Established in 1995 and home to Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook), X-Press 2, Tim Deluxe, Midfield General, Sonny Wharton, RuN RiOT, Afghan Headspin, Kidda and Mirrors, Skint Records is a Brighton based record label that forever remains timeless. Founded by JC Reid, Damian Harris and Tim Jeffery, Skint Records began has a humble sub label of Loaded Records and was at the epicentre for groundbreaking breakbeat that soon challenged the perceptions and the constraints of the mainstream.
Throughout the mid to late nineties the label’s roster included the hierarchy of clublands’ elite such as Fatboy Slim, Bentley Rhythm Ace, The Lo-Fidelity Allstars, Hardknox, Midfield General and Freq Nasty. Fatboy Slim: who has enjoyed worldwide success with several mighty albums that have accumulated sales of over 8 million units has positioned him as one of the leading DJs in the world for the past 15 years. Famous for his gargantuan beach parties, Fatboy Slim has attracted up to a quarter of a million people to attend his gigs in past locations such as Rio and Brighton.
Towards the end of the nineties and at the start of the 21st century, Skint Records had expanded its musical range to include more house based songs – most prominently ‘Lazy’ by X-Press 2 (which charted at number 2 in the UK charts) – and other releases by legendary techno artist Dave Clarke, electronica outfit FC Kahuna, folk band Lucky Jim, Belgian techno outfit Goose, the Ralfe Band, and Sheffield indie band Little Man Tate.
More recently, the label has enjoyed success with Kidda, who’s ‘Under The Sun’ single has been used by Bacardi in their TV adverts for the last three years. As well as supporting other big underground electro anthems by Alter Ego, Roman Flugel and Tomas Anderson, X-Press 2 released a critically acclaimed retrospective Greatest Hits album called “Raise Your Hands” back in 2008. With the label continuing to pave the way in all things music, Skint Records continue to discover and nurture new talent from releases by Foamo and Metal On Metal.
Skint’s latest signing to their books, is the Brighton based group called Mirrors. Their superb stagecraft and productions are causing ripples of excitement across certain sections of the music industry. After just completed a triumphant series of live shows supporting Delphic on their 2010 UK tour, they are completing the finishing touches to their debut album with the help of Richard X.
Moving the spotlight onto Skint’s most active n’ hot releases, we have the message-bearing and dark destroying tale from Paolo Majo in ‘All Night Long’ and ‘Polychords.’ The Cube Guys & APDW’s disco-frenzy filtered remix of Fatboy’s Slim’s ‘Everybody Loves A Carnival’ sparks reams of smiles and glee and Skint Records “From The Vault Vol. 1” refuses to sound dated with some upfront electro house presence courtesy of ‘iPoppa,’ ‘Ghost,’ and the bass-crunching, bendy melody of ‘Earplug’ by Re-Zone.
The true legends known as X-Press 2 save our souls with ‘Million Miles Away’ and the vocals of Roland Clark, and DJ Chus & Sonny Wharton featuring El Chino DreadLion go for a bit of a jog over a 9-lane field of plethora-tight remixes from X-Press 2, Manuel De La Mare and much, much more. Timo Garcia and the production house masters known as Phunk Investigation team up with Amber Jolene, and make a loving housey disco rendition of ‘Atomic’ with no radiation generic beats in full vision.
Skint Records will forever be, never-brassic.
just shat my pants