Global Underground is a British record label and compilation series founded in 1996 by

Andy Horsfield Andy Horsfield is a British entrepreneur best known for founding Global Underground in 1996. In 2007 the record label was partially acquired by Ministry of Sound and Horsfield remained as head of the company. In 2008 he partnered with James Palumb ...

and James Todd. The label symbolised the international explosion of dance music during the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s and first manifesto for high-end DJs such as

Tony De Vit Antony de Vit ( ; 12 September 1957 – 2 July 1998)
– accessed May 2011 was an English DJ and music producer. He is co ...

, Sasha,

Paul Oakenfold Paul Mark Oakenfold (; born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Ma ...

John Digweed Thomas John Digweed (born April 1967) is a British DJ and record producer. As well as achieving success as a solo act, he has collaborated with Sasha as Sasha & John Digweed, and with Nick Muir as Bedrock. Digweed was voted as No. 1 DJ in DJ ...

Danny Tenaglia Daniel "Danny" Tenaglia (born March 7, 1961) is an Italian American DJ and record producer. Biography Early life Tenaglia left New York in 1985 and started DJing in Miami as a resident at Cheers nightclub, playing classic New York and Chicago ...

Nick Warren Nicholas John Warren (born 24 October 1960) is an English DJ and record producer. He is best known as a member of the electronic music duo Way Out West (duo), Way Out West, his record label and global live events brand, The Soundgarden, and for ...

Dave Seaman Dave Seaman (born 29 April 1968) is a British DJ and record producer. He was formerly a member of the DMC Publishing, and editor of music magazine ''Mixmag''. Biography He formed Brothers in Rhythm with Steve Anderson and they were later ...

Darren Emerson Darren Paul Emerson (born 30 April 1971) is an English musician, DJ and producer best known as a former member of the British electronic music group Underworld. Career Early life Emerson began mixing hip hop records at the age of 14, and by ...

James Lavelle James Lavelle (born 22 February 1974) is an English electronic musician, record label owner and curator. He founded the Mo'Wax record label in 1992, and has been the only constant member of UNKLE. He directed the 2014 edition of the Meltdo ...

Carl Cox Carl Andrew Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, radio DJ, motorsport team owner and record producer. He is based in Frankston, Victoria, Australia. Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has perfor ...

, and Solomun. The name ''Global Underground'' originally refers to a series of

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

s which reflect the performances of various DJs in venues around the world. The ''Global Underground'' series was released by a record label formerly known as Boxed which featured several sister series such as Nubreed and Electric Calm. Boxed closed in 2001 and was superseded by Global Underground Ltd. Since its first release in 1996, the series was well received and became a hallmark in the progressive house world. The dance music style featured is mostly

progressive house Progressive house is a subgenre of house music that emerged in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. It is characterized by its evolving, melodic Musical form, structures, subtle Transition (music), transitions, and layered sound design.Gerard, ...

, but there is some

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

, trance house, hard house, techno and

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

included in the releases. The first five installments were live recorded from respective clubs, while the rest are mixed and recorded in a studio.

Background

Each issue in the series is based on the idea that Global Underground would take DJs to play a party in one of the most unusual, exotic clubbing locations on Earth. The set is then released in a 2CD format that is formatted to capture the night of the party and the overall feel of the DJ visit in music, contemporary photography by photographer Dean Belcher and extensive sleeve notes. There are consistent characteristics in almost every album in the series including: *Each album being mixed by a globe-trotting DJ. *The prominent influence of the location on the music and packaging. *Extensive sleeve notes describing local clubbing scene and/or venue often written by

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was printe ...

