https://www.beatport.com/release/grimace-ep/394256

MM: Congratulations on your 50th release. You have grown from strength to strength as an independent Irish label with consistent Beatport chart toppers over the last 2 years. What’s the secret?

SBR: Thank you very much IUM.

To be honest there’s no real secret. We just love to release quality music and work hard with our artists to get it where it belongs.

We really have to give all the credit to the artists releasing with us as well the well informed Irish techno heads

The artists themselves work really hard promoting every release and we try our best to help with that.

We also try to look out for music we like and not compromise on quality.

Beatport itself has been massive for us as we have been very lucky to have scored a few number ones over the past few years which is a great buzz for us and the artists.

Obviously we understand doing well in Beatport is only a small way to measure success but being seen in the same chart as big names like Carl Cox, Adam Beyer, Joseph Capriati etc has helped raise ours and our artist’s profiles so it’s worth it.

Can we also just say on a personal note, Iconic Underground Magazine has been a massive part of our recent journey as you guys have given us a voice and really brought the label to a new audience so thank you very much, we are extremely grateful for all your help!

MM: A big influence on you guys and the Northern Irish dance music scene over the years has been Pablo Gargano who you have bagged for this special release, how did that come together and your thoughts on the feel of the track?

SBR: Back when the scene was starting out in the North of Ireland, events such as Vengeance and Hell Raiser at the Ulster Hall among others played a huge role and Pablo Gargano headlined many of these early raves!

These events are truly the stuff of legend among our dance community so to secure Pablo for our 50^th release was a dream come true for us

Even though Pablo lives in Italy, he has remained a big part of the scene here through social media and is always connecting with artists and labels by showing them support or just some words of encouragement.

We recently appeared with Pablo on another label under our Haindo moniker so these connections saw our relationship with Pablo grow resulting in the Grimace release.

 

MM: What’s coming up next?

SBR: We are all about supporting Irish talent and have signed artists from all over the country.

We will 100% continue to focus on this but we would also like to start taking Sonar Bliss Records on the road with events around the country.

We are actually bringing SBR to Cork on the 11^th March 2023 alongside label favourites Luke & Flex and Loose-E  which should be a little bit messy! Definitely looking forward to that.

Plus we have loads of releases lined up for 2023 including stuff from Full Funktion, Derek Farnan, Bella Bits & of course Haindo.

 

Pablo Gargano ‘Grimace’

 

IUM: Pablo, your latest release ‘Grimace’ is quite simply, a fucking great driving relentless dance floor filler, and aptly celebrated by Sonar Bliss Records as its 50th release.

What was the inspiration and creative journey behind building this unique dance floor standalone?

Pablo Gargano: Being involved in producing various genres of music over the years, on this project, the idea was to combine them all together into a “Technoish” vibe.

A dark progressive groove, mixed with hypnotic Techno..

…loops and Trance atmosphere have been the main ingredients of this creative process.

Hopefully it will make sense to the listener and not only my way of perceiving dance music at the moment.

 

Haindo Remix

IUM: Fantastic remix that keeps and expands the original driving energy, and it’s great. What was the creative process behind it?

Haindo: We find our productions can be anything from driving techno to melodic & atmospheric.

Most of the time the music writes itself and practically tells us what it needs

With this one we wanted something epic and memorable while maintaining the foundations of Pablo’s original which is quite dark so we changed direction and made this one with a more uplifting vibe with loads of big pads, progressive hits and one massive driving bassline.

We are massive Pablo Gargano fans so remixing this track is a big highlight for us. We hope we’ve done it some justice!

 

Just Doc. Remix

IUM:  Man, a serious amp up on the original, pounding kick drum and very nice use of the distorted synth sounds, fucking dance floor destroyer! Epic. This obviously got into your creative psych, and you ran with it!:Why?

 

Just doc: The original was so deep, dark & mysterious which is right up my street, so as a remix I wanted to make it noticeably different whilst using the original sounds but at the same time, manipulating them to become something different.

The stems were great from Pablo and I wanted to take the energy up a level, so after 6 or 7 versions, ranging from 126bpm to 134bpm.. I finally landed on that synthy hook complimented by that clubby baseline. It just clicked.

I knew this would grab the ear and get the arms up in the club. I liked the repetitive simplicity of this one.

I’m delighted with how it turned out, adding that extra dynamic to the EP with the two other smashing tracks from Pablo & Haindo.

 

Grab a  copy

http://www.beatport.com/release/grimace-ep/3942569