Otherwlrd, a Discord community turned music label, initially spawned from the idea of uniting electronic trap enjoyers, but quickly evolved into a safe haven for anyone that identifies with the “other” in the current EDM soundscape. Otherwrld, whose founding group counts BAARIC and Christoper ‘CC’ Capasso, was just founded last year but according to Chris, “the first year has honestly gone so exceptionally well that it’s hard to even imagine what we should be aiming for in 5 years.”
This contextualizes the excitement behind HORIZON 002, and what it means for Otherwrld’s future. In the last year, Otherwrld has quickly gained momentum with the community’s artists getting plays from Rossy, 4B, Flosstradamus, and Alison Wonderland. In addition, Otherwrld’s Discord has hosted Q&A events with artists like Boombox Cartel, Deadcrow, Ricky Remedy, and more.
The founding story of Otherwrld is based in providing talented artists with a home and outlet who weren’t breaking through with the industry’s biggest labels, with Chris saying “The catalyst for all of our music releases is partially the desire to build a home for a huge range of talented artists that aren’t finding success on other labels. Also, we wanted to share the fun and high-energy vibe of our online community which is hopefully reflected in our sound!”
When it came to putting the compilation together, Chris told us “The song pool for our releases is a combination of demo emails submitted directly to us as well as songs from artists that we had probed specifically. For our first compilation ‘SURGE 001‘, we had specifically announced that we were working on a compilation in advance. For ‘HORIZON 002’, we stayed quiet until we had pretty much had the entire tracklist finished. Shoutout to our A&R BLVDE RUNNER for really doing an awesome job with the selection. Overall for Horizon we wanted to stay true to our trap roots, but also expand our sonic compass with songs like ‘The Sound’ (DnB) and ‘WARP2ME’ (house-y). All of the songs were chosen with the idea of live-play in mind, so prepare your collections for this upcoming festival season!”
Picking artists out of an entire compilation is difficult, but a few are making recent waves, with Chris saying “Xerxes is crushing it right now. I remember him in some of our original ‘Show & Tell’ community events and now a year later he’s an Otherwrld administrator with three different releases on the label. Both his artistic vision and production talent are immense.” Xerxes’ music has been getting played out by Ekali, Rossy, and more. BAARIC is also pulling double-duty as a founder of Otherwrld, but as a heavy-hitting roster artist. His prior release, IDON, was one of the most popular songs from SURGE. “His entire discography feels extremely connected and deliberate. He’s accomplished so much already in my eyes, but his 2023 is looking extremely stacked,” said Chris. BADLIKE is another one to keep your eyes with, with him opening up for Rossy on her headline tour. Cortr is another burgeoning Otherwrld artist who recently collaborated with Quix, and has had his music played out by Steve Aoki, RL Grime, Illenium, Juelz, and more. The New Zealand based producer has had airtime on BBC Radio 1, Sirius XM, iHeartRadio, and the leading NZ radio station, George FM.
The compilation is packed with high energy from start to finish:
- Bring It Up – BADLIKE
- Trust – Dravyn
- Flare – CORTR
- Take Me – KAT
- FLIGHT! – Cerdin
- Money – SAVYER
- THE SOUND – THREADWEAVERS
- Jericho – Aroha
- Fit In – Maddface, Chief Street
- Roots – Virus Mafia
- Been Around The Block – Xerxes, Valdeez
- WARP2ME – KILLMATTER
- Manifest – Bafu
- Downfall – BAARIC, SYSTEM KIDS
What’s next for Otherwrld? They’re planning a lot more releases, while still finding their footing and release cadence. There remains a lot of talen in their community that deserves release and recognition and they’re planning a project for the summer. They also plan on extending into live shows when the time is right.
With all this said, what makes Otherwrld different from other labels? According to Chris, “besides what was mentioned before about the holistic approach to community, we try to be as real as possible. We don’t shy away from being present and active in the scene, and anyone who feels like contacting any one of us has an avenue to do so (hit us up on Discord or Instagram!). We also try to keep our focus on the artist and their art, with as little friction throughout. We’re here for the culture.”
