Delft

Delft is a record label founded in Berlin in 2013 by Kevin McHugh. The establishment of Kevin Hugh’s first own record label – in the mean time a second label has followed with Valence – took place more casually. A friend visited the Berliner-by-choice in his studio and listened to new tracks from the producer otherwise well-known as Ambivalent or Amber. »He encouraged me to release the pieces on vinyl, in order to see how they would be perceived«, reminisces McHugh. That provided not only the kickoff for his new project LA-4A, but also for Delft. What began as an experiment, quickly took root. While little news over the label and its operators seeped out into the public sphere, demos by Matrixxman, and JPLS, as well as in particular, his own tracks under the alias LA-4A provided the releases initially. Intentional? »I didn’t hide it, but I enjoyed watching how people received it. More than anything else, I liked the freedom to publish music, without having to push it via social media,« explains McHugh. »The less I spoke about it, the better I could observe how it functioned, free of interferences.«

The releases especially attracted a lot of attention because of their striking design; blue, expressive ink-blotch patterns adorn the first Delft releases. Responsible for the design was the art director Ted Rohn. »Ted knows exactly which type of art I like and immediately understands my hint towards Delft porcelain as a way of bringing hand-made antiques together with the modern, and mechanical.” At the same time, the artworks can also be deemed as a commentary on current developments in the scene. »I am concerned, that Techno has become too serious and the colourfulness has faded«, says McHugh. In the end, Techno garnished with acid-elements is also the core business of Delft, which hints at a mixture of traditional awareness and technical requirements. When a track doesn’t sound good on a large sound system, it doesn’t get pressed onto vinyl, explains McHugh rigidly. But this is the only declared rhetoric from Delft; which is supported by DJ and promoter Dean Driscoll and Marlene Rietschel who help out with their organisational talent, whom without McHugh – in his own words – could not shoulder the work load of the two labels. In the end at Delft it’s always about what it began with; the music. »I founded Delft without a definite aim«, says McHugh. »Creativity is a day dream, which should never bow to ambitions.« Despite of that, since then everything has worked out perfectly.