Why the HECK Is medi so mediocre lately. There are so many good artists around. So many dubs. And he puts out another truth record.
(quoting function seems to be broken atm)
between dubs that the artist simply doesn’t want to release at all (count out all the old mala/loefah dubs), tunes that the artist can’t or doesn’t want to put out on medi for whatever reason, and tunes that mala doesn’t want to or can’t put out on medi for whatever reason, maybe there aren’t as many alternative dubs that he can realistically release as you think there are.
or maybe there are other reasons behind the scenes that we are not privy to. maybe he doesn’t have the time, or the finances, and he allows truth to use the label as a platform because they can afford to either finance the release upfront or they can put in the necessary time to make it work.
obviously it’s one of these reasons. he’s not purposely withholding better material that he has the capability to release.
the alternative to this is most likely no release at all. perhaps if this release is successful, then Mala and the label have a little extra money to go towards the next project, or perhaps it proves to Mala and whoever else that there is still an audience for these tunes. i’m just saying there’s nothing for us (the listeners) to gain by just throwing shade at it (and there’s potentially something to lose if it causes the release to be less successful). there isn’t necessarily anything to be gained by not throwing shade at it, but there might be (more future releases)
Barring the classic dubplates we all want etc, there are sooo many killer tunes floating around these days unsigned. I dont really understand the next part, ‘cant put out for whatever reason’? He can sign shitty tunes and sell them easily, look at the forthcoming Truth and most other Truth releases for example hehe. There are other much smaller labels pushing quality music and selling records. Its not like Medi is somehow exempt from signing new talent. (and tbh there is clearly something wrong with the way its being run if artists are unwilling to work with them now; if thats the case) (I also know first hand that Medi has a problem with signing tunes and then sitting on them for years and years at a time, sometimes canceling the release behind the scenes after ages of waiting for the artists)
Saying Mala doesnt have enough time to run Medi might be true, but if so, why and how. He’s one of the few in the entire scene that survives purely on income made from playing live and selling music. I.e Its his job. Take for example ZamZam, they put out a record nearly every month, one of the owners is a middle school teacher and the other does design and screenprinting. But, Mala (as if he runs Medi solo, which he 100% doesnt) doesn’t have time/money etc? No way. I really dont understand it, and since Medi has always been fairly cryptic about the way they release music etc I don’t think we ever will.
I agree though, we really don’t know why Medi has been ‘holding back’ on releases, hard to say, and its the same with DMZ. I do think we should not make excuses for a label’s poor output though. And their releases should certainly not be seen as some sort of kickstarter campaign to get the releases we want in the future. If they keep putting out boring records I’m not going to buy them personally. The people who spend $100’s on Truth merchandise will though and that’s probably the main reason why they keep putting Truth records out. Truth has many many fans outside of the truhed realm and are a massive brand name for dubstep.
Cutting Medi slack is a disservice to the scene tbh; they are on top while pushing mediocre stuff, also their graphic artist should be shackled and put on display in the public square for that Truth album art lol looks like it was taken from deviantart
i just meant that, in order for the release to happen, there’s got to be 3 things: 1. an artist with an unreleased tune that has no prior commitment to another label or anything like that; 2. the artist wants to (and has the ability to) release the tune on medi; 3. mala wants to (and has the ability to) release the tune on medi.
if any of those 3 things aren’t true, then a release can’t happen.
I didn’t make an excuse for their output or for the quality or for anything. I’m just saying, let Medi speak for itself and be what it is, don’t tear them down just cause they haven’t lived up to your expectations.
Medi is only “on top” because that’s where you (and others, including myself) place them in our minds. Why can’t the label just exist for what it is, independent from “scenes” and other labels? If you don’t like it, fine, it’s not a charity and I didn’t suggest that you or anyone buy it for that reason. I’m just saying literally nothing good can come from shitting on it and making it more difficult for them to go about doing their business (and something negative could potentially come from doing that).
Tbh, of the “old school” labels medi is pretty much the biggest one at this point considering they are still active. All their releases are pretty much guaranteed to sell out, their 10th birthday last year filled up electric Brixton and the biggest names in the scene are all considered medi artists (commodo, gantz, kahn, truth) and even relatively popular guys who aren’t hyped to shit (silkie, quest, swindle, Compa (lol), jack sparrow, kaiju). So it’s not like there isn’t a massive demand for anything they put out and it’s not like they’re short on artists to draw from. So considering their position in the scene I think it’s perfectly fair to expect consistent high quality releases.
