The RA staff picks their favourite imprints of the year.

No Hypercolour. Boo.

ridiculous that night slugs aren't listed

Where's Deep medi?

Haha best joke ever.

Rush Hour and Permanent Vacation would be on my list.
But good to see FXHE, Ostgut and LIES where they need to be!

Good to see semantica in there, been releasing quality records for a while now

good to see semantica in there, they've been releasing quality records for a while now

No Hypercolour. YEAH. THANK YOU.

My fav's: PAN, B.E.B., Spectrum Spools & Hinge Finger.

I love to see Semantica here, but miss Kontra. One of my favourites of the year.

Pretty nice list and happy to see Prologue and Semantica .. Both are excellent labels with high quality output...

Needs more Mote Evolver, Komisch and Clone.

WHERE IS LIFE AND DEATH!?!? Not one track on any of their releases this year wasn't up to par.. So sad tob see a current and extremely relevant label not get the recognition it deserves

My first comment ever on RA (big woop) has to go towards emphasising the above sentiments.

NIGHT SLUGS.

But some great labels in there, ye

Your posts are so predictable. Ever listen to *gasp* a dubstep record?

Pretty accurate list, would have liked to have seen Raster-Noton and R&S though...

Clone?

To me, Avian was one the most impressive on Techno.
Production on Ostgut was far better previous years.

BEB for sure one of the label of the year.

Life and Death pfffffff!!let's talk about serious music pls...
Good to see L.I.E.S,hessle audio but where is Mathematics,Tabernacle,Underground Quality....

Pretty spot on, i was expecting to see Hypercolour on there though

Other fav labels: Livity Sound, Mordant Music, Comatonse, Honest Jon's, Morphine, Downwards, Finders Keepers & Meakusma.

Livity Sound have had a strong year, should got placed. Don't get the Hypercolour hate, granted they do put out a lot but some is some high quality shiz.

R&S should have been there. Possibly Hemlock too. Quiet year for Swamp.

Fine list...other personal faves would include Machining Dreams, Kontra, Plan B, 100% Silk, Emotional Response/Emotional Rescue, MLIU, Local Talk, Comeme, M>O>S, Dekmantel, Studio Barnhus, Sextags Mania/Wania (despite the sooo limited pressings...)...

It's a relief that new great labels such L.I.E.S. and wonderful ones like PAN are getting recognised on RA-as in my opinion, the dj 100 list is plain silly

No love for drum & bass?
Samurai Music? Auxiliary (yeah, I know ASC doesn't like to be labeled as DNB)?
These two labels converted me from buying only digital to doing vinyl as well.

Why no Livity Sound?

dubplate of the year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaqWR65Qv0w

"where's this, where's that, xyz should have been in there..."

*yawning*

why don't you all ask them to compile a top 500 so everybody can be happy like a schnitzel?

wait, they already did!

mmmmmmm mostly good ..but i think hyperdubs output was less than stellar with exception of the burial stuff...the rest was not so good....id see it trade places with running back

no Perctraxx?

Where's your serious music talk then??? Just naming some labels doesn't quite live up to a conversation.

Where the hell is Clone though???

Label of the year for me has been Tusk Wax (including the Horn Wax and Porn Wax offshoots). Consistent high quality output and excellent music that works on its own as well as in the mix.

Not a bad list at all. Nice to see blue skies free of Crosstown Rebels, Hot Creations, Wolf, Lambs and all that post-minimal-bandwagon-faux-deep shite.

The Trilogy Tapes sounded good to me this year, but whatevs.

let's not nitpick, shall we?

DJ list is way different to the label list.

Lots more good releases on FXHE this year. That Delroy Edwards offa LIES might be my favourite this year.

congrats to ron and l.i.e.s., bit hard on underground quality, future times, uncanny valley, ndatl and sex tags, all had a smashing year. funny how different this is from the live/dj polls ey? RA writers know whats up, even though most of their readership don't

I love RA but am always confused by the labels list. Is it adjudged on the basis of the quality of releases, the number of releases charting or a more general "impact". Crosstown Rebels ticked all the boxes last year, and others you could think of this year such as Life & Death, Hot Creations, Visionquest are inexplicably not even on the list this year. Instead we have a list that skirts around the fringes of what's making the biggest waves over the past 12 months....there is a massive disconnect for instance, between the releases played in last week's DJ chart and the labels listed here. Perhaps this is the whole point, rewarding the small players with a mention, but then how does that explain M-Nus, Crosstown Rebels and Kompakt topping the chart in the past? Have Crosstown really had such a bad year that they go from no.1 to off the list in the space of 12 months? Definitely this continues to be by far the most inexplicable of the end of year polls

SMALLVILLE

im sure mixmag or something will have all those 'popular' labels on their charts.

the RA list is a kinda of connoisseurs choice which encourages heads to dig deep and gives serious kudos to labels that will not receive it elsewhere.

simply put, there's a big difference between releases that are the most popular with "the majority", and releases that are pushing things forward artistically.

also accept that it's a more diverse scene than the labels you mentioned. labels that you might consider 'smaller players' just have a completely different audience. it's not always smaller - you just don't know them, or they choose not to visit RA.

^lol [was in re: farmigdan]

I'm gonna be honest - the end of year label list always makes me feel stupid, as it's rare that i've even heard of more than say 6 of em, but i'm actually quite glad that's the case. so much new stuff for me to dig into.

and let's be honest here - life & death, hot creations, crosstown, visionquest - all of these labels have put out some good (and certainly influential) records over the past year. they've also all put out some doo doo. on the aggregate, their stuff has been remarkable only in how ubiquitous it has become.

Thank you RA for not doing a vote for the labels

Absolutely seconded!!!

What about WHITE?? Offermann`s and Edward`s albums were dope

true. one of the best label on the list.

delsin, semantica, prologue, smallville, hotflush, ostgut ton, hyperdub, PAN. big list.

whoa a pretty agreeable list for once

im really surprised at LIES #1 but its a sick record label so 10/10 nice you are mvp

absolutely agree.

reader shoobs vs. writers who might actually have some taste

prologue and semantica deserved it! top 4 me.....shame STROBOSCOPIC ARTEFACT is missing

quite a few labels i've never heard of before...interesting list (in a good way).

I mean thats amazing.. that small labels are in the list.. not the usual suspects ... Love to see labels like Prologue, Semantica, Spectrum Spools... Its more than well deserved...

RA is simply on the pulse...