John Digweed celebrates the 200th digital release of Bedrock Records [Magazine Exclusive]

Bedrock Records is an English record label founded in 1999 by John Digweed and Nick Muir. A staple of underground music, the now legendary imprint borrowed the name from some successful clubs of that period and ended up immortalizing the magic of genuine clubbing.

Trance, progressive house, techno, the genre and the quantity don’t matter but collecting the cream that stands out. Recently Bedrock reached an important milestone in its brilliant existence and John Digweed told us everything in the first person. The label’s 200th digital release is an occasion for celebration and also an interesting reflection on the past, present and future.

Congratulations are in order! Bedrock has just released ‘Bedrock 200’ in celebration of the label’s 200th digital release. What are the immediate feelings you take away from this huge milestone?

It’s just amazing really, we did our first digital-only release nearly 13 years ago to the day, so to have reached our 200th digital release milestone is something I’m very proud and happy about, especially when you look at the wealth of talented artists and producers who have been involved over the years.

You created Bedrock Records in 1999, does each release still have the same flavour as the first?

Absolutely. The ethos behind the label is the same now as it was then. It’s all about releasing good quality music and we’ve always been open-minded with our music policy, releasing everything from breaks to techno with a bit of ambient and downtempo music thrown in for good measure. This year alone we’ve released a banging ‘Live in London’ album recorded at Fabric and a new album from Pig&Dan called ‘Destination Unknown II’ which showcases their downtempo electronica side.

To materialize this special Bedrock 200 release you and Nick Muir have chosen the esteemed German DJ and producer Jonathan Kaspar. How did this invitation and decision come about?

I’d been playing a lot of his music and featured two of his tracks on my ‘Live in London’ CD release in February, so we reached out to him to get him involved with something on the label and he asked to remix the ‘Live Off The Grid’ track taken from ‘The Traveler’ album Nick Muir and I did with John ‘Twelve’ Hawks back in 2014. He also mentioned remixing our most recent ‘Stand Still’ release, so it made perfect sense to make this special remix EP our 200th digital release.

Image Credit: Dan Reid / Provided by The Echo Agency