Like people have said, smaller labels like crucial and innamind are able to consistently put out quality which also sell well so why can’t medi do the same. The tunes aren’t shit, but tbh if they came out on DDD or firepower or some random digi label would anyone outside of people into truth care about them. In like a year will anyone besides a few randoms still play them. Shit like space cash, spry sinister, all of a sudden, kalawanji, sunbeam still get played and are guaranteed to get a massive reaction. Sure not all of their releases hold the same weight but even some of the less well remembered tunes like the shit from clouds or mizz beats can still stand really well on their own.
I and others still have a lot of respect for medi, but when small labels are putting out tunes from producers who have barely been relatively known for like two years are infinitely more exciting than a large portion of what medi puts out these days then people are well within their rights to call them out on it. But anyway I’ve just woken up so I’m still half asleep rn
^^ this is less on topic of the releases, but I’ve saw on twitter a couple of years ago that the management of the label went a bit south (according to this one dude who ran a record label + vinyl distro store + professional mastering service). Same reason why there’s been a bunch of mispresses, uncolored sleeves, and slow release rate in the past couple years. Plus the vinyl industry’s getting fucked over too a lot nowadays.
I don’t think Deep medi even really wanted to be like a truhed 140 label, they experiment and try to appeal to a broader audience, with artists like ATOS and Old Apparatus for example…maybe some of that b2b older friendships with artists like truth, etc, where they’re m8s with eachother so they sort eachother out regradless…so ur never going to get a consistent string of niche banging releases like with innamind for example.
I don’t even gaf personally tbh, i only buy the ones i like anyway, but no one can argue the quality of some if not most of their releases. Literally ground-breaking releases some of them, eagerly looking forward to the egoless plate still.
The thing i think they mess up on is sitting on stuff too long, topper top being the prime example, the most hyped drawn out release ever, swear down i probably played that plate like twice after i actually got it cos i was literally fuckin bored of it by the time it actually finally got released. Whether it’s cos of queues at pressing plants, which i know does happen, or if they have a queue of other releases in line first, i don’t know, maybe a combination of all of the above, but this is my biggest problem with them…and some other labels are guilty of that too imo
Its obvious Mala is less involved with the selection of releases and others are involved now, same with Tempa a few years back - that also went stale.
Not many labels hit 100 releases without going a bit boring at times. It’s all personal preference I’m sure theres people out there who prefer the new Truth record to Quest - Stand / Eden… which is fucking mental in my eyes but there will be those nutters out there. Theres definitely a market for stale 140 atm.
I used to feel a bit disappointed when a label I brought from religiously went shit but now I just move onto the next one. Plenty of labels out there young and hungry trying to do their own thing and prove to everybody they can stand their own - I just become more selective with what I buy from Medi now. Same with Tempa. TBH ZamZam is going that route too… 50+ releases in and I own each and every one of them but I’m feeling a little bored with their output being mostly stale 140. The new Beat Pharmacy one pulled it back tho.
Another thing that I think Medi are reaaally lacking atm is their ‘3rd phase’. Labels tend to go through phases, at least I think good ones do, they evolve and sometimes with that evolution new producers come through and some old ones evolve with it. Keysound is the ideal label for this - started with their own take on garage/grime then evolved into their 130 phase with guys like Beneath, Wen ect. then they’re moving into their ‘tech/rollage’ phase with Blackdown at the core of this change. Someone like Sully has progressed through this time and evolved with the label. Medi had that with Kahn, Commodo & Gantz spearheading their 2nd phase… now these guys are doing other things or less Medi focused music Medi doesn’t have any core members pushing shit forward. They need to push through into their next phase - maybe they are and its stale 140… I’m just hoping those are “filler” releases. Filling in the time and just getting releases out for the sake of it rather than an actual conscious direction for the label.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he released on another label though. His album was on black acre along with the single set it straight. His most recent release was on bandulu. Fuck mountain was on hotline.
He’s only had a couple releases on deep medi in the past few years.
Gantz would probably suit blacklist more than medi with his weirder more experimental stuff.
Kahn seems more interested in grime and bandulu atm.
Although I don’t think it will be likely, the thought hit me recently.
VIVEK opened his set at SYSTEM in June with it, and Karma on the first Radar Radio show with Headland.
I get that VIVEK’s rinsing Kahn dubs, but since when has Karma done it? Either the two are sending tracks to each other now or Imhotep’s signed to SYSTEM and VIVEK’s sent it to Karma.
In the end, I think it’ll end up on Medi. However, it would be sick if it was alongside this Kahn dub below (@15:00)
