When you started Brouqade it was about releasing timeless music. We’re now in 2017 and sometimes tracks have a lifespan of 2 or 3 weeks. How do you face this issue as a label?

Yes, Brouqade started out with no focus on a certain trend or hype. We just wanted to release music we love. Simple as that. There is so much more going on now and tons of tracks get released every week. I think it has to do with the fact that it became easy to produce, and a lot of distributors offer P&D deals (they pay for the pressing) to participate in the wave of vinyl sales. Personally, I think that there are a lot of tracks that don’t need to be released on vinyl and sometimes I think people just release music to generate more gigs, instead of releasing something they truly believe in that will last longer.

So now there are a lot of records on the market and the shops sometimes buy less vinyl because there are too many labels around. Thankfully that’s never been an issue for us as a label, but it’s certainly a growing and worrying trend in the industry.

When you were starting out in the early days of the label, was there one moment when you thought wow, now we are finally making some progress?

To be honest, we’ve progressed with every record we’ve released. We made mistakes, but we also learned fast by making them. You need to be patient all the time and not stress if one record maybe doesn’t hit the spot. You can’t just claim to be successful after a bunch of releases…it’s all about continuity.

How do you select an artist that you want to feature on Brouqade?


Well first, let me point out that over the last 4 years it was Anthea (Anthea joined the label 2012) and I that both looked out for artists. We just looked for music that we liked without any thought of “we have to do this because it’s trendy”. And as I just mentioned, this is very important to us. For Brouqade, it’s important that the artist has a personality, feels a real passion for what he/she is doing, is serious, loves to work, sees him/herself as an artist, sticks to her/his principles and gives 100% to what they’re doing. So we looked for people who live and breathe music…like I do! I don’t want to work with people who are only involved in music because they’re “gig hunting”. Usually I can hear it in the music too!

We love the concept for your 10 year anniversary of celebrating the past, the present and the future of the label. Can you describe the future soundof Brouqade?

A word that I use a lot is ‘timeless’, and it’s certainly suitable here. I want these records to be played out and still work in years to come, and that’s at the heart of all the music on Brouqade. I don’t have a particular formula or recipe I use when selecting music, but I can say that I look for music I can dance to that moves me emotionally. Mind you, that’s a hard question to answer as tomorrow I could well hear something that changes my mind!

On a personal level you will shortly begin a special tour to commemorate10 years of the label, touching down in the likes of Club De Visionaire. What can people expect when they come to see you?

Yes, the tour started recently with an amazing night in Rome and there are many more places to come and we’re still in the middle of making some more arrangements. What I can say for now is that we’ll be in Paris, Moscow, Antwerp, Ibiza more, as well as in Playground in Berlin at Club der Visionaire, which I’m massively excited about. People can expect a great vibe, a wide range of music and people behind the decks that truly love what they do.

How are things going in your own studio? Can you tell us a little about Cave Jams?

Things are going great. I’ve been working a lot, mainly on remixes. Cave Jams is a project that I use to release music that I made for my sets that my friends basically told me to release. If I do a record on Cave Recordings (I call my studio my ‘cave’) and it’s been tested and has got good feedback from colleagues and audiences, then it’s perfect for Cave Jams! I can’t even say for sure when/if I’ll do another one. I’ll let my instinct tell me!

We’ve featured ‘Camelie’ from Vid as a stream today on When We Dip, can you tell us a little bit of the background of that track?

All I know is that Vid dedicated the track to his mother, but without him here I won’t go too much into its background.

Last but not least, what is the most important thing for underground music this year?

More quality less quantity… and it’s not all about the money and fame… first and foremost it’s about music. So don’t use music to feed your ego!

Brouqade Past (040.01), Present (040.02) and Future (040.03) is out now on Brouqade Records.