Editor Dom Phillips. *Each album consisting of two discs. *The song list is edited from the complete set based on a retrospective view of the performance. *Photography by Dean Belcher

International recognition

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' has recognized Global Underground as the first DJ mix compilation to place high-quality photographs of DJs on the

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released album, studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of a ...

s. This, it further asserted, played a part in turning DJs into

superstar A superstar is someone who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent, or successful in their field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, musicians, athletes, and other media-based profe ...

figures within the culture of

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

Thrive Records Thrive Music is a United States–based record label founded in Los Angeles, California, by music industry entrepreneur Ricardo Vinas. History Thrive Records was founded in 1997 by electronic music trailblazer Ricardo Vinas, as a joint ventur ...

was the U.S. distributor for some of the early Global Underground releases. Global Underground albums had an alternate numbering sequence and had different artwork, but were otherwise the same.

Catalogue

This is the complete listing of available albums in the Global Underground main series which includes the sequential number of the album in the series, the performing DJ/producer, the location in which the performance took place and the official release date. The listed catalog numbers are for the British releases. The numbers on the albums distributed by Thrive in the United States are shown in parentheses - those without such labels do not have a differing release number. Global Underground also has several "sub-series" entitled Nubreed, Prototype, 24:7, Electric Calm, Afterhours, and most recently Global Underground DJ.

GU official

Prototype

Prototype was the first of a sub-series of releases separate from the mainline albums, was given to DJ Seb Fontaine to test if a spin-off series would be successful which after decent sales led to other series being produced like nubreed. * PRO:001

Seb Fontaine Jean-Sebastien Douglas Fontaine (born 14 July 1970), known by his stage name Seb Fontaine, is an English electronic music producer and DJ. Biography Fontaine had his first DJ gig at Crazy Larry's on the Kings Road, London, but he soon progresse ...

, release date: 29 April 1999 * PRO:002 Seb Fontaine, release date: 2 November 1999 * PRO:003 Seb Fontaine, release date: 18 April 2000 * PRO:004 Seb Fontaine, release date: 29 May 2001

Nubreed

Nubreed features mix albums from what Boxed considers "up-and-coming DJs", though it has featured experienced DJs such as

Satoshi Tomiie is a Japanese DJ and record producer. Biography A lifelong student of jazz and classical piano, Satoshi had an influential impact from his very first record. His debut single ‘Tears’, which he co-produced in 1989 with Chicago's ‘Godfather ...

. ;NuBreed series releases: *''Nubreed 001'' (2000) by

Anthony Pappa Anthony Pappa (born 15 November 1973) is an Australian DJ and electronic music producer from Melbourne. Early life Pappa was born in Italy but was raised in Melbourne, Australia where he attended Marcellin College. At the age of four he got his ...

* ''Nubreed 002'' (2000) by

Danny Howells Danny Howells (born 24 November 1970) is an English producer and DJ. His music is often described as progressive house, though he prefers to associate more with tech house and is sometimes described simply as "deepsexyfuturistictechfunkouse ...

* ''Nubreed 003'' (2000) by Steve Lawler * ''Nubreed 004'' (2001) by

Sander Kleinenberg Sander Kleinenberg (; born 29 December 1971) is a Dutch disc jockey, VDJ, and record producer. He founded and runs Little Mountain Recordings and THIS IS Recordings. Kleinenberg is well known for his use of digital video in concerts, his "Everyb ...

* ''Nubreed 005'' (2001) by

Lee Burridge Lee Burridge (born November 1968) is a British DJ and producer who was influential in the underground club scene in Hong Kong in the 1990s, where he also helped established the nightclub Neptune's. Burridge later became a member of England's T ...

