Today, February 9, marks the end of an era: Bromance Records is coming to a close.

In November 2011, Louis Rogé – better known as Brodinski – left an inimitable mark on dance music when he founded the imprint with Manu Barron. In the last five years, the Parisian label ignited the careers of many unique, influential artists, including Brodinski himself. Club Cheval – and its individual constituents Myd, Canblaster, Sam Tiba and Panteros666 – have Rogé’s label to thank for their ascension to prominence, as do Monsieur Monsieur and GENER8ION. Before forming their own RAAR label, LOUISAHHH!!! and Maelstrom were frequent contributors to Bromance.

The mighty Gesaffelstein, too, was launched in the pre-Aleph phase of his career largely thanks to Bromance. Gesaffelstein released his haunting “Control Movement” on his former musical partner in crime’s label, as well as his Rise of Depravity EP, which featured the menacing selections “Belgium” and “Depravity.”

In its recent releases, Bromance Records had indeed taken somewhat of a nebulous form, following Brodinski’s dramatic stylistic shift from Parisian-inspired techno, electro, and house to Atlanta rap and hip hop. As its figurehead shifted his musical focus, the imprint diversified its sound, as Manu Barron notes in his official statement on the dismantling of the imprint:

“We danced to the sound of said unreconcilable musical families – rap and electronic music – and God knows it already was a mad gamble as only a few of those alliances have worked in the past.”

The “unreconcilable musical families” of rap and electronic music that characterized Bromance’s latter days resulted in a unique melange of the label’s influences, resulting in such interesting works as the Homieland compilation series. In his closure announcement, Barron remarks that the disjointedness which some attributed to the label during this phase was not a source of controversy within the collective, but rather a point of pride:

“Among the things that made us stick together was our desire to celebrate music, with parties where one could dance to a good old school techno set, then venture on Dirty South to pursue on a Belgian-Dutch rave selection then end the night with EBM and Indus. Some will say we were incoherent, other will simply believe us to be multifaceted. In our opinion and according to those who followed us, we were diversified and desired.”

After further continuing the label’s eulogy, thanking Brodinski and Creative Director Guillame Berg, Barron notes that, while Bromance thrived in being caught between two worlds stylistically, it could not continue to survive in accordance with their vision across the world geographically:

“Today, we all live in different parts of the world, and regarding what we said earlier, you’ll understand that Bromance can not be carried on through FaceTime or Skype.”

To commemorate the epic legacy of the label, Brodinski and Guillame Berg created a “5 Years of Bromance Records” mix, featuring the music of artists from across Bromance’s timeline and musical spectrum. The mix embedded below, as is Barron’s statement via Brodinski’s Facebook account.

Farewell, Bromance. We’ll miss you deeply.

Featured image by Rukes.

Tags: brodinski, Bromance, Gesaffelstein

Categories: Music, News