Pay Close Attention website: http://pay-close-attention.com/
Pay Close Attention is a compilation album documenting the first 25 years of British Independent record label XL Recordings
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Richard Russell looks back on the path forged by his groundbreaking independent label.
From its beginnings releasing early rave material from The Prodigy and SL2 through to early-2000s masterpieces by Dizzee Rascal, The White Stripes, M.I.A., and Radiohead, XL has remained a genre-agnostic force on the independent label landscape.
To mark 25 years in the game, XL will release Pay Close Attention, a two-part compilation that takes its name from the iconic Kool Keith sample in The Prodigy’s ‘Out of Space’. Part 1 focuses on the “roots” of the label — “underground music, made for DJ’s” — while Part 2 features the “singular talents” that have defined its recent output.
“We’ve never compromised. The rave music XL first became known for was known as “hardcore”; that spirit continues,” Russell writes. “To show our appreciation for your support: thank you DJ’s. And thank you also to the retailers, writers and of course, ravers.”
The compilation is due out on August 26 and will be available as a 4-LP boxset (which comes with a DVD and a poster), as well as a 2xCD set and digital download. The track listing is below, along with a previously-unreleased tour diary featuring footage from Tyler the Creator and Odd Future’s first European tour.