Hospital Records - History

History

In 1996, London Elektricity was the recording name of Goss and Colman. They released their debut album Pull the Plug in 1999. The first Outpatients compilation (2000) included appearances from Landslide, Marcus Intalex and Aquasky, and a mixture of jazz- and disco-influenced house, UK garage and breakbeat. Goss joined Colman to form the electronica-duo London Elektricity, but parted again in 2002 to focus on managing the label.

Hospital's early drum and bass output earned the label an underground fanbase, but it was London Elektricity's "Song in the Key of Knife", released in Spring 1998, that launched Hospital to the forefront of the scene. As London Elektricity, Tony and Chris' first long player "Pull The Plug" released in the summer of 99, received much critical acclaim and is still widely regarded as a classic album, using Jazz, Latin, and Soul influences far removed from the overlong and pretentious drum and bass albums of the time.

In 2001, Hospital signed Welsh producer High Contrast: he followed his debut with a series of strong releases and a well-received LP, True Colours in 2002, which helped push the label to the forefront of the scene. Although Chris Goss had parted London Elektricity, in 2003 the band released a second album with Tony Colman drawing in a range of musicians and vocalists and turned the project into a live band. Meanwhile, further signings Nu:Tone, Logistics, Landslide, Cyantific and in 2005 Q-Project have bolstered their position as one of the biggest players in DJ-oriented liquid funk. In 2007 the label signed Mistabishi with his debut album 'Drop' which dropped in early 2009. Later that year High Contrast released a 'greatest hits' double CD with his tracks on one CD and his best remixes on the other. Hospital's first major compilation since 2007, Sick Music, was released in May 2009 featuring 21 artists. In September Logistics' third studio album 'Crash, Bang, Wollop was released. At the end of 2009 Hospital signed the Russian producer Subwave and the Belgium producer Netsky in the same month as the Future Sound of Russia compilation was released,.

Besides their label, they also run a regular drum and bass night called Hospitality which was originally at Herbal in Shoreditch, London and later for the larger and more infrequent special events, Heaven in Charing Cross before moving to matter at the O2 in 2009. matter has since gone into administration and as such, its sister club, Fabric in Smithfields, has taken on the Hospitality brand. The brand has also been exported to other British cities such as Norwich, Portsmouth, Nottingham, Brighton, Bristol (on the boat, The Thekla), Cambridge and Edinburgh.

In 2006, Hospital Records reached their 100th release with a special "10 Years Of Hospital" 3xCD pack with London Elektricity, High Contrast and Cyantific covering many of Hospital's releases, and a 2x12" EP "Hospitalised", offering collaborations from High Contrast vs Logistics, Syncopix vs Nu:Tone, London Elektricity vs Logistics and Cyantific vs Q-Project.

In December 2011, Hospital Records won the Best Label title at the 2011 Drum and Bass Arena Awards.