Dim Mak Records is an independent, Los Angeles-based
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
, events company, and lifestyle brand founded by
Steve Aoki
Steven Hiroyuki Aoki (, ; born November 30, 1977), best known as Steve Aoki, is an American DJ, record producer, music programmer, and record executive. in 1996. The label has released music under the genres of
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
,
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
,
hardcore
Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to:
Arts and media Film
* ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film
* ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott
* ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...
,
hip hop, and
electronic dance music.
History
Early years
Steve Aoki started Dim Mak Records in 1996 at the age of 19, out of his college apartment at the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
, Santa Barbara.
The label's first release was a 7-inch record by a hardcore punk band called Stickfigurecarousel.
The name ''Dim Mak'' is a reference to
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...
's
Death Touch martial art technique.
Prior to launching Dim Mak, Aoki was involved in the local hardcore punk scene. As a writer for a small
zine
A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published
Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...
, Aoki would often receive demos and albums to review. Meanwhile, he began hosting punk and hardcore shows in the living room of his college apartment, which came to be known as ''The Pickle Patch''.
Hundreds of acts played in this early space, sometimes in exchange for a place to sleep for the night, including The Rapture, Jimmy Eat World, Atom & His Package, and more.
The relationships formed throughout these formative years served as a crucial foundation for what would later become Dim Mak Records.
In 2001, Dim Mak released one of the label's first nationally recognized projects with the self-titled debut EP from
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Pretty Girls Make Graves was a post-punk band formed in Seattle in 2001, named after The Smiths' song of the same name (which itself was named after a quote from Jack Kerouac's ''The Dharma Bums''). Andrea Zollo and Derek Fudesco had played t ...
. Following the success of this record along with The Kills’
Black Rooster in 2002, Aoki relocated Dim Mak to Los Angeles, initiating the label's second era.
Indie rock era
In 2003, Dim Mak began to build out its roster through the addition of indie rock artists, beginning with the U.K. band
Bloc Party
Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Loui ...
. After mailing Aoki a 7-inch of their track "
She's Hearing Voices
"She's Hearing Voices" is a song by Bloc Party that was first released on 7" vinyl by London-based independent label Trash Aesthetics in February 2004. It also appeared on their 2004 '' Bloc Party (EP)''. The song was later re-recorded for the b ...
", the group signed to Dim Mak Records.
Shortly afterwards, Dim Mak entered into a partnership with
VICE
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
(a subsidiary of
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
), for the rights to Bloc Party, marking Dim Mak's first deal with a major label. Together, Dim Mak and Atlantic released Bloc Party's debut album
Silent Alarm
''Silent Alarm'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Bloc Party. Recorded in Copenhagen and London in mid-2004 with Paul Epworth as producer, it was released on 2 February 2005, by Wichita Recordings. The album peaked at number three ...
in 2005, which went on to sell over 350,000 physical albums.
Electro era
As underground dance music began incorporating (which was coined
electro at the time), Dim Mak shifted with the times and entered its electro era.
One of the biggest tracks of this era came when Steve Aoki collaborated with The Bloody Beetroots for "Warp 1.9", the lead single off their debut album
Romborama.
Thump placed the track at #19 on their 101 Best EDM Songs of All Time list and called it 'Perhaps the definitive track from that particularly fruitful period of hook-laden abrasiveness.'
Around the same time, Dim Mak released an album from Mstrkrft titled
Fist of God, which brought major pop and hip-hop collaborators into the electro scene.
New Noise
New Noise is Dim Mak's new music discovery imprint that focuses on cutting-edge sounds from burgeoning artists across the genre spectrum. Launched in 2010, New Noise got its start as a compilation series highlighting fresh faces handpicked by Steve Aoki and crew. By 2015, the platform evolved into a bi-weekly, free-download platform based on singles.
Ghastly's underground house single "Every Night" was the first release of many under this format. As of 2016, New Noise's current incarnation is a copyright free model that allows the budding community of
Twitch
Twitch may refer to:
Biology
* Muscle contraction
** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation
** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction
** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...
gamers and amateur YouTube content creators to use New Noise music in their videos and live streams sans purchase or fees, all in exchange for linking back to the artists and their music.
