What are labels if not curators?

Once upon a time in Los Angeles. Once upon a time in London. Once upon a time in Seattle, Detroit, Nashville, New York. Pick any city, any year, and once upon a time, a group of people congregated there to say: “Let’s make this music available.” They did it over coffee and cigarettes, or steak and martinis. They did it from dorm rooms and conference halls, drafty studio apartments in the worst parts of town. They did it for love, money, fame, sex. Boredom. Whatever the circumstances: they did it.

And the drive to do it better has bolstered music for decades. If one label shifts too far from “we love this thing” to “this thing sells”—if the system goes all blurry and corruptible, as systems sometimes do—another group in another city is ready to pick up the slack. For every new guard, the vision becomes the work, whether they’ve uncovered a thriving genre or perfected new modes of discovery and distribution. And the brightest among them hone that vision hard. They find their niche and slide, uncompromising, into it.

What are labels if not curators? They’re money makers, deal shakers, marketing machines. And maybe the three labels that tied for our best of 2010 did those things too, but they’re collectors first. Mini-museums of sound and love and so many things, however disparate, that make their vision their vision.

Once upon a time in Houston. Once upon a time in Ann Arbor and London. Ladies and gentleman, allow us to present Disaro, Ghostly International and Night Slugs, our labels of the year.

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Disaro Records

Robert Disaro of Disaro Records

Described by the Bloglin’s own Nattymari as “harbingers ov Thee Hexan Dance Music,” this Houston-rooted, now Los Angeles-based label was 2010’s dark-as-midnight heartbeat. Co-founders Robert Disaro and Owleyes not only issued some of the year’s most captivating releases—GR†LLGR†LL, Mater Suspiria Vision, the fucked-up alt-punk of Ðose—but also helped further legitimize the CDr as a truly viable (and seriously cost-effective) option.

Whether or not the format lives to thrive another year is anyone’s guess (the label will reportedly focus primarily on vinyl starting next year), but for 2010, the medium was Disaro’s message: the best of the creeped-out best, meticulously curated and released efficiently enough to stack ‘em one right after the other. And effectively, the Disaro catalogue like SST before it is something you order from unconditionally; if their name’s on an album, you can bet it’s bone-chillingly great.

Disaro Myspace | Disaro Facebook | Disaro Tumblr | Disaro Twitter

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Ghostly International

Sam Valenti IV, CEO and founder of Ghostly International

Matthew Dear. Gold Panda. Mux Mool. School of Seven Bells. Ghostly International dominated the Bloglin’s Best of Lists for good reason: though the Ann Arbor label’s been unearthing among the most innovative electronic and ambient artists for over a decade, 2010 saw them hit a stride like never before.

Co-founders Dear and Samuel Valenti IV consistently breach the barriers of genre and form in unprecedented ways, pushing forward not merely the Ghostly sound but its artistic vision as well; the label’s visual artists are just as recognizable as their sonic ones. Plus, 2010 heralded the online launch of Ghostly Discovery, a Pandora-like application that uses your mood, tempo and style preferences to find the perfect Ghostly track for any given moment. So chalk it up to innovation, label maturity, purity of vision, artist development—but whatever Ghostly’s doing, they’re doing it exactly right.

Ghostly Website | Ghostly Myspace | Ghostly Facebook | Ghostly Twitter

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Night Slugs

Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990 of Night Slugs

We’d be remiss (read: total jerks) if we didn’t give our own friends a shout-out. But we’re not doing so just because we’re friends; Night Slugs took dance music wherever the hell they wanted in 201o, and they deserve this honor. The L-Vis 1990 and Bok Bok-run label totally killed it with releases from the likes of Kingdom, Girl Unit and Egyptrixx (as well as Lil Silva, Velour, Mosca,  plus L-Vis 1990, and Bok Bok themselves). Each one was essential.

They even put together an amazing Keep Watch mix for us. Deep jams and dubstep, all cut-up and stitched back together, that just off-center feeling that’s quickly become a Night Slugs signature. If you weren’t following their releases this year, you must’ve truly been lost on the dance floor. But fear not—their just released Night Slugs Allstars Vol. 1 will catch you up quick. Can’t wait to see what they unleash in 2011.

Night Slugs Website | Night Slugs Myspace | Night Slugs Facebook | Night Slugs Twitter

- Rue Sauvage