Warp 20 'Chosen' (Warp) Released 28/09/09

Warp has hit 20. As such, were it to suddenly take human form, it’d now be old enough to drive, purchase booze and gain admission to the clubs that birthed the swaggering sounds which provided a foundation for the pioneering label to which all electronically inclined independent imprints are destined to be compared to. Quite a coup for what began as a – in search of better term – dance label, not traditionally a genre associated with longevity for either artists or labels.

Listening to the 24-track haul through the label’s history (also available: ‘Recreated’, a 2-CD comp consisting of Warp acts offering their readings of classic cuts from the label’s archives), with 10 tracks picked by fans and the remainder selected by label co-founder Steve Beckett, it’s clear just how outdated the notion of Warp as an electronica/dance label is. Granted, there are generous lashings of the legendary laptop alchemists – Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Autechre – that turned Warp into a headline-generating concern in the 90’s. Drill ‘n’ Bass, Intelligent Dance Music - whatever clunky term’s employed to describe what these boldly experimental, endlessly evolving artists fired up with an intention to create electronic music that appeals equally to the body and the brain were – and in most cases still are – up to, towering tracks like Aphex Twin’s evergreen ‘Windowlicker’ and Squarepusher’s uncharacteristically soothing ‘My Sound’ show very few signs of ageing. And you won’t have to go further than the majestically seamless union of beats and melancholy introspection found on Boards of Canada’s 2000 masterpiece ‘Amo Bishop Roden’ to portion credit (or blame) for the electronic leanings of latter-day Radiohead or Flaming Lips, with ripples felt across vast areas of alt-rock.

But it’s the diversions from the original blueprint that truly impress, prove as they do the label’s ongoing open-eared to keep moving forward. Some labels lose their way in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience. Listened alongside the pure electronica cuts that made the label’s name, it’s striking just how seamlessly recent signings ala Grizzly Bear (the hypnotic mantra ‘Colorado’) and Battles – the one and only outfit thus far to make proggy jazz-rock sound like an absolute hoot - fit in alongside the classics and with them the label’s sonic identity as a whole, although neither of these organic acts seem on first glance to have much in common with Warp’s famed bleep and squelch faction. Future greats, meanwhile, are represented by the striking space-age hip hop of Flying Lotus, boding well for Warp’s continuing rude health.