Music publishing
Steve Aoki founded ''Dim Mak Publishing'' in 2014, as the fourth division of the Dim Mak brand. Since its launch, songs from the Dim Mak Publishing repertoire have landed major sync placements across national advertising campaigns (T-Mobile, Acura), feature films (''
Sausage Party
''Sausage Party'' is a 2016 adult computer-animated comedy film directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan and written by Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg from a story by Rogen, Goldberg, and Jonah Hill. The film follow ...
'', ''
Ride Along 2
''Ride Along 2'' is a 2016 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Tim Story and written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. It is the sequel to the 2014 film ''Ride Along''. The film stars Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Ken Jeong, Benjamin Bratt, O ...
'', ''
Why Him?
''Why Him?'' is a 2016 American buddy comedy film written and directed by John Hamburg, co-written by Ian Helfer, and starring James Franco and Bryan Cranston with Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally, Griffin Gluck and Keegan-Michael Key in supporting r ...
'') and TV programs (
Transparent
Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to:
* Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material
They may also refer to:
Literal uses
* Transparency (photography), a still, ...
,
CSI: Cyber). On August 9, 2017, Dim Mak Publishing announced that it had signed a global deal with
Warner/Chappell Music
Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalogue consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 65,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries.
...
, the music publishing arm of
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...
. Warner/Chappell now administers the entire Dim Mak Publishing catalog, which includes a wide variety of dance/electronic works from songwriters such as Autoerotique,
Garmiani, Henry Fong, Max Styler,
Ookay
Abraham Laguna, known by his stage name Ookay, is an American electronic music producer, DJ and singer.
Career
Laguna is based in Los Angeles and his father is a bassist who performed a bass solo during Ookay's Father's Day set at EDC 2015.
...
,
Quix,
Shaun Frank
Shaun Charles Frank (born June 7, 1982) is a Canadian DJ, singer-songwriter and record producer. He was a part of the band Crowned King and later left that to join Envy. He ventured on his own after Envy broke up and has collaborated with EDM art ...
, Stööki Sound, and Viceroy.
Associated artists
*
Steve Aoki
Steven Hiroyuki Aoki (, ; born November 30, 1977), best known as Steve Aoki, is an American DJ, record producer, music programmer, and record executive.
*
Atari Teenage Riot
Atari Teenage Riot (ATR) is a German band formed in Berlin in 1992. Highly political, they fuse left-wing, anarchist and anti-fascist views with punk vocals and a techno sound called digital hardcore, which is a term band member Alec Empire use ...
* Autoerotique
* Aviella
*
Bloc Party
Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Loui ...
*
The Bloody Beetroots
The Bloody Beetroots is an Italian electronic music project of musician and producer Bob Rifo (also Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo and SBCR, born Simone Cogo). Established in late 2006, the Bloody Beetroots were initially a duo consisting of Bob Rifo an ...
* Cetana
*
The Deadly Syndrome
The Deadly Syndrome was a musical group based in Los Angeles, California.
Biography
The band was formed in 2006 by William Etling, Jesse Hoy, Michael Hughes and Crash Richard. In fall of 2006 the band was signed to the record label Dim Mak Rec ...
* Diamond Pistols
*
Angger Dimas
Raden Angger Dimas Riyanto (born 1 March 1988) professionally known as Angger Dimas, is an Indonesian electronic musician, DJ and music producer from Jakarta, Indonesia. Angger Dimas student of 34 Senior High School, Jakarta & 68 Junior High Sch ...
*
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike are a Belgian–Greek DJ duo composed of brothers Dimitri Thivaios and Michael Thivaios. They were ranked No. 1 on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list in 2015 and 2019, and were ranked No. 2 in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020 ...
* Henry Fong
*
Shaun Frank
Shaun Charles Frank (born June 7, 1982) is a Canadian DJ, singer-songwriter and record producer. He was a part of the band Crowned King and later left that to join Envy. He ventured on his own after Envy broke up and has collaborated with EDM art ...
* Garmiani
*
Ghastly
*
Godlands
*
Gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling.
Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...
