A new Bay Area imprint for high-quality acid house and techno? Yes, please.
SF-based label Locator quietly arrived last October with the bouncy, pulsing 140 BPM ecstasy of “Flip the Knob,” Perfect Acid Bath by Doctors Hate Him. Two months later came more bubbly Euro 90s vibes on “heaven” by DJ Friend via the luv EP.
This past March, Joe 2 kept it rolling with even more deep thumping, delectable acid on Hiya. And the crew just dropped the equally addicting minimal thumper “Don’t Surf”, another cut by Doctors Hate Him and just a teaser ahead of the label’s fourth EP slated to arrive September 1st.
Read on for a short interview with Joe 2, one of Locator’s co-founders. And join their acid house day party featuring Pedro Borlado and a b2b set by Jackson Walker and DJ Friend (of Locator Records and Rinsed SF) on Saturday, August 16th at the Hibernia Bank Vault.
Why did you create this label?
The Bay Area electronic dance scene is dominated by two genre umbrellas – bass and tech house. We love tech house, but the popular sub-pockets of that genre in SF and in the United States have become so commercial it has lost it’s soul.
Huge agencies control large swathes of the market, commanding ridiculous booking fees for US artists. International artists who are on the front lines of underground tech house have to travel 9+ hours to get to San Francisco. This creates a scarcity in supply that is hard to surmount. We were actively a part of this over-saturation — but after years of DJing, throwing events, and making music, the downward pressure of this industry forced us to react. Locator was born out of this reaction.
With the label, our goal is to have a role in the fast-growing underground scene in San Francisco and the US. We will do this by distributing acid inspired dance music to the world. We love acid’s ability to weave it’s way into every genre. While the majority of what we do is tech house, we use acid to explore a wide range subgenres.
What’s your connection to the Bay?
This is our home. We are a collective of multi-generational Bay Area-ites and long time residents. San Francisco dance music has played a critical role in building our community and feeding our souls. Something really cool is happening right now. There is an upswell of talent in the SF underground scene. We want to be a part of it.
What’s your vision for Locator?
Locator’s primary goal is to release acid-inspired electronic music as a record label. We plan to create a platform for these releases by producing hi-fi set recordings, playlists, exclusive mixes and various toggeries. We have released three EPs with the fourth coming on 9.1.25. Our ambition is to rep SF worldwide. You found it!