* ''Nubreed 006'' (2002) by

* ''Nubreed 007'' (2009) by Jim Rivers * ''Nubreed 008'' (2009) by Sultan * ''Nubreed 009'' (2016) by Habischman * ''Nubreed 010'' (2017) by Oliver Schories * ''Nubreed 011'' (2018) by Theo Kottis * ''Nubreed 012'' (2018) by Denney

24:7

24:7 is a series where DJs are asked to put together a set of two notably contrasting halves, based on the conceptual opposites of 'day' and 'night'. ;24:7 series releases * GU247001 Danny Howells, release date: 21 July 2003 * GU247002 Lee Burridge, release date: 15 September 2003

Lights Out

In 2002, former NuBreed DJ Steve Lawler was given his own imprint on the Global Underground label that he titled "Lights Out". The concept of the series of mixed CDs was to bring the darker, grittier side of the dancefloor into the spotlight. ;Lights Out series releases: * GULO001 Steve Lawler, release date: 24 June 2002 * GULO002 Steve Lawler, release date: 27 October 2003 * GULO003 Steve Lawler, release date: 3 October 2005

GU DJ

Similar to nubreed a spin off series of albums given to newer DJs within the scene. * GUDJ001 Nic Fanciulli, release date: 27 April 2009 * GUDJ002

Plump DJs Plump DJs are an English dance music duo consisting of Lee Rous and Andy Gardner, considered to be early pioneers of the breakbeat genre in the late 1990s. Throughout the 2000s, they have been very prolific creatively, releasing many celebrated ...

, release date: 12 October 2009 * GUDJ003 Wally Lopez, release date: 27 April 2009 * GUDJ004

Tom Novy Tom Novy (born Thomas Reichold; 10 March 1970) is a DJ and producer from Munich, Germany. Biography Tom Novy lived in Munich in his youth and attended the Luitpold Gymnasium in Munich. In the mid-1980s he started to DJ and got his first resi ...

, release date: 15 November 2010

GU Music

In 2003, the Global Underground franchise began their "GU Music" imprint. Up until this time, they were strictly a label that dealt in DJ compiled and mixed CDs. GU Music allowed Global Underground to get into full length artist albums and Vinyl/CD/MP3 single releases. The GU Music team commented: "Having nurtured some of the worlds finest DJs we have applied this expertise to original music, cherry picking the coolest future talent from across the globe..." They have featured releases from such artists as

UNKLE Unkle (often stylised as U.N.K.L.E. or UNKLE, occasionally known as UNKLE Sounds) is a British musical outfit founded in 1992 by James Lavelle. Originally categorised as trip hop, the group once included producer DJ Shadow and have employed a ...

Lostep Lostep was a production duo composed of Australian producers Luke Chable and Phil K. They have released singles on labels such as Eq rey Additionally, their music has appeared on compilations by Sasha and Dave Seaman. In April 2006, Lostep rele ...

, and Trafik. In 2007, it expanded with the release of the compilation GU Mixed which started a series of the same name that consisted of music sought from GU Music. ;GU Sampler series releases: * GUSAM001 The Forth, Departures, release date: 27 October 1998 * GUSAM002 The Forth, Arrivals, release date: 1999 * GUSAM003 The Forth, Destinations, release date: 29 January 2001 * GUSAM004 The Forth, Locations, release date: 2001 * GUSAMUS001 The Forth, Passport, release date: 2001 * GUSAM005 The Forth, Exposures, release date: 2004 * GUSAM006 The Forth, Synchronised, release date: October 2005 * GUSAM007 Dubfunk, Synchronised 2, release date: 6 November 2007 ;GU Music album releases: * GUMU001 Pako & Frederik - Atlantic Breakers, release date: 20 October 2003 * GUMU002 Trafik - Bullet, release date: 4 October 2004 * GUMU003

