Championing emerging electronic acts from around the world; the first release comes from Scotland’s Van Damn.
As a key figure in dance music and a voice of a youthful generation, DJ and Broadcaster Jaguar launches her brand-new record label UTOPIA.
Originally launched as a club night back in 2020, UTOPIA has evolved into a community for emerging artists and platform for music lovers curated personally by Jaguar and fuelled by her relentless passion for breaking barriers for boundary-pushing young talent.
UTOPIA’s monthly single releases are set to spotlight the freshest new club tracks from a new generation of electronic creators.
Dundee’s Van Damn, a regular on the Scottish club scene with his B2B Podcast and All Good parties, proudly features as the label’s inaugural release with ‘Can’t Grumble’; a certified dancefloor weapon loaded with a springy bassline and classic house cues. It’s been a staple in label boss, Jaguar’s sets, including in her 2021 Boiler Room and most recent Mixmag Lab, and finally is being unleashed.
As a leading figure in dance music, Mixmag’s “Broadcaster of 2021” and host of BBC Introducing Dance on Radio 1, Jaguar is no stranger to exploring the cultural, political and creative sides of global electronic music scenes and has been rewarding her Radio 1 community with the most exciting new dance music for a numbers of years now; in particular championing minorities as a priority and in 2020 launched Future1000 with Virtuoso – a free, online initiative where women, trans and non-binary people aged 12 to 18 can learn to DJ in an accessible way.
Since then, alongside her effervescent radio show, joyful live sets, and prolific support of new music from as diverse a range of artists and producers as she can find, Jaguar (full name Jaguar Bingham) has also set up the Jaguar Foundation, which authored last year’s research report in highlighting gender disparity in dance music.
Speaking on the launch of her label; Jaguar says:
‘I’m SO proud to announce that UTOPIA has become a record label. This is always something I’ve wanted to do, and now feels like the perfect moment to do so. Championing emerging artists and introducing their music to the world is my favourite thing in the world, and I hope UTOPIA becomes a place people will turn to discover their new favourite club tracks. I’ve loved getting stuck in as an A+R, working closely with the artists, helping bring their visions to life. It’s such a special experience. I’m obsessed with every single release that we’ve signed, and I hope that you are too! Van Damn’s ‘Can’t Grumble’ has been rotating in my sets for over a year, people always request the track ID, and I’m delighted that it’s FINALLY out in the world”.
“The label’s releases set to drop throughout 2023 capture a diverse cast of talent and tell the stories of a range of accomplished and exciting new artists. The community that we’ve been building every day means so much to me, and now it only feels right to welcome you into my tastes as a selector, in the colourful and zany world of UTOPIA.’ Jaguar continues.
The record label comes hot off the back of Jaguar announcing a four date UTOPIA residency at Brixton’s new underground venue Ton Of Brix. Inviting you into the immersive world of UTOPIA she welcomes world-renowned DJs alongside the most exciting up-and-coming names across the four nights in May and June. There will be four themes across the residency, representing the diverse and rich community that UTOPIA has been cultivating.
