USM Records

Unseen USM Art
USM Records formally Universal Sound Of Music dates back to 1974! We were a totally different animal in those days for sure. Releasing South African traditional and gospel projects (believe it, coz it's true!). 1998 saw our first "house" release. Well, some would argue that. It wasn't really house, it was a selection of house tunes pitched down from 45rpm to 33rpm + 8 - Yup, that's how we did it down here in Sunny SA. It was known as Mid tempo and it was a form of where Kwaito took some influences (Kwaito was already happening - midtempo comps came a lot later). USM released a string of Mid tempo albums from DJ Ganyani "In The HOUSE" to Soccer News In Da Area and Flipside House. All 3 of these compilations either reached Gold status in SA (25 000 units sold) or got pretty damn close.
As the turn of the century hit us, a definite split was appearing in the club market. Rave and harder trance was on one side and the American House sounds target at our local market were on the other extreme. In the middle was a gaping hole. A gaping hole that was filled with our futures supa hero DJ's. The likes of Ryan Dent and Craig De Sousa and a string of hard working DJ's that would eventually have their day in the sun. The sound was known as Deephouse and Tech house. It's now become our mainstream club house sound today. USM took that gap and started the Deeper Sound Of DJ mix series. Heavily influenced by the look of Mark Doyle's HedKandi series but the sound of the underground and unearthed sounds of Global Underground. This series is now 14 compilations strong and has launched many DJ careers over the years.
USM had other hits series along the way. We came from the Afro House market and were still successful there for a couple of years releasing brands like House Tunes mixed by Bubbles, A trip down HOUSE memory lane with two compilation mixed and compiled by the late and great Iggy Smallz called King of Compilations (Queen of Hearts and Queen of Spades). Recently, Foreal House Styles mixed and compiled by Miggs has become a regularly selling brand. USM has just launched an Afro version of our Deeper Sounds called Divine House of. Our first DJ is the jazz/house maestro 2lani! More recently USM is focused on releasing SA produced house albums. Capitol Kollectiv mixed and compiled by Sisco features a string of Tswane's (Pretoria) best producers. Soweto House Stars features 50% of locally produced product and Erefaan's Deeper Sound is 60% his own production.
After almost a decade of house and club land related compilations USM ain't dead yet. We may be owned by one of South Africa's largest Indy labels Sheer Sound but that has not killed any of the passion - if anything it's injected much due life and love into it.
Much love, Nigel Laver for USM Records
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Freaks Come Out - Natural Groove 27 Jan 2007