Wide Hive Records: About the Label

About the Label
About
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Wide Hive Records began as a vision of musician and producer Gregory Howe. The label was born in 1996 in a completely renovated bank space located in the culturally diverse Mission district of San Francisco, CA. Wide Hive originally started as a record label, recording studio, live music venue, and café all under one roof. The general philosophy of Wide Hive is to capture the raw energy and excitement of a live performance and instantly reproduce that moment into a packaged product that you can take home.

As time changes, so does a record label, and now Wide Hive focuses solely on the developing careers of quality musicians by supplying them with a creative outlet. Dissent's self-titled album marked the first release in the Wide Hive library and received international recognition. Next came the critically acclaimed album from the legendary Calvin Keys titled Detours into Unconscious Rhythms. DJ Zeph released his debut in 2001 and brought a hip hop/DJ angle with him. Zeph's album reached #1 in CMJ's hip hop chart and broadened the label's horizons musically and creatively. With all of the talent in and around the Wide Hive family, it was inevitable that V.U. (Variable Unit) would be created. V.U. is a community and collective of some of the most talented bay area musicians that merge dub, hip hop, jazz, classical, alternative, and soul together. V.U. has already released two critically acclaimed albums by the names of Seven Grain and Handbook for the Apocalypse and is about to launch it's third one titled Cold Flow.

The future looks very bright for Wide Hive Records, with more groundbreaking releases and new talent. Watch out for new releases in 2004 from S.F. Weekly Award winner DJ Zeph, Azeem and V.U.'s Mayhemystics project, Plate, Fork, Knife, & Spoon, and many more 12-inch singles. You can catch up on Wide Hive's back catalog by picking up the new album Wide Hive Remixed, in stores now. Mayhemystics launches 2004, with high quality releases to follow from DJ Zeph (Full Album), DJ Quest (12"), Plate Fork Knife & Spoon (Full Album), dissent (Full Album), another Azeem (12") release and much more. Wide Hive Records has also been chosen as an Urb Magazine Next 100 for 2004.

As a general philosophy, Wide Hive believes the crowd is capable of forwarding innovative genius through it's energy.

That labored over perfection often sacrifices and sterilizes whereas spontaneous improvisational flaws can powerfully beautify music through its feel. Wide Hive encourages artists and audiences to co-create through collective musical spirit in live issued product events. None of this is to say that the quality of Wide Hive suffers, instead it is clean and soulful.