Hi, Who are you?
James – “Yes yes UKF! I’m James Vine, aka ENiGMA Dubz. I’m a multi genre, bass music artist and I’ve been producing music under various aliases and for other artists for the best part of 20 years, starting out when I was a teenager.
Tom – “Yooo UKF. I’m Tom Bradshaw-Smith, co-founder of Morii Records. I manage ENiGMA Dubz alongside other artists in the bass / electronic music scene under bona fide mgmt. I also work as the label manager for Truth’s dubstep / 140 label, DDD and play out as a session drummer in all kinds of music.”
What’s your ethos?
Tom – “It’s all about the music. Our strapline is that we’re releasing ‘music to capture the moment’ – making you feel something, whether that’s you wanting to cut loose in the dance or get lost in emotion and introspection. There’s room for all of that within bass music.
James – “And on the artist side, our main ethos is to allow artists to fully express themselves on their releases. Rather than just signing bangers – which we do of course – we want to encourage our artists to show all sides of their sound, making each single, EP and album a true journey through the artist’s sound palette.
“While one off singles are cool and have their place, we do love working with EPs and bigger projects, so we can build something cohesive within a campaign that leads to heightened buy-in from listeners and enables more of a story to be told and the artists to show different elements to their repertoire etc.”
Tom – “We have to feel passionate about the tunes we put out and really believe in the artists we work with, which ensures we’re not too ‘prescriptive’ in our niche. We treat each project as bespoke in its creative direction and marketing, so that every release is meaningful and special, but still has a Morii Records look and feel underpinning it all.
“With us both being musicians first and foremost, we’re pretty hands on with creative feedback on the music side, and do most things in-house – from the mixing and mastering, artwork, to all the copy writing and visual assets – which means we’re super invested in every step of the process.”
Tell us your origin story…
James – “We initially started in 2020 as a platform to self-release my ENiGMA Dubz’s projects, alongside releasing on other labels we still wanted to work with. We also had my side project, Itona, launching (which now releases on our sub-label, Morii Chill). We felt having total control over the material, artistic direction and promo would be a great way to grow both projects while keeping hold of the copyright. After laying the groundwork over the following 3 years, we reached a point where we felt ready to bring new artists on to the label.
Tom – “We hit a series of landmarks like landing editorial on all major DSPs, uploads on UKF, hitting #1 on Beatport, big audio shares on socials, securing press and radio etc etc – we undertook more ambitious album releases and collaborations involving lots of different artists as part of our mixtape series. It was at that point with the positive feedback we got, and results we delivered – the time was right to sign artists for their own solo releases – starting with one of the pioneers in the new wave of US UKG, Neumonic. Which was a super exciting step to take.
James – “We had planned to do this from the start, but we really wanted to make sure we were ready to do the job properly, wanting each artist coming on to Morii to feel like it was a good home for their music and also, most importantly, a solid relationship with us as a label.”
Tom – “Now we’re entering the live space with our first events and growing our roster with artists both sides of the Atlantic, which we’re very proud of and hyped for what the future holds as long as we keep working hard – as the modern music game requires a serious amount of graft and resilience.”
Tell us about your local scene…
Tom – “We’re 100% proud Brummies, both of us were born in Birmingham and grew up in the West Midlands – so the 0121 scene here in the UK is something we care passionately about and is sometimes overlooked, which fosters a bit of an underdog mentality.”
James – “Birmingham is a bustling city for music and always has been. My earliest days getting involved in the local music scene was through UKG and Speed Garage, from the age of 16 to around 20, DJ’ing regularly across Birmingham in a mixture of venues, alongside playing on pirate stations like Silk City radio. It was then after discovering Dubstep in 2007 that my focus really directed towards Dubstep, alongside my passion for UKG, Grime and DnB.”
Tom – “There’s such a strong heritage in bass music in Birmingham with producers and MCs like Emalkay, Mike Skinner / The Streets, Trilla, Devilman, Lady Leshur, Jaykae, Mayhem… the list can go on. It’s not just about heritage though – there’s an incredible scene in the here and now with collectives like Sigil Radio, Dubstep Digbeth, Sisterhood Birmingham, Listening Sessions etc.
“That’s why we started our Moment event series with Morii Moment 01 down in Digbeth in July – where we stacked 8 void subs into a 150 cap venue, and stacked the line up with out of town acts like Jaz Imsky, Kori, Cortese – alongside some of Birmingham’s top talent like DJ Chapo and Medley, P – with Stretch DCM and Natty D on the mic.
“If we’re saying Morii is ‘music to capture the moment’ – we have to put our money where our mouth is and take the sound into the live arena for that energy to really transmit.”
Do you have a specific sound or vibe?
Tom – “Our short hand is that we release #Heaters and #Vibes within the bass music spectrum. That’s across various BPMs. We release tunes that make you wanna explode, then other tunes that help you pick up the pieces afterwards.”
