We Spoke to Tom Brown, the Man Behind Lex Records

"We were isolated... musically different to every other label. It felt like each of our jobs were special."

July 25, 2014, 4:00pm

Lex Records are one of the UK's best record labels. Founded in 2001, they began with a series of 12"s, mainly from artists connected to underground rap scenes like Boom Bip and Danger Mouse, before gradually turning into one of the most diverse musical outlets about today. They've released a Mercury-nominated album about the man behind the DeLorean, an Adult Swim record with MF DOOM, a group where 4 of the 5 members are actually the same person, a super-group containing the creator of Watchmen and one-half of Death Grips. They're even handled Jay-Z. Well, sort of.

They are also one of the best things that Warp Records has put out into the world. Lex began life as a subsidiary of the electronic music powerhouse 13 years ago, under the watch of one Tom Brown. Brown's youth sounds familiar to the origins of those behind Warp – instead of listening to hip-hop, punk and sharing tapes in Sheffield, he did so in Bradford. After graduating from the University of Sheffield, Brown found himself facing a potential job for Warp at a local Job Centre. The notice contained the following legend: "Must love music, mustn't hate computers".

"I knew about Warp at the time, but I wasn't a fan as such," he tells me. "There were things I liked on the label. l used to see Rob and Sean from Autechre DJ at a night called the Old School once a month. I loved that." He was soon hired at the label, where he worked in the stock room – "a cupboard, really". It was 1999, the era of Aphex Twin's 'Windowlicker', and the label was in the process of shifting base to London. In Sheffield, however, the small office (an old dance studio) was bubbling away, and happily away from the incessant rush of the London-centric music industry. Brown recalls working the Warp stock room as the first point of contact, meaning he would acts from Warp and other labels as they came to plunder the stock room. "I remember the Mogwai guys being really enthusiastic."

Outside of his day-to-day of running the stock room and Warp's online shop Warpmart (now Bleep), Brown and 2 close friends were ambling towards Lex's first incarnation. After putting on a series of events, Brown and his co-conspirators aimed to release a series of singles. Discussions began then faltered. "The idea of Lex as an imprint didn't come up until Warp had moved to London in 2000," Brown shares. By that point, Warpmart was doing comfortably, and so were the Warp events that Brown designed flyers for. His confidence had arisen with the rising responsibility he was handed and the label connections he had made through ordering stock for Warpmart.

In early 2001, he told the founders of Warp – Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell, who passed away from cancer in 2001 - about his idea of starting a label. He didn't expect the response, as Beckett and Mitchell returned a few days later saying that they would fund the label. There was but two restrictions placed by the Warp founders. "These were: 1) 12" only , no albums, no long term deals; 2) don't release music by artists that Warp was already considering working with, and to look at new scenes." Brown set about lining up "maybe half a dozen" releases while juggling his duties in the Warp office.

Lex's first release as a Warp subsidiary was Disflex6's 'Hot Season'. "When it all started to happen with that first 12" I was incredibly focused," he says. I wanted to make sure it sounded as good as possible, the reviews were out on time and that it was stocked everywhere. I don't think I've ever worked so hard on a single 12" in my life." Albums from Boom Bip, Non-Prophets and Danger Mouse & Jemini soon followed.

Danger Mouse, an underground hip-hop producer from New York, was living in London when his debut with Jemini, Ghetto Pop Life was released. A small amount of critical acclaim followed, but it was soon to be overshadowed by the following years' Grey Album, a mashup album that combined acappellas from Jay-Z's Black Album with instrumentals lifted from The Beatles' 1968 self-titled album (aka The White Album).

It was a sensation, sparking debates over copyright infringement, unprecedented support from The Beatles' surviving members and collecting worldwide critical praise. GQ called the underground producer one of their Men of the Year. The success of the project should have been rightly revered. Instead, says Brown, "Warp wanted to shut down Lex and I wanted to keep it going."

Lex was behind the campaign for The Grey Album – via funds from Warp – and it was a lengthy campaign, running for six months. Despite the widespread media attention and success, the copyright issues surrounding The Beatles' back catalogue stopped the album from being commercially sold. And with "no product to sell, it was all costs." On top of all of this, Danger Mouse's royalty account was included in the funds. For an indie, this was a big loss.

However, The Grey Album led Danger Mouse to producing Gorillaz's 10 million-plus selling Demon Days, and forming Gnarls Barkley with Cee-Lo Green. Gnarls Barkley's demos were held at Lex; their Lex-branded 'Crazy' became the first single to reach the top of the UK singles chart on downloads alone. The label's work with Danger Mouse had led to great success. Despite the money lost, Brown decided he wanted to keep going with Lex. He offered the rights to Lex to other labels but in the end, decided to go independent. "I thought if all the other labels wanted Lex I'd better off buying it myself," he says. He borrowed as much money as possible and made an offer. Soon, he had bought his label back off Warp.

Brown bears no bad blood with Warp - telling me he frequently runs into people from his days at the label and holds "lots of fond memories". However, he does not consider that label his home ("it's more like an ex-girlfriends home than my home," he jokes). Since the Warp split, Brown's label has blossomed into one of the most idiosyncratic outlets in independent music. Their output this year is as diverse as ever: a one-off release pairing together Canadian jazz upstarts BADBADNOTGOOD and Ghostface Killah, new material from techno experimentalists Circle Traps, an EP from new signee High Lucia and a new collaboration between Watchmen creator Alan Moore and photographer Mitch Jenkins.

Long or short, well known or virtually unknown: Brown doesn't care. It's something he learned from his old bosses. "Back when I joined, people at Warp talked to me about signing artists on long deals and supporting them on making the music they wanted to make. I think that's what we've always done at Lex."

You can follow Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy on Twitter here: @danielmondon

Read more about Warp25 on THUMP:

How Boards of Canada's Geogaddi Soundtracked Our Post-Millennial Tension

We Spoke to Winston Hazel About the Birth of Forgemasters

Grizzly Bear's Yellow House Was My Sedate Gateway Into the Warp Story

Chris Cunningham's Videos for Warp Records Were My Horrible Punk Rock

We Spoke to Johnny Clayton, the Guy Who Made Aphex Twin Creep Us Out

Warp Records Took Me From Dork to Devotee

Strong Words, Softly Spoken: How Kwes Became Warp's Resident Soul Man

Warp's Most Endearing Frontman, Tyondai Braxton, Revived Rock by Dismantling It

Antipop Consortium's 'Arrhythmia' Was Warp's Jam for an Uneasy Future

"For The Love of Weirdness": Why Broadcast's 'The Noise Made By People' Remains Vital