For more than 35 years, Warp Records has been the label where electronic music goes to take risks. From Aphex Twin and Autechre to Boards of Canada and Squarepusher, the Sheffield-born independent has released some of the most demanding and influential records of the genre. Here is how a small record shop grew into the most respected independent label in Britain.
From a Sheffield record shop to a label
The story starts in the late 1980s at FON, a record shop in Sheffield run by Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell. Sheffield already had a strong electronic tradition thanks to The Human League and Cabaret Voltaire, and a new generation was discovering house music from nearby Manchester. Among the shop’s regulars were the producers who would become Forgemasters and Nightmares On Wax.
Warp Records opened its catalogue in the autumn of 1989 with Track With No Name by Forgemasters, pressed in just 500 copies. It was quickly followed by Dextrous by Nightmares On Wax and Testone by Sweet Exorcist, the project of Richard H. Kirk and DJ Parrot. Those records defined the so-called bleep sound of early Warp. When John Peel started playing them on BBC radio, the shop renamed itself Warp, and the purple sleeves designed by The Designers Republic became the label’s visual signature.
LFO, Artificial Intelligence and the birth of IDM
The breakthrough came in the summer of 1990, when the debut single by LFO reached number 12 in the UK charts and sold around 130,000 copies. A year later the duo’s album Frequencies became the first full-length release on the label and helped the label survive a difficult distribution deal. In 1992 the Artificial Intelligence compilation series introduced artists such as Autechre, Speedy J and The Black Dog, and its title led to the term IDM, or intelligent dance music.
Autechre released Incunabula in 1993, followed by Tri Repetae, Chiastic Slide and LP5, with music that became more complex with every album. In 1994 Aphex Twin arrived with Selected Ambient Works Volume II, followed by Richard D. James Album and the Come To Daddy EP.
The golden years
In the late 1990s the label signed Boards of Canada, whose albums Music Has the Right to Children (1998) and Geogaddi (2002) are still among the label’s most loved records. Aphex Twin’s Windowlicker sold around one million copies in 1999. After the move to London, the label lost co-founder Rob Mitchell in 2001, the same year Aphex Twin released Drukqs and Squarepusher released Go Plastic.
Beyond electronica
From the 2000s, the label broadened its sound with experimental hip-hop from Anti-Pop Consortium and Prefuse 73, and with guitar bands such as Battles. Flying Lotus brought new energy in 2008 with Los Angeles, and Brian Eno, Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke’s TNGHT followed. In the 2020s the roster includes Nala Sinephro, Yves Tumor, Squid, Jockstrap and Danny Brown, proof that Warp Records still knows how to spot what comes next.
Many of these albums are available in hi-res on Qobuz and other streaming services, which makes the Warp catalogue an excellent test for any streamer, such as the Dorpo DMP-A1 streamer, DAC and headphone amplifier.
Where to listen
The full Warp Records catalogue is available on the major streaming platforms and in the label’s own Warp store, which also sells vinyl reissues of classic albums.
Key facts
- Founded: 1989, Sheffield, England
- Founders: Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell
- First release: Track With No Name by Forgemasters (500 copies)
- First album: Frequencies by LFO (1991)
- Key artists: Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards of Canada, Squarepusher, Flying Lotus, Oneohtrix Point Never
- Headquarters today: London
