Hed Kandi is a UK-based record label and a music brand,
established 1999,specializing in house music. Founded by DJ
and A&R man, Mark Doyle,Hed Kandi's catalogue includes
both artist albums and various genres of club compilations.
The brand has grown in strength through the years, culminating
in the purchase of the record label at the end of January 2006
by the Ministry Of Sound, one of the largest dance music brands.
Hed Kandi, along with the Enterprise Records division of Smooth
FM was purchased for an undisclosed sum from Guardian Media
GroupRadioHoldings.
Hed Kandi also holds nightclub events around the United Kingdom
and worldwide, most notably summer residencies in Ibiza. There
are also a monthly residencies London nightclub Pacha,
Bournemouth University's Student Union, The Old Firestation
and New York's Crobar.
On March 31 of 2007, the world's first bar bearing the name Hed
Kandiwas opened in Hurghada, Egypt, on the Red Sea. Hed Kandi
Beach Bar is designed according to the well-known Hed Kandi
style. The sentence Red Sea is the new White Island is written
on a wall near the open-air dancefloor. Similar to the music
releases, the club has a
unique "release number", which is
painted on the wall, namely HKV001.
The Ministry Of Sound plans on maintaining the current style of
Hed Kandi, whilst Mark Doyle has now established a new house
music label called Fierce Angels.
Ministry of Sound (MoS) is a global dance music brand and a nightclub
in Elephant and Castle, Southwark, South London, officially opened on
21st September 1991. British MoS initially set itself apart from other London nightclubs of
the time with its location well away from London clubland, a non-alcoholic bar with a 24
hour dance licence and the highly-acclaimed sound system; all features
designed to attract an enthusiastic crowd of music lovers. DJs mix live
sets on Friday and Saturday each week. The MoS contains two dance
floors as well as a Sony PlayStation room and Absolut chill bar.
Ministry of Sound was founded by James Palumbo, Humphrey
Waterhouse and DJ Justin Berkmann. It is still largely owned and
controlled by Jamie Palumbo, son of property developer Peter, Lord
Palumbo. Since the club's opening, the MoS brand has been
extended to a number of other areas. Profits from the brand put
Palumbo on the Sunday Times Rich List 2004, with an estimated
worth of £136m.
The club's name and original logo are in the style of executive
branches of UK government (such as the Ministry of Defence). The
original logo was designed by Marc Woodhouse & Justin Berkman
and was based on the portcullis and crown, the symbols of
Westminster government.
The current logo is a redesign done as a collaboration from AMP,
London who designed the general logo and Vincent Connare
at Dalton Maag, London who designed the lettering and
finalized the artwork for MOS logo completed in 2002.
In recent times, the Ministry of Sound brand has expanded with
franchise clubs being opened in Asia, and club tours taking place
worldwide. MoS parties are often held in various locations around
the globe.
Ministry of Sound Egypt (Papas Beach Club, Sekalla Hurghada,
Egypt), the immensely successful Ministry of Sound Beach Club
(the world's only MoS beach-side venue) runs alongside regular
parties at Pacha in Sharm El Sheikh
Ministry of Sound Bangkok nightclub (Sukhumvit Soi 12, Bangkok,
Thailand) (2002–03), the first club outside the UK, is now closed
Ministry of Sound Taipei (No. 310, LenQun 3rd. Rd., Taipei, Taiwan)
opened March 25, 2004 is now closed
Ministry of Sound Singapore (Block C The Cannery, River Valley Rd,
Clarke Quay, Singapore 179022) opened December 16, 2005
Ministry of Sound New Delhi, India opened on 9 February, 2007
and is located at C Block Vasant Kunj. It is now closed due to a
number of reasons, one of them being heavy disputes regarding
the franshising rights between franchiser and franchisee.
Euphoria by Ministry of Sound in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia launched
July 2, 2008
Ministry of Sound Shanghai, China is due to open in 2008
Ministry of Sound Melbourne, Australia will open in 2010 at the
beachfront area of St. Kilda..
Ministry of Sound is also a record label that produces many
compilations each year, featuring many artists. These
compilations are compiled from many different genres of music,
but primarily the dance, house, and trance genres. In January
2006, the company purchased record label Hed Kandi from
The Guardian Media Group and plans to continue maintaining
the brand. Ministry of Sound (Australia) is an affiliated record
label based out of Cremorne, NSW Australia. Its music was
released through EMI (Australia) until January 2008, when
it changed to Universal Music Australia and has been
operating since 2000. In 2008 Ministry of Sound launched
HARD2BEAT records with Basshunter's "Now You're Gone"
as its first single and Bigtunes 2008 as its first compilation.
Ministry of Sound Radio operated on DAB in London and
Central Scotland on the Switch Digital multiplex, but closed
in December 2002. A radio stream continues via the website.
http://stickam.com.profile/rolsin
MoS radios DJs include Lottie, Alistair Whitehead and Rob
Roar, Mutiny, Hed Kandi residents David Dunne and Andy
Norman, Matt Jam Lamont, Ross Allen, Jazzy M, Bill
Brewster, Jon Gurd, Andy Farley, Darren Tate, Matt Darey,
Above and Beyond, Adam White, BK, Guy Ornadel, J00F,
and Graham Gold. From March 2007 the station expanded
further launching two on-demand channels offering non-stop
chill out and underground sessions.
