FOUNDED in 1983 in Ghent, Belgium, R&S Records has been a cornerstone of electronic music for over 40 years. Helmed by Renaat Vandepapeliere and Sabine Maes, the label has consistently championed groundbreaking innovation and authenticity.
From techno pioneers to contemporary, cutting-edge talent, R&S has built an impressive catalog of hits and diverse sounds that have shaped the music industry.
Formative artists include Joey Beltram to Aphex Twin This pioneering spirit continues on R&S Records as it enters its fifth decade shaping electronic music with recent successes from talents including James Blake, Gabriels, Michael Anthony, Quiche, Chizawa Q, DJ Rum, Synkro, White and so much more.
As we prepare to sit down with Renaat when we meet up with him in Belgium next month for an in-depth interview, which we will publish on these pages in due course, we asked him to talk us through ten big contemporary tracks from R&S Records to whet our appetites for the time being!
Listen to the music Renaat selected for us and read what he had to say about the tracks below.
Mikahl Anthony – Poetic R&B From St. Louis
So around 2013/2014, I was sent an album “ Them People “ curated by Mikhal from a friend of mine and within two weeks you could download it but any information on him was gone, there was no information.
It took me five years of looking non-stop every day to find him. Everyone was calling out in the web saying who the f**k is this guy? And then finally I found him and the next day I signed him while he was working on his album.
During Corona, it was a wonderful time for me, and I was rethinking myself and all the things I’ve done in the past, all the hundreds of labels I’ve worked for, but you can’t relive the past and I cannot always do the same things because my interest in music is too big, so I had to think about why I started and where am I going?
And you know, I’m an old guy. So, I grew up with Marvin Gaye, I grew up with James Brown, I grew up with Jimi Hendrix, I grew up with everything, with new wave, with punk.
There’s so much music that kids don’t even know. Not that I know everything that’s out, of course, there’s brilliant music out there, but working on this album is something I wanted to do because it has this sort of Marvin Gaye vibe and it’s something I recognise from my past.
On top of that, it’s a very relevant album. It’s a very poetic album, and he’s touching lyric-wise some issues here, it is a fantastic album.
I do miss Music with a message and this is a relevant album and I’m so proud I have released this, he’s a filmmaker and it’s one of my crown jewels.
I have always tried to make R&S a label where the music and I have to be very real, to myself and let my heart speak, and if you don’t like it or it’s not your thing I respect that.
Fresh new Hip Hop from our youngster from Texas… Tainted Tazz – Hit List
So again, this song is a statement. It shows we’re about everything, don’t put me in a box because I will tear the box apart and fight as long as I can. It shows we’re not part of the flock and that this is not about being arrogant, it’s about passion.
So, one morning, about two years ago, I received a link from this young lady. She was 21 when she made it, and now she’s 23, and when I heard it I thought f**king hell, this is raw, this is Public Enemy raw and we signed her.
She’s sort of Little Sims in a way but from America and much younger. Also, as a lyricist, she’s talking wild, and one thing she said to me was I’m not competing with female rappers; I want to compete with the boys, and I thought, let’s rock it, let’s go.
And that’s all that I needed to pull me over, and I’ll say okay, fine, If you want a challenge and a fight, I’m in. It’s that attitude of people that challenge themselves in a very competitive world and the rawness, which I do miss in a lot of music and everybody is so f**king scared to play it but the place will rock.
Loxy & Ink ( D&B )
I’ve always been a fan of Loxy and I’ve put the track because I think it’s such a beautiful, impactful drum and bass track. It’s just wonderful. Everything is right. it has this beautiful voice and opening and it goes and it’s lovely and then it goes into, to, to, to this dark jazzy rhythm at the end, it’s, it’s fucking insane.
And it’s also a nice story. You know, they had sent me some hip hop tracks where we released with great success. And I said, guys, I know, you know, for drum and bass, but let’s start with fucking hip hop, you know, your, your fan base and community will, will, will be nuts. They will be saying, well, what’s going on with him? And they said, no, no, no. I said, trust me. Let’s do it. Um, but that’s a part of the EP So I wanted to make, I wanted to add something accessible because I love that track so much is wow. What a track. Oh, what a f**king track!
Chizawa Q & Masaki Sakamoto – Beluga
I think the track is about a feeling and not worrying too much about what everyone has to say. Again, to bring him up, it reminds me of Quincy Jones, and I grew up with this guy. The arrangements, its feeling, its sound, It’s so complicated, it’s not pushing your Ableton with preset sounds and doing the same as everything else. I want to feel a heart in music, I want to feel the honesty. It’s a great track, but there is some organic musicality coming in, something jazzy.