- Because We Can, release date: 17 April 2006 * GUMU004 The Remote - Too Low to Miss, release date: 26 June 2006 * GUMU005 Sissy - All Under, release date: 2006 * GUMU006 Dark Globe - Nostalgia for the Future, release date: 2006 * GUMU007 Trafik - Club Trafikana, release date: 6 August 2007 * GUMU008 Roland Klinkenberg - Mexico Can Wait, release date: 20 August 2007 * GUMU009 Eelke Kleijn - Naturally Artificial, release date: 2 October 2007 * GUMU010 Pako & Frederik - The Alert, release date: 5 November 2007 * GUMU011 Rogue Audio - Haphazard, release date: 21 April 2008 * GUMU012 Alex Dolby - Psiko Garden, release date: 17 June 2008 * GUMU013 The Last Atlant - A Cloudburst of Colors, release date: 25 August 2008 * GUMU014 Anil Chawla & Dale Anderson - Roadhouse, release date: 23 February 2009 * GUMU015 Trafik - None But the Brave, release date: 21 June 2010 ;GU Mixed Releases * GUMIX1CD CD1, CD2, CD3 In mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 21 May 2007 * GUMIX1CDX CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4 Limited Edition in mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 21 May 2007 * GUMIX2CD CD1, CD2, CD3 In mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 3 September 2007 * GUMIX2CDX CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4 Limited Edition in mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 3 September 2007 * GUMIX3CD CD1, CD2, CD3 In mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 16 June 2008 * GUMIX3CDX CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4 Limited Edition in mixed and unmixed formats, release date: 16 June 2008 * GUMIX4CD CD1, CD2, CD3 In mixed format, release date: 25 May 2009 ;Anniversary compilations: * GUXCD

GU10 GU10 may refer to: * A bi-pin connector A bipin or bi-pin (sometimes referred to as two-pin, bipin cap or bipin socket) is a type of lamp fitting. They are included in the IEC standard "IEC 60061 Lamp caps and holders together with gauges for ...

10th anniversary compilation release date: 15 May 2006

Fundacion

;Fundacion series releases: * GUFUN001C Sasha -

Fundacion NYC ''Fundacion NYC'' is a mix album by Welsh DJ Sasha. The album is recorded using the Ableton Live software and the album bears the name of his monthly residency nights in New York and Los Angeles. Track listing # Badger - "Rise of the Machine" ...

, release date: 13 June 2005

Chill out compilations

Electric Calm is a series in the chill or "calm" side of electronica while Afterhours is similar to the ''Back to Mine'' series. Both Afterhours and Electric Calm, along with GU "Sampler" CDs, were compiled and mixed by Global Underground themselves. ;Electric Calm series releases * GUEC001 The Forth, release date: 30 September 2002 * GUEC002 The Forth, release date: 25 August 2003 * GUEC003 The Forth, release date: 13 February 2006 * GUEC004 Dubfunk, release date: 1 October 2007 * GUEC005 Trafik, release date: 7 December 2009 * GUEC006 Trafik, release date: 21 August 2015 * GUEC007 Trafik, release date: 19 May 2017 ;Afterhours series releases: * GUAF001 The Forth, release date: 11 November 2002 * GUAF002 Trafik, release date: 21 February 2005 * GUAF003 Trafik, release date: 29 January 2007 * GUAF004 Trafik, release date: 16 July 2007 * GUAF005 Unknown, release date: 30 March 2008 * GUAF006 Unknown, release date: 28 July 2008 * GUAF007 Unknown, release date: 22 April 2016 * GUAF008 Unknown, release date: 20 April 2018

GU002

In Boxed's UK releases, GU002 was the never released second installment in the Global Underground series (in Thrive's US re-numbered releases, Paul Oakenfold's ''New York'' mix was released as GU002). Global Underground jumped directly from GU001:

Tony De Vit Antony de Vit ( ; 12 September 1957 – 2 July 1998)
– accessed May 2011 was an English DJ and music producer. He is co ...

- Live In Tel Aviv to GU003:

- Prague, which resulted in a lot of controversy and rumours on the nature of GU002. However, GU002 does exist in form of the tape pack of Tony De Vit's Tel Aviv CD as the actual catalogue number of the release is GU002T. When Boxed started the GU series in 1996, they did not have a clear vision about the numbering scheme (later to become part of their image), which resulted in the "missing" release.

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control English electronic dance music record labels Compilation album series Record labels established in 1996 Record labels based in London