Label Feature: Beef Records

Run by Shades Of Gray, Sydney based Beef Records has a roster that includes emerging artists, as well as veterans of the scene, such as Robert Babicz, Kreon, Ramon Tapia, Moonbeam, Alex Kenji, Deepchild, Martinez, Jamie Stevens, Pezzner and more. Originally set up by Czech émigré Michal Schwa, shortly after his arrival in Australia, the label is now co-run by him and Nick West, whom he met a year later. United by a passion for producing and playing, and a disillusionment with a music industry obsessed with genres, they soon began performing and producing together under the Shades Of Gray moniker. This name means the gray area you find if you look between the genres and also the freedom of expression you can find there.

Listen to VA After Hours, mixed by Schwa here.

Inviting Nick to hop on board at Beef Records seemed the logical step for Schwa to take and it’s certainly paid off. The combination of Nick’s business acumen with Schwa’s label experience (he’d previously run the Tibal Vision label in Czech Republic with a friend), along with their shared musical vision, has proved a winning formula: the label has since clocked up 30 digital and seven vinyl releases, as well as three CD compilations in the Prime Cuts series and a new CD mix compilation, After Hours, which is available now.
 

"Gotta say the Prime Cuts Volume 3 has not left my bag since it came out this summer. Every track is something that fits just right in my Dj set." - Pezzner

Over time the label has evolved from its tech house roots into more organic and deeper house territory, and it’s often a reflection of wherever Nick and Schwa are finding themselves musically at the time. “We are not afraid of vocals, experiments and twisted beats,” Schwa explains, “Beef records output also somehow represents what I like to DJ at parties. Doing a lot of bar gigs last year helped me to rediscover lots of slower tracks that are hard to play out at 3am in a packed night club”. This inspired him to put together and mix VA After Hours compilation.  It features exclusively-signed tracks from Beef artists such as Pezzner, Alland Byallo, The Timewriter and Murat Kilic, the sound is deep, twisted and groovy house music.   As the name suggests, it's perfect for getting your groove on to at an early morning afterparty.

I wonder what the secret is to their success? “Firstly by keeping everything in house”, they tell me. From the graphic design by Nick’s wife Nao, to the mastering of all releases by Schwa’s father, they keep costs down, which means they can focus on the music. They then question what I mean by success? Going on to explain that the label is not really a way to make money: “We release music we believe in, and we’re not working for the market. Some labels stick to a genre and brand it very well, some of the bigger labels for instance. When we release a track, we have no idea if it will be successful or not. In fact every track that has been a success, took us by surprise” Schwa points out.
 

"... the 'hotel' turned out to be a whore house. Very dirty and wrong. It was like being in some twisted David Lynch movie."

You’d be forgiven for thinking this was a labour of love, when in fact the hard work really does pay dividends, just not always in the hard currency kind. “We’re not really running the label to make money,” Nick says, “it’s more a vehicle for own and our label artists’ careers. It’s a way to gain recognition as an artist and to get gigs. We always re-invest the money we make from gigs back into the label”. “I don’t know a single musician who just wanted to write music not get out and play gigs. Performing is an essential tool for artists to succeed”, adds Schwa.  
 


They’ve also found that working with like-minded individuals overseas leads to reciprocation, meaning opportunities for Beef artists to perform internationally too. But this can have its perils, as they found out when they’d toured Shades Of Gray overseas last year: “We always have a lot of fun while touring. Last year we did quite a lot of live gigs in Eastern Europe. That is always really adventurous. Last year in Moscow a promoter who didn’t think of organizing accommodation prior to the event booked us. When we arrived he was freaking out and we ended up staying in a hotel that he booked last minute. It was in a really dodgy suburb and the 'hotel' turned out to be a whore house. Very dirty and wrong. It was like being in some twisted David Lynch movie. Then the actual event was held in something I would call a "truck stop bar" near a big highway. In the second room they had a rock band playing. After the gig we got payed half in Russia money and half in US Dollars - that wasn't even surprising anymore. After all this experience we were glad for whatever we got. The icing on the cake was getting driven to the wrong airport!”
 

"The whole EP (David Garcet & K. Hocini - She Was Black) has incredible grooves throughout each mix, organic percussions, and haunting emotional vocal.....But the icing on the cake was the Shades of Gray remix, proper cosmic house that takes the dancefloor to new heights, outdoors or indoors." - Uone

Schwa plans to return to Europe this year, which will give the label a permanent representative over there. Nick will be joining him for the summer to tour Shades of Gray.

Shades Of Gray pick three defining Beef releases

Pena vs Perfect Strangers - Ode Ao Sol (Moonbeam remix)
This is one of the tracks that helped Beef records to go another level. The Moonbeam remix was simply a chart killer. Went up to #2 on Beatport and stayed there for almost a month. This was when minimal was at its peak. Thanks to this success we could invest in more established artists and promote the label to a wider audience.

Shades Of Gray - Simplicity
Simplicity was the first record under the Shades Of Gray moniker. We got all excited and pressed quite a lot of 12" records. They all somehow sold out, which was a big surprise. We also received a lot of support by techno Djs like Oliver Klein, D-Nox, Guy J, Juergen Driessen and others. This helped us to build confidence in our own music and after this EP we sealed a record deal with Mutteki's sub-label Plus Minus. For them we wrote a track called Moog In The House that made it to #6 on Beatport’s tech-house chart.

VA - Prime Cuts
The Prime Cuts series has always been very important for us. Not only because it's a CD but also because we usually spend a lot of time compiling it. Always trying to blend bigger name artists with newcomers we believe in. Prime Cuts vol. 1 was the first release on Beef presenting artists like Trentemoller, Martinez, D-Nox... So Prime Cuts is where it actually all started, even though our sound has changed a lot since then.

Beef Records releases are available in a variety of online and record stores.
What People Play
Beatport

Leah Thomas

Listen to VA After Hours, mixed by Schwa here.