James – “From straight up Dubstep bangers, to more vibey UKG, to nasty DnB and Liquid and all things in between. Ultimately, we want our artists to take listeners on a journey, so we tend to look for a real rounded mixture of sounds to line up for releases each year.”
Do you have a regular artist roster – who can we see releasing with you?
James – “We have a number of regular artists growing on the label, alongside fresh additions in between. We love to work with Abstrakt Sonance, he always brings such a mixture of sounds to his releases and never fails to get us excited with his music. We also have Cortese, Neumonic, Die by the Sword and several other artists who have released with us multiple times and we have future projects on the go with. Also, not to mention my own ENiGMA Dubz releases too.”
Tom – “We’re also hugely passionate about UK MC culture, and recently put out our #Bars mixtape which featured appearances from some of our favs in the scene including Emz, Logan, Dread MC, Slay, Duppy, Limmz, ILLAMAN, Trilla, Crazy D and Beluga Ice – with previous MC projects featuring PAV4N, Snowy, Nika D and S.O. Alongside that, we’ve been fortunate to feature some incredible soulful melodic vocalists like Lauren L’aimant, Leo Wood, Shelajit and Hedara. On the producer side other artists we’ve collaborated with include Mystic State, Samurai Breaks, J:Kenzo, Ternion Sound, Criso, Chief Kaya, MYTHM, Wraz, Hypho, INFEKT, ATYYA, The Widdler to name a few.”
Tell us about your A&R process.
James – “We are both huge music lovers, so we tend to share music with each other as we discover it online on streaming or social clips etc. Also, I’m in a great spot to look for new artists and material from my regular DJ performances and tours, where I get sent a lot of unreleased music and dubs from artists across bass music.”
Tom – “As long as the tunes are authentic and make you feel something – that’s our big acid test, as well as them needing to sound sick on a system of course – as even the more ethereal material we put out packs some sub warmth.
“Also – do we like what the artist is about, and do they have a creative vision? Rather than just chasing trends. We’re in this for the long run, and we want to partner with artists that have a similar outlook. An artist’s live profile and regularly playing out is another secondary factor we consider, as ultimately the tunes doing the business in the rave is where the real magic happens. So that definitely adds further value when we’re considering a signing, beyond the music itself.”
What makes you different from other labels?
Tom – “At Morii we’re defo the polar opposite of the cookie cutter approach – both in terms of musicality, but also with how we take on each campaign. Each project is different and treated on its own merits. Each artist is different.”
James – “We work very closely with our artists to really capture the vibe we all imagine for each release. Rather than it being something we take control of beyond the music, we always get a group chat going with artists and their teams on the label and really get into the whole project with them. From the music and any suggestions on that side, to the artwork and visual ideas, to the promo and rollout plans. We really do feel it’s important to have the artists involved in every step, as ultimately, it’s their art and vision we want to showcase.”
Tom – “We also treat the audio as the absolute priority – over and above vanity metrics. If we’re investing in ad spend, for example, it’s all to maximise clicks to the audio rather than driving follower numbers – as ultimately that’s what we’re there to promote, the music and art – and that’s how it can then take a life of its own and reach even more new listeners.”
What does it take to run a bass music label in 2026?
James – “It takes care and attention, alongside a real passion for the music. With social media being how it is now, artists fighting for views and interactions in order to break through, we never forget that at the core of this, the music is the most important part. This is where we pride ourselves mostly and I feel that our fanbase and listeners will see that too. That’s what we see as the way to run a label properly, alongside everything else that comes with the release.”
Tom – “Perseverence, resilience and passion – as J says you have to be in it cos you love music. Commercial objectives are secondary to that, success is a byproduct of that music transcending due to your commitment to the cause.
“I do also think it’s important to take a holistic view of the music platforms and treat them on their strengths. Bandcamp and Spotify are of equal importance to us, in very different ways – same with Beatport, Soundcloud, YouTube and Apple Music. Being strategic in how you approach them is essential – putting time and effort into your hardcore fans who purchase each release or buy merch, as well as more casual music lovers who tend to stream, which can lead to more scale and new listeners. No platform is perfect, and work still to be done on artists getting a fair deal in the streaming age, but there’s still huge value to be found and relatively speaking it’s still early days as the digital music market matures further.”
What have you got coming up that we should look out for?
Tom – “Lots of exciting releases on the Horizon, Cortese’s Space EP has just landed last Friday – really stunning UKG / future garage / breakbeat. We’ve got a crazy remix package for Die by the Sword landing this Friday – and a forthcoming EP from one of the most talented young UK producers coming through, Kori – who we were hyped to have at our debut Morii night. Some big ENiGMA Dubz projects in the works, too, of course!”
James – “We’ve just (finally) launched our official website at www.moriirecords.co.uk and also in the planning stages of our next Birmingham event, so really excited to see how that takes shape – alongside debut events in other cities. Keep a lookout!”
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