Congratulations to Re-Ex member Iskia on releasing singles ‘Break’ and ‘Ways Of The Underground’ on Ram Records’ sub-label Program. We caught up with the Preston, UK-based drum & bass producer to get the low-down on this exciting partnership!

How did you grab the attention of the A&R team at Program?

It was pretty straightforward and unexpected, to be honest! I had just finished a few tunes for my master's degree and decided to send them out to a few labels. RAM Records was one of many I emailed and they ended up being the first to respond, I couldn’t believe it when they said they were interested, since it was the first label I’d ever signed to. I had to contain my excitement as I was on a train home when I read the email(!)

What differences have you noticed in releasing your singles with a well-established label versus independently or on smaller labels? 

Good question! The connections that RAM have in the scene are amazing. They did a great job with press releases, playlisting and promo prior to the release, then sending out the tunes to some huge DJs and producers to review and generate hype. The whole project was really professionally and coherently put together with stuff like cover art, banners and other bits which were sent to me to promote through social media. Most importantly though I think, is the credibility that comes with releasing on a label such as RAM. I feel like other labels and artists don’t take you as seriously sometimes when you’re only putting out self-released stuff which is a shame, so I’ve definitely noticed a difference there, which is really important in a contact driven industry.

Did you have particular labels in mind when you created the tracks?

Not at all, really. When I start a tune I don’t even know what it’s going to sound like, never mind what label it's going to be on! Once they were getting closer to being finished, I started thinking about which ones might be suitable, but I still wasn’t massively picky when I was sending them out. I thought the more labels that I send to, the better chance of them getting signed and I guess it paid off!  

Do you have any advice for other Re-Ex members when it comes to approaching or getting picked up by labels?

I would say that the most important thing is the music, that's 99% of what matters when you make contact. Obviously, you want to give a good impression with what you say, but keep it simple, you don’t have to wow them with a novel of your entire musical career. I think my email to RAM contained about two sentences.  

Just make sure that the music you’re sending is the best that it can be. I spent about six months perfecting the tracks before I sent them off and even after that I ended up doing a fair amount more mixing on them before release. Quality over quantity every time, no one's going to look at an artist and think, ‘Wow look at how many mediocre tunes they’ve got!’

If you think your music is good enough to be signed, just make sure you do everything you’re capable of to improve it before sending it off, because once you’ve sent it, it's gone and there's no going back. I often spend a lot of time at the final mixing stages perfecting stuff like automation curves, slider volumes and synth presets. It’s crazy how much all the little changes add up to make such a big difference to the overall quality and vibe. Furthermore, if you send off a load of half-arsed projects, labels might remember your name and not bother to check them in the future!

We see you have a forthcoming project with Karma London Records, tell us more about that and other plans for the future.

Ah, yes! That’s a project that I’m really excited about as it's my first ever official remix.

Charlotte Devaney (who owns Karma London Records) approached me out of the blue a few months ago, asking if I wanted to remix one of her tracks featuring Ragga Twins, which I obviously accepted. I don’t think I can say the exact release date yet, but it's coming very soon and is probably one of my favourite tracks I’ve done to date. I'm really happy with how it's turned out and I can’t thank her enough for the opportunity! It was a really fun tune to remix, especially working with the Ragga Twins' vocals, who have to be two of my favourite MCs.  

Other than that, I've got a couple more tunes in the process of being signed but nothing on paper yet, as well as another bootleg finished, which I’m saving to drop later this summer. Beyond that, I’ve got a few more collaborations in the works with some really great artists, such as Viridity, Mish, Odyssy, Immy Odon, Fluoresce, and Lottie Woodward. Not sure on release dates for them yet, but will probably be scattered throughout the year. I’ve also been working on my DJing over lockdown, with the hope to start playing some live shows once we’re finally out. I’ve not been DJing anywhere near as long as producing, so still getting to grips with it, but really excited to start playing out some of my tunes live!

Read more about Iskia's background and processes in their 'in the studio' blog piece for RepostExchange.

Listen to 'Break' and 'Ways Of The Underground' on all your favourite platforms here.

Connect with Iskia on RepostExchange, SoundCloud, and Instagram.