BEST LABEL

If there's a label that has owned 2012, it's Hypercolour. The year's artist roster reads every bit as well on paper as it plays on a turntable; Huxley, Maya Jane Coles, Mosca, BareSkin, Tom Demac and Kris Wadsworth.

Since launching in 2006, Alex Jones and Jamie Russell have put much on the line to make it work. And thanks to a clarity of vision, it's now working better than ever before. Like cells multiplying, from one label they have quickly found themselves with a handful of spin-offs, each with its own identity. The names above alone would be more than enough to maintain a reputation, but then there's the picture discs on Glass Table from Axel Boman, Soul Clap and Detroit's Jimmy Edgar.

They have the 'pro-vinyl' Hype LTD, boasting Kevin McPhee and Amir Alexander. There's Losing Suki (named after Alex's nan's missing cat), the outlet for leftfield garage from Last Magpie and Jack Dixon. Russell also runs Sneaker Social Club, with its '90s hardcore leanings, and Space Hardware, a 'headphone project' for experimental sounds. Jones somehow finds time to pen the artwork, too.

“The plan was to be a solid reference point for good, underground club music,” says Bristol-based Russell. “But there's been a steady, consistent quality. I've never heard our music being played out so much as it has this year. And that's not really happened before. That hit home how things are going for us.”

The signing of Groove Armada has been a notable highlight, dropping a series of solid club tracks for the main label. “I grew up with them. That's my sort of house music. To have those guys drop us an email offering us their next few releases, that just knocked us off our feet,” says Russell. Their first album release will come from Luke Vibert, another hero, in the New Year, while there's a weekly show on Rinse FM starting, too. “Our passion is finding music,” he says. “You'll never see us sitting on our laurels. We'll always look to put out different sounds.”