* I Wish I
*
Keys N Krates
Keys N Krates is a Canadian electronic music band formed in 2008 out of Toronto, Ontario. The group consists of drummer Adam Tune, keyboardist David Matisse and turntablist Jr. Flo (Greg Dawson). The band started as a live hip-hop act reliant o ...
*
The Kills
The Kills are an English-American rock duo formed by American singer Alison "VV" Mosshart and English guitarist Jamie "Hotel" Hince. They are signed to Domino Records. Their first four albums, '' Keep On Your Mean Side'', ''No Wow'', ''Midni ...
*
Lil Jon
Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971) better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, producer and former frontman of the rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. He was instrumental in the emergence of the hip hop subgenre cru ...
* Moistbreezy
*
Mstrkrft
* Mustard Pimp
*
Oh No Oh My
Oh No Oh My are a four-piece indie rock band from Austin, Texas.
Biography
Oh No Oh My consists of multi-instrumentalists Daniel Hoxmeier, Joel Calvin, Greg Barkley, and Tim Regan. The members of Oh No Oh My started playing music when they were f ...
*
Yumi Nu
Yumi Nootenboom (born September 23, 1996), better known as Yumi Nu, is an American model and singer-songwriter. She appeared on the cover of the ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue in 2022, becoming the first plus-size model of Asian descent ...
*
Ookay
Abraham Laguna, known by his stage name Ookay, is an American electronic music producer, DJ and singer.
Career
Laguna is based in Los Angeles and his father is a bassist who performed a bass solo during Ookay's Father's Day set at EDC 2015.
...
*
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Pretty Girls Make Graves was a post-punk band formed in Seattle in 2001, named after The Smiths' song of the same name (which itself was named after a quote from Jack Kerouac's ''The Dharma Bums''). Andrea Zollo and Derek Fudesco had played t ...
*
Quix
*
Alvin Risk
* Rob Roy
*
Scanners
''Scanners'' is a 1981 Canadian science fiction horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan. In the film, "scanners" are psychics with unusual telepathic ...
* Dan Sena
* Sickboy
* Stickfigurecarousel
* Stööki Sound
* Max Styler
*
Tiësto
Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was ...
* Viceroy
* WatchTheDuck
*
XTRMST
*
Zedd
Anton Zaslavski (russian: Антон Заславский; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a Russian-born German DJ, record producer, and songwriter.
Zedd grew up and began his musical journey in Kaiserslautern, G ...
*
Zuper Blahq
Notes
Some
Steve Aoki
Steven Hiroyuki Aoki (, ; born November 30, 1977), best known as Steve Aoki, is an American DJ, record producer, music programmer, and record executive. releases are co-released alongside
Ultra Records
Ultra Records is an American record label formed in New York City in 1995 by former PolyGram and Virgin Records executive Patrick Moxey. As of December 23, 2012, Ultra entered a global partnership with Sony Music, giving its artists access to ...
as well as Dim Mak Records, however, they are officially categorized under the
Ultra Records
Ultra Records is an American record label formed in New York City in 1995 by former PolyGram and Virgin Records executive Patrick Moxey. As of December 23, 2012, Ultra entered a global partnership with Sony Music, giving its artists access to ...
discography, it is also the same for other artists such as
The Bloody Beetroots
The Bloody Beetroots is an Italian electronic music project of musician and producer Bob Rifo (also Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo and SBCR, born Simone Cogo). Established in late 2006, the Bloody Beetroots were initially a duo consisting of Bob Rifo an ...
.
Events
Dim Mak events have featured performances from a diverse range of acts such as
Migos
Migos () is an American hip hop trio from Lawrenceville, Georgia, founded in 2008. The group was originally composed of Southern rappers Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset. Quavo is from Athens, Georgia; Offset and Takeoff were born and raised in Law ...
,
Lil Uzi Vert
Symere Bysil Woods ( ; born July 31, 1995), known professionally as Lil Uzi Vert, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. They are characterized by their face tattoo, facial tattoos, facial piercings, eccentric hairstyles and androgynous ...
,
Thomas Bangalter
Thomas Bangalter (; born 3 January 1975) is a French musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, DJ and composer. Son of French music composer and artist Daniel Vangarde. He is best known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft ...
of
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...
