D&B In Focus: In The Lab Recordings
In The Lab Recordings is an independent D&B label operating out of Northamptonshire, founded by DJ/producer Spectra T (AKA Andy Tiller) and DJ/producer Kendot (AKA Mckenzie 'Kenny' Dean). What started as a D&B party series aimed at filling a cultural void in that part of the UK soon turned into a future-focused label, aimed at exploring the techy and experimental side of Drum & Bass. Today Kendot shares his insight on running the label, what makes the genre unique and his ambitions to expand and progress the sound.
The Early Days
Kendot, AKA Kenny, grew up in a small town in Northamptonshire called Brackley, somewhere between Oxford, Milton, Keynes and Northampton. The first time Kenny heard anything close to Drum & Bass was when Pendulum played a festival near his childhood home and their tracks drifted in through his bedroom window. Then he bought The Prodigy’s Invaders Must Die album in 2009, and after that he was a goner.
“When I got older I fell into Drum & Bass through YouTube,” he says. “At the time, I didn't really understand the different types of electronic music. It was just music and I was just enjoying what I was hearing.”
Then, when he turned 18, he went to a Noisia night in Oxford, followed by Liquicity festival in Netherlands, where he was exposed to all the corners of Drum & Bass. “After that I was no longer a music fan, I was a Drum & Bass guy,” he says, and not long after he got home he bought a set of decks and started learning to DJ.
Filling the Void
In The Lab started as an event series because Kenny and Spectra T didn’t have anywhere to DJ in their neighborhood. “We live in the middle of nowhere,” Kenny says. “There’s no clubs, so we thought well if there’s no gigs we’ll make our own.”
Their first event in Brackley was a huge success. With no clubs within miles, the party attracted a crowd of older D&B heads and young people on the hunt for a good night out. It was the tail-end of 2018 and Drum & Bass was on the rise for its third resurgence. “Our event was absolutely packed so we kept running nights,” Kenny says. “Then lockdown was the catalyst to launch In The Lab as a label. Everyone was locked in their houses, we started doing live streams, and shared guest mixes with a full track list and press pack. It was a very varied cross section of Drum & Bass, not just one genre, and not just one style.”
Launching the Label
Soon, artists were sending over their productions to ask if they’d consider releasing them. They weren’t sure how to go about it, but decided to do it anyway, and within a couple of months they had their own label with a full catalog of fresh D&B artists. Their first release came out in 2021 by a Czech artist called Junger, followed by a steady stream of releases every two months. As their roster of artists developed, so did the sound they were championing – a fresh take on D&B, ranging from liquid to technical to experimental.
“And now here we are in 2024 and we’ve got around 80 tracks on the label from like 35 nationalities,” Kenny says. “It was such an organic process. We weren’t thinking about what’s popular, just what felt right at each moment in time.”
Artistic Integrity
Kenny says label heads will always experience friction between releasing the music they like and releasing the music that’s popular. In The Lab Recordings always choose the former, and believe that’s why their label is standing the test of time and only growing in popularity. “Artistic integrity has been our biggest asset,” Kenny says. “We’re not putting out music to get numbers on SoundCloud. Being a label-owner is an abstract extension of being a DJ – you have your audience, you’re sharing music you hope they enjoy, but it’s not for their sake, it’s for yours.”
The label had some big wins in the last couple of years. They were nominated for Drum&BassArena’s Best Newcomer Label award in 2023, featured in UKF and played a slew of killer showcases at festivals across Europe. But their biggest achievement was opening Rampage’s 15th anniversary in February this year in Belgium’s Sportpaleis venue, the largest indoor bass music event in Europe. “It was a very big deal for us,” Kenny says. “I’d been watching their live stream every year without even remotely dreaming that I could play that stage. I’d never even thought that was possible.”
Looking into the Future
Looking ahead, In The Lab plans to keep expressing themselves through the medium they know best: D&B. They no longer run events but they’re still community-focused, and always aim to nurture their artists and encourage new ones to submit their tracks to the label – just as long as it’s progressing the sound. “Drum & Bass can be very formulaic,” Kenny says. “but it also has ample opportunity for unique, new, interesting ideas. We're not trying to change the world here. I'm just trying to share something interesting – something that you might not have experienced before.”
