London Records has always stood for brave, subversive music, whether pop with personality or era-defining electronic anthems. It’s a storied label with a groundbreaking past, and that adventurous ethos is being channelled into a new era with both the original London roster and with sister imprint LDN Records.
Releasing forward-thinking music from an ambitious frontline roster of emerging global artists and British legends, including Goldie, Orbital, Alewya, Joalin and Shadow Child. This is London’s most exciting evolution yet, where past, present and future collide, reflecting where the label is at now: diverse, discerning and defiant.
The fresh start for the label began in 2017, when Because Music founder Emmanuel de Buretel acquired London Records’ goldmine of British pop, dance and leftfield genius – quickly followed by the appointment of Laura Kelly, who joined to spearhead the label’s new direction, assembling a dedicated team of pop connoisseurs and music tastemakers to breathe new life into releases. They searched through the vaults and began the careful process of returning classics to the shelves and revitalising them for the digital age, with no genre left unturned, from The Durutti Column and Dannii Minogue, and Armand Van Helden to Happy Mondays. Each release is handled with a curatorial eye and a fan’s heart.
But new music is at the forefront of the rebooted London Records too. As well as reviving its roster, the London team has looked forward with one eye on nurturing new talent through sub-label LDN Records, with a compact but hugely ambitious collection of breakthrough artists including Alewya, Busy Signal, Joalin, and Shadow Child – with notable new releases coming from all in 2026.
Beyond the music, there’s even an audio documentary in the works, a rich and characterful podcast delving into the label’s history and remarkable releases. It takes a special kind of team to respect the past and energise the present while helping to fine-tune the future of music. But then again, London Records is as fearless as it is innovative. Bring on the next decade.