,
Skrillex
Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ and music producer. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he joined the post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead sing ...
,
Rae Sremmurd
Rae Sremmurd ( ; "Drummers Ear" spelled backwards) is an American hip hop duo originating from Tupelo, Mississippi, formed by two brothers, Slim Jxmmi and Swae Lee. In 2013, they signed a record deal with Mike Will Made It's EarDrummers impri ...
,
Kid Cudi
Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), also known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and fashion designer. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Cudi would move to New Yo ...
,
Zedd
Anton Zaslavski (russian: Антон Заславский; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a Russian-born German DJ, record producer, and songwriter.
Zedd grew up and began his musical journey in Kaiserslautern, G ...
,
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
,
Waka Flocka Flame
Juaquin James Malphurs (born May 31, 1986), known professionally as Waka Flocka Flame, is an American rapper. Signing to 1017 Brick Squad and Warner Bros. Records in 2009, he became a mainstream artist with the release of his singles "O Let's ...
,
Will.i.am
William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas.
...
,
Dillon Francis
Dillon Hart Francis (born October 5, 1987), also known by the stage name DJ Hanzel, is an American electronic music producer and DJ.
Early life
Francis was born in Los AngelesAhmed, Insanul (March 13, 2012Who Is Dillon Francis?Complex. Retri ...
,
Diplo
Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD with ...
,
Justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
,
Afrojack
Nick Leonardus van de Wall (; born 9 September 1987), better known as Afrojack, is a Dutch DJ, music producer and remixer from Spijkenisse, South Holland. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album '' Forget the World' ...
,
Travis Scott,
Bloc Party
Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Loui ...
,
Borgore
Yosef Asaf Borger ( he, יוסף אסף בורגר; born 20 October 1987), known professionally as Borgore, is an Israeli EDM producer, DJ, singer-songwriter and rapper. He is the founder of the label Buygore Records.
Biography
Yosef Asaf Bo ...
,
Yellow Claw, and
Steve Angello
Steven Patrik Josefsson Fragogiannis ( el, Στέφεν Πάτρικ Γιόζεφσον Φραγκόγιαννης; born 22 November 1982), better known by his stage name Steve Angello, is a Greek-Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and record ...
.
Dim Mak Tuesdays
From 2003 to 2014, Dim Mak held weekly events, also known as, Dim Mak Tuesdays event at Dim Mak Studios (previously known as Cinespace) in
Hollywood, CA
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...
. The list of artists who have performed at Dim Mark Tuesdays includes Lady Gaga, Justice, Diplo, will.i.am, and Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter.
Festival Stages
To date, Dim Mak has hosted branded ''Dim Mak Stages'' at major music festivals around the world, including:
Special events
Dim Mak has an established history of producing special events at key music conferences such as
SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
and
Miami Music Week. Also in 2006 and 2007, Dim Mak produced a medium-scaled music festival in Los Angeles called "Neighborhood".
20th anniversary tour
In 2016, Dim Mak commemorated its 20-year anniversary with 20 events around the world.
Clothing & accessories
In 2014, ''Dim Mak Collection'' was launched. From its launch Dim Mak has been worn by celebrities and influencers including
Gucci Mane
Radric Delantic Davis (born February 12, 1980), known professionally as Gucci Mane, is an American rapper and record executive. He helped pioneer the hip hop subgenre of trap music alongside fellow Atlanta-based rappers T.I. and Young Jeezy, ...
,
Migos
Migos () is an American hip hop trio from Lawrenceville, Georgia, founded in 2008. The group was originally composed of Southern rappers Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset. Quavo is from Athens, Georgia; Offset and Takeoff were born and raised in Law ...
,
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...
and
Bella Thorne
Annabella Avery Thorne (born October 8, 1997) is an American actress, singer, and writer. She first received recognition for her roles as Margaux Darling in the series ''Dirty Sexy Money'' (2007–2008) and as Ruthy Spivey in the drama series ...
and has been featured in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
among others.
In addition to the proprietary Dim Mak Collection has collaborated with other influential clothing and accessory brands on limited edition collections. Those are listed as:
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Alternative rock record labels
American independent record labels
Electronic dance music record labels