The current team syndicates radio shows around the globe as
well as running the online stream and on demand options.
Headed by Dave Vega the station has Steve O'Connor
and Dave Slade as its main producers. Former Head of Radio,
Chris Bailey is running his own media and production business
based in South London.
IN BRIEF: Compilation number ten for Ministry sub-label.
It’s almost impossible to escape the Ministry Of Sound these days, at least
if you live in the UK. While the overlord of commercial dance labels (your
fun fact for the day: the MOS is Europe’s largest independent label)
are ubiquitous at the supermarket compilation level under their own
name, theyhave so many sub-labels these days you might find yourself
browsing a Ministry Of Sound record completely unawares. As well as
taking over established brands such as Hed Kandi
and Gatecrasher,
they have several sub-labels devoted to particular areas. Housexy is
just such a sub-label, based on the night of the same name, and you
fail this review immediately and must return to the start if you can’t
guess what genre they specialise in.
That said, “specialise” is perhaps a strong term, as the Housexy
compilations exemplified by this tenth incarnation aren’t exactly
tracklisting the most cutting edge or underground of house. Housexy
10 is a veritable roll-call of the biggest house producers around at the
moment- the kind of names you’d expect to read on the back of a Ministry
Of Sound album. It all makes you wonder just why Housexy the label exists
at all- perhaps to emphasise the MOS’s commercial hegemony. Just about
the only low-profile part of the package is the DJ: Housexy regular, Richard
Murray, who does a competent job for a lot less money that some
other DJs would charge and avoids cramming the tracklistwith his own
productions or reworks; a sole remixcomprising his musical input.
So what does it sound like? The first disc is the less poppy of the two,
eschewing many recognisable radio anthems in favour for a solid set of
approachable yet enjoyable house. Murray gets the ball rolling with the
summery diva house of Groove Armada’s Love Sweet Sound, which
sets the tone for the rest of the disc. Sunny, terrace-friendly house
abounds, which sounds great under a blue sky but loses a lot of the
spark at any other time. There’s little in the way of highlights, with Murray
opting instead for a steady groove throughout, and the set lacks any
clearly defined structure. His mixing is tight and unobtrusive, which is a
mixed blessing. The thirteen tracks on both discs may avoid the
cramming-in-the-hits fault many MOS compilations are guilty of, but
some more interesting mixing would have added spice to the proceedings: Murray doesn’t use so much as an acapella. The result is a decent but unspectacular
first half.
The second disc is more interesting simply because Murray mixes it up a
little. The opener from the Groove Junkies is pure old-school sass,
redolent with strings, pianos and diva vocals, and a little more
evidence that classic house is back. From there on there’s plenty
of variation. The familiar hooks of the Freemasons’ Uninvited will be
recognisable to anyone who’s been within listening range of a radio
in recent months, Fedde Le Grand combines his trademark
(and increasingly defunct) chunky electro basslines with a vocoded
vocal used in a style reminiscent of Mylo’s Drop The Pressure,
and Ron Carroll somewhat ruins a driving piece of house in Walking
Down The Street with an irritating spoken vocal, all in the first half of
the disc.
The classic house revivalism can be felt on Armand Van Helden’s Je
T’aime with its square wave bassline that is pure early 90s, its stabbing
strings and its use of the classic 808 cowbell doink. And just in case
there was any doubt about it, Je T’aime drops straight into the piano
break of the biggest smash on display: Ian Carey’s 2008update of classic
anthem Something Good from old-school heroes the U-U-U-Utah Saints,
a track currently being hammered to pieces on every mainstream
dancefloor and radio station in the UK and probably beyond. It isn’t
as good as the original with too many stretches of dull electro house
nonsense, but it’s hard to avoid getting caught up as soon as the
familiar Kate Bush vocal sample kicks in.With its hands in the air
chorus it also gives the mix a peak and resultantly some structure
that was badly missed on disc one.
After that sing-along peak Murray takes it down into dark and throbbing
territory. Tracks from ATFC and Mark Knight & Funkagenda feature the
kind of faintly-creepy spokes vocals that would fit perfectly to a Chicago
house track from twenty years ago. It’s a surprisingly low key way to end a
generally uptempo mix, although my personal theory is that the MOS are
selling this compilation to the kind of listener who won’t often reach
the end of a solid disc of music and so won’t really care about the
tracks featured at the end.
There’s nothing new or especially exciting about anything on Housexy 10.
Its combination of electro house and retro sounds is a good sample
for what’s currently shifting the most records in dance music, but
you’ll be hearing plenty of that across the rest of 2008. Fans of
the techy, dubby or minimal side of house music won’t find much to
smile about and there’s no real genre-blending to attract outsiders.
Richard Murray’s mixing is solid but not nearly exciting enough to
carry the compilation, and in the end Housexy 10 will only really
appeal to mainstream house fans. Millions of people then, but
there are almost as many compilations catering to their tastes,
and there’s little to make this one stand out from the crowd.
