Hello.
Welcome to the future. It’s been a while since we’ve talked, but I want you to know what we’re up to and where we’re going. Brilliantine since it’s inception has always been something of a fluid entity, and we aim to keep that mystery as we move forward with a bit of direction and purpose. Our release schedule over the past 3 years has been slow but purposeful, driven by a desire to be sustainable and relevant to ourselves and to anyone who would listen. We feel incredibly lucky to work with everyone that’s been part of what we’ve been building.
Right now, we’re beginning a transition to be a little more present and make a little more noise. We’ve been stocking our roster with talent that we absolutely, unquestionably stand behind on all counts and we’re using that as our trademark – not a genre, or a scene, not that we don’t have love for those worlds or begrudge anyone who wishes to work within their constraints. We’re just going to work with only people we trust and release only music we love and see where that takes us.
To start, it takes us here: on April 15th, we’re releasing the debut single from Braqueberry – something which has been really hard to keep quiet about for even this long. Packed with astonishing remixes from Ghosts on Tape and MikeQ with Divoli S’vere and artwork from Arnau Pi, we’re aiming to flip the narrative straight on its head and redefine what Brilliantine is going to be. I think you’ll love it.
Following that, we’re proud to announce the release of Hemingway’s debut single on May 13th – something that I think some of you have been waiting to hear for some time now. With the cinematic disco of “Ace Neptune” and reworks on the flip from Jokers of the Scene and Cyclist, this is a Toronto project through and through, and that speaks to another element of Brilliantine going forward – while we bring material from around the world into our little label family to share it with you, we also want to work hard showcasing what we love from our home here. Look for more to come.
Beyond this, we’ve got a firehose of new releases coming up from some new names including Douze, Africa, Most People, Vanity Muscles and Futurewife and eagerly awaited new material from Montauk, Pelifics and Sweet Track. It’s going to be a very good year.
I could keep going, but I don’t want to wear this out. I’m really excited to move forward with this, and I appreciate every one of you who have stuck with us for this long. I’m dead-set on making it worth it for you. We’ve got two events coming up this week and we’d love you to come out and celebrate the future with us. Wednesday at Hotel Ocho we’ve got Early Check-in with DJ sets from Hemingway, Cyclist and Futurewife. Friday at Mây Cafe we’ve got Actions #1 with the debut of Cyclist & Hemingway’s live project, a live set from Philadelphia’s Sweet Track and sets from Vanity Muscles, Futurewife and Linus Booth and Anti Hero of Jokers of the Scene. Come on out and introduce yourselves.
I need to end this on a personal note, I don’t even care. If you’re an irrepressible cynic, you can stop reading now. For me, Brilliantine has been the end-point of a few thousand left-turns and, coming at this whole thing from the outside, it’s been a struggle at times to keep moving things forward. This wouldn’t be happening without phenomenal work and patience for my bullshit from Meghann and Cee, who have been running the label with me here in Toronto for a little while now, and even more patience for even more bullshit and endless critical support from my wife Erin. This isn’t a victory speech or anything like that – hopefully that will come later. I’m just happy to be here.
Talk to you soon.
