UK-based south Asian cultural organisation Dialled In—which operates in such areas as festival production and live programming—has launched Dialled In Records. The London-headquartered label will develop and break south Asian artists, working in a range of genres, from both within the region and the diaspora.
A pair of electronic music acts, British-Pakistani DJ-producer Ahadadream and Indian multilingual “multidisciplinary collective” Excise Dept, the members of which reside across Delhi and Mumbai, are the first signees of Dialled In Records, which will run in partnership with The Collective, an Island-EMI imprint within Universal Music UK.
Ahadadream’s recently-released single ‘Bass Dhol’, which features Skrillex and British-Punjabi rapper and singer Raf Saperra, is the label’s inaugural release. A new release from Excise Dept—whose 2024 debut album Sab Kuch Mil Gaya Mujhe Vol. 1—was among the most critically acclaimed Indian independent music albums of that year—is expected to follow soon.
DJ Mag spoke to co-founder Dhruva Balram about the new venture. “Everything we’ve done—from the first festival in Walthamstow in 2021 to South Asia tours across Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, to Dialled Industry’s talent development work—has been about building infrastructure for south Asian creativity,” said Balram when asked how the label will be an extension of the main enterprise. “The label is just the recorded music arm of that same mission.
We already know the artists, we already have the audiences, and through Dialled Industry, we’re already helping develop the next generation. A label connects all of that. It means an artist can come through our mentorship programme, play our festivals, and now release music through us too. That’s a full ecosystem.”
Dialled In Records’s launch will be celebrated at the Dialled In 5th Birthday festival, a day-long event that will be staged across eight venues in the south London neighbourhood of Dalston for approximately 3,000 attendees. The as-yet-unannounced lineup of south Asian artists will include some who will be performing in the UK for the first time, say the organisers.