When making the track, we called in a jazz pianist I know. Something I really like is calling and combining my musician friends from all over the world, whether it be bass players or drummers, to try to bring that organic thing back, If your heart is open, it works!
Lenny DIno
Dino Lenni is a very beautiful guy, that’s why I signed him, he’s such a beautiful heart. He was sending me the demo, and I am very involved in pushing the guys to places where they wouldn’t even think to go which for them is insane but it works. He’s a good DJ and it’s a fun and quality track again. It’s that relentless groove that just gives and gives, doesn’t it? That’s Lenny.
Andert Tysma – Holland – for fans of Tangerine Dream & Modern Neo Classic
Ander and Tisma Holland are very beautiful.
He’s a doctor, a real doctor who still practices and as a hobby he toured with a lot of Dutch bands as a bass player, even on big stages at festivals.
He wanted to do his own thing, and when he sent it to me, it was so pure, neoclassic, Tangerine Dream-ish quality, period. Again, I grew up with Tangerine Dreams, Klaus Schulze and all those guys, so for me, it’s a reflection, but it’s still fresh, and I don’t hear much music like this often.
Ada Kaleh – Unravelling featuring Eric Leeds – Sampling Fela Kutti
Man, man, man. What a story. So He sends me the track and he samples Fela Kuti and I mean, I played Fela Kuti so much when I was young.
It’s unreal. You know, he and Bob Marley are some of my big big heroes. So I told him, listen, dude, this is going to be totally impossible to get the green card on the sample but let me try.
We cleared the whole thing in one day, and I couldn’t believe it, I had a Fela f**cking Kuti complete song on R&S, my hero. I couldn’t believe it. And then I went to Eric Leeds, sax player for Prince and sent him the track to ask if he liked it and if he could put play in the Track and he said yes.
And then two days we had it, I was like, Holy s**t! This is unreal, This is happening. It is just a magical thing that happened,
I told Ada it would never be possible and then we had it . Twenty-four hours later, we had the track, and I looked at Sabine and thought this was not happening, this could not be real. I’m so proud of it
Vromm – Horizon – Future electronics
He is next level, man. It’s bold new electronic music, it’s him and nobody else is going to do the same thing that he does.
It starts weird, but you know, it’s very playable if you have balls, and it goes into this very beautiful melody, which really opens the track into a completely different dimension. And this is what I want to hear, a range. Some of the stuff I hear I think I could do – it may sound arrogant, but this I cannot do, you have to be on something or whatever!!
This song is what I mean when I say this is what I want to do; this is what I want to have people make for R&S.
Quicche – White Teeth… for fans of Bon Iver – from Germany
David is a young guy, a very beautiful guy. He also comes from sort of a rock folk album in Germany, touring a little bit and he asked me if I was interested (in working with him) and I said of course I’m interested.
He’s in the same marketplace as Bon Iver, James Blake and all that. But what an album, what a debut album, and he looks good! He looks like Jim Morrison, he had this big hair and is a very beautiful guy. And in the video, he shaves it off.
I think there is a great future for this guy.
Viclan – pure rhythm power – Future dance electronics – the way I like to BE -not iPhone Dance music 
Again, pure left-field electronics in its purest form. That groove and the whole thing, for me, is just f**king wicked.
Sometimes you receive music, you have to pick one track, and you have to go back to the drawing board – you have to think, is this it, is there a career in it? I have no idea if there will be, but sometimes, you have to put it out because the song is so good it just has to come out… And this track has to come out, period. It has pure rhythm power, it’s headed towards the future of dance electronics – the way I like to be, it’s not iPhone dance music.
Paul White – Glory’s in story’s – romantic
I’ve always been a big, big fan of Paul White; he plays guitar, drums, bass, and everything, he is multi-instrumental.
So he sent me the album and it’s sort of pop, beautiful, romantic, deep.
As a person, he is a very soft, emotional, deep guy and you can hear that in his music. Again, that album is so f**king beautiful.
I’d also seen him live with his previous album many, many years ago and it’s wicked, it’s all there and it’s all correct in modern contemporary music.
Feiertag – UK Bass from Holland
Feiertag was a drummer who sent me some tracks. One of the things we’ve always tried to champion is that we work with beginners, we’ve not signed names to sign names, it has always been new kids to give a platform.
It’s a wicked track. It’s a relevant track in today’s music and I think it’s perfect.
