Immigrant Records Label Profile - 11th Hour Technology

Like all successful and worthwhile label projects, allotting the sound of Immigrant into one nice and easily digestible genre is just not possible. At best you may be able to get away with House influenced Techno and Techno influenced House, but still their sound is more personal - undoubtedly unique. The styles presented range from tough, percussive Techno, through to lo-fi Dub-House, via Deep Techno-House and back-again, all relating to the dancefloor without compromising musical content, and all retaining the same vision; travel... its life changing experiences and the knowledge it gives.

Immigrant is based in Los Angeles USA, and hence influences from the celebrated Deep Techno sound of the West Coast are expected and indeed audible, but not dominant. As opposed to drawing releases entirely from established musicians in the area, new and innovative producers with the same outlook are also showcased, and combined with yet more like-minded talent from the UK, resulting in a label with a rich and full spectrum of sounds within their sound.

Label founder Robin Porter arrived in California, USA, from Manchester in the U.K. in the mid '90's. Landing with not much more than a little cash and a design portfolio, Robin started to feel out the design and music industry and eventually found work freelancing for Sony, and A&M records. Clothing design followed and soon there was a healthy design income. The whole idea was to accumulate enough money to start the label concept, which became Immigrant Records. Equipment came first - decks obviously - then studio gear, and initially the vision was to create an avenue to release his own music and to help with djing.

Late 1999 saw the first release, and two years on Immigrant has seen twelve releases from twelve separate artists including Robin himself. 2001 saw the first long player - a compilation of unreleased and forthcoming material that crystallised the vision and hard work that has gone into the label.

Other than Robin himself, only a handful of artists have been compiled for the label, each one sharing the label perspective. Of these perhaps John Tejada needs the least introduction. John is an extremely longstanding and prolific producer (and fellow West Coaster), and has released on other such labels as Organised Noise, Seventh City, De Focus, Sheep, Mosaic, Pornflake, his own Palette, and many more, taking on a huge range of styles and sounds. Kenneth Graham provides some tougher Tech sounds for the label, and has released under various monikers on many other labels including Plastic City USA, Electrolux, Terraform, Jump, and his own Control Team to name but a few. From the UK, Paul Mac provides hard, yet deep and melodic Techno and has produced and djed for many years on many labels around the world, and Jamie Anderson (owner of Artform Records) contributes his inimitable style of Latin tinged Tech-House. ADNY aka Alexi Delano is another artist whose production styles defy obvious classification, and has released different sounding records on an uncountable amount of different labels (but perhaps most notably Svek, and his own Corner Shots imprint). Lucas Rodenbush (aka E.B.E.) is another top notch West Cost producer to record for the Immigrant imprint as well as on Solid Groove, Plastic City USA, Jump, and Grayhound. New Yorker Casey Hogan with his sparse, bassy Techno (who has also released on Remainings, Plastic City USA, Tangent Beats), and newcomers to the scene Maetrik. 2001's 'Border Crossing' compilation also saw more talent from the region including Lance De Sardi, Jasper of Cytrax fame, and Click-Dub pioneer Dean De Costa.

The creative merits of Immigrants' artists span further than making the music, and as a result can also be found djing all over the states, and at Immigrant Records nights that are held at various dates throughout the year.