee favourite track of the EP. This story and track perfectly encapsulate what Serial Disc Touchers is about for me — less boxes, more creativity."

"When Grace asked me to work on this EP together, I was very excited because she was actually one of the first artists that I’ve ever shared my unreleased music with," adds Dienaar. "I think we clicked really well from the beginning personally and musically. We started with the idea of making an entire house EP, but as we progressed, we were inspired by different genres as well. Each session brought new ideas, and our project became a mix of multiple styles. It was a lovely experience to be working on this project together, thinking out of the box and creating something we maybe wouldn’t usually make."

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With a full year of releases scheduled including a V/A featuring producers such as Antic Soul, GLASKIN and ONYVAA, the label is set to offer a space for artists dealing with similar feelings experienced by the labelhead:

"During this journey, I’ve come to find out that I simply love too many different genres and styles to strictly stick to one. I also know I am not the only one, and I personally know lots of producers that make all types of genres and styles, but these usually never see the light of day because it doesn’t 'fit'. With my label, it doesn’t need to fit, we create the space for it.

"Besides this, I’ve always loved to sing, and it was a long time dream of my mom and myself that I would incorporate this into my productions. I haven’t shared this before, but it was actually after the passing of my dear mother last year, that I decided that now is the time. Not next week, not tomorrow, but now. It’s bittersweet I guess, as my mother unfortunately is not here to witness it all happening, but I know she is with me energetically and is most definitely beaming with pride that I finally did it.

"The key message I’d like to convey with the launch of my label and its releases is to have fun! I’m not inventing the wheel here, and I’m also not trying to rewrite the entire script… just a few new lines perhaps."

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'Serial Disc Touchers, Vol 1.' by Grace Dahl and Alec Dienaar is available now via Serial Disc Touchers, check it out here.

Niamh Ingram is Mixmag's Weekend Editor, follow her on Instagram