MDLBEAST Records: A New Home for Future Stars of the Middle East
While music festivals remain on hold, the MDLBEAST brand is expanding. Launching later this week, MDLBEAST Records will release music from “the best recording artists, DJs and producers from across the Middle East region”. Over time, it will develop into a series of genre-specific sub-labels releasing deep house to techno and EDM to afrobeat.
“MDLBEAST is all about amplifying the unseen, building a platform for Arab artists to showcase their talent to the world and bring international artists closer to Arab audiences,” said Talal Albahiti, Chief Operating Officer of MDLBEAST. “Launching MDLBEAST Records is another big milestone on our journey to create cultural exchange through music.”
Soundstorm
MDLBEAST burst onto the scene in 2019 with Soundstorm – the first electronic music festival to ever take place in Saudi Arabia. Over three days, more than 400,000 party people danced to EDM headliners like David Guetta, Afrojack, Tiësto and Steve Aoki. The historic event catered to more discerning tastes too, with sets from Nicole Moudaber, Marco Carola, Bedouin, Danny Tenaglia, Jimpster and Jamie Jones.
Following the success of the inaugural event, Covid-19 put the brakes on last year’s Saudi festival. So MDLBEAST launched its Freqways online music experience, with DJs playing from iconic locations around the world. Now comes the record label.
Ringtone
MDLBEAST Records launches on Friday 26th February with Ringtone by Dutch-Moroccan DJ R3hab. It’s the first single from Soundstorm Volume 1, a multiple artist album slated for release in April. Salvatore Ganacci, Butch, Afrojack and local MENA talent Cosmicat have all contributed album tracks.
MDLBEAST Records will cover big global DJs and future stars of the Middle East alike. “Unearthing untapped local talents and helping them grow into international names will always be a prime concern for the label. Through this label and the continuation of the festival, the aim is to really shine a light on the region’s rich and creative music scene at the same time as helping it to continue to evolve, grow and move forward.”
After a Covid-enforced break, MDLBEAST hopes its flagship Sandstorm festival will take place in Saudi in December. In the meantime, if R3hab doesn’t float your boat, let us steer you over to Dubai-based DJ James Locksmith’s weekly mixes for MDLBEAST Frequencies.
