2014's Essential UK Record Labels

The problem with being British is that we have an innate inability to express pride in our work. We shy away from obvious self-promotion preferring to hide under a cloak of irritating self-deprecation, forever afraid of being found out, of being accused of having ideas above our station.

Here at THUMP we thought, you know what, fuck that. It's been a fantastic twelve months for UK dance music and we wanted to celebrate it properly. So because we don't want to keep our light under a bushel any more we thought we'd big up the five labels who put out some of 2014's most incredible music. Here's to the five imprints that changed the game this year.

This DJ Haus run pair of labels are relentless in both quality and quantity. You can't step into a decent record shop without being crushed under that week's avalanche of big and bouncy upfront garage-inflected house, hard working Chain Reaction techno, and ruff tuff steely pulses. Dropping top material this year from both sides of the pond – Willie Burns and DJ Vague flew over grade A weapons bombs from the US of A, while Flava D, Rushmore showed how we do things over here – the twinned imprints keep moving at a faster and faster pace. You wouldn't be surprised if they put out a hot record every day in 2015.

Key releases:
DJ Haus - Comin' On
Palace - Element EP
Trumpet & Badman - Str8 Jugglin EP

Even a quiet Night Slugs year is a strong one. Despite slowing things down a tad after the last few years of churning out massively influential records on a seemingly monthly basis, Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990 kept things refined throughout 2014, concentrating on cementing their aesthetic. Night Slugs has always been a kind of retro-futurist experiment, a home for music that's knowingly of its time while simultaneously subverting that. There's always been an iciness, a frigid funk, to their music, an intentionally weird distance between the record, the listener, and the club. Releases like relative newcomer Neana's "Bow Kat", a dubbed out slab of hauntological instrumental grime, and Dat Oven's "Icy Lake (Original Arena Mix)"s scuttering, contorted take on basement dwelling damp techno, bring to mind a vintage muscle car sat in a hotel lobby surrounded by faux-foliage.

Key releases:
Bok Bok & Kelela - Melba's Call
L-Vis 1990 -  Not Mad (Helix Bootleg)
Dat Oven - Icy Lake (NA & DJ Rashad Remix)

2014 has been the year that Powell's Diagonal label really hit its stride. Having established a cast of like minded producers, the label saw releases from noise veteran Russell Haswell in form of his 37 Minute Workout, the playful hardware techno of Bronze Teeth and, topping it all off, the blistering funk of Powell's Club Music.

But what has made Diagonal such an enjoyable label to follow this year is the lighthearted approach to everything it does, a rarity in the po-faced world of techno and industrial music. That sense of humour is apparent even the smaller details, like the glowsticks with "Club Shit Innit" emblazoned on them that label distributed at its showcase at London's Corsica Studios earlier this year.

Key releases:
Powell - Club Music
Russell Haswell - 37 Minute Workout
Shit & Shine - Powder Horn

It's been a banner year for Mr. Mitch, his distinctive melodic and melancholic take on instrumental grime made for one of best debuts of 2014. Likewise, the Boxed club nights he runs together with Slackk, Logos and Oli Gang have gone from strength to strength. On his own Gobstopper label, producers like Dark0 and Strict Face have done much to explore new tempos and sounds for instrumental grime. The former's "Sweet Boy Pose" was onto its fourth or fifth edit by the end of the year.

Key releases:
Dark0 - Fate
Loom – Grade EP
Strict Face - Fountains / Highbury Skyline

Any reservations about whether instrumental grime can work in an album format were definitively put to rest this year by a number of brilliant full length releases. Aside from Mr. Mitch's standout Parallel Memories, out on Planet Mu, many have come from London label, Local Action. Slackk set the bar high earlier this year with Palm Tree Fire, an album that laid down the blueprint for a warmer and more melodic sound. Likewise, Pixel Wave Embrace the debut of hitherto unknown producer Yamaneko was one of the year's unexpected highlights – an album that realises its "gentle can be powerful" mantra.

Among the other great releases on Local Action was Ineffable, an instantly gratifying full length from bassline veteran DJ Q, and Finn's "Keep Calling", perhaps the unofficial Boxed anthem of 2014.

Key releases:
Slackk - Palm Tree Fire
Finn - "Keep Calling"
Yamaneko - Pixel Wave Embrace