New grime label on the block Coyote Records this month cap off a strong first year with Coyote Kings, a 10-track compilation of artists from, and friends of, the label. 

Released on December 23, Coyote Kings will feature contributions from up-and-comers like Annoy and Arctic, as well as more established names like P Jam and Checan. We’re streaming four of the tracks from Coyote Kings below, and spoke to the label’s Tomas Fraser to find a little more about what makes the label tick.

Tell us about how you started Coyote, and what your aims were from the start? Did you have any past experience in labels or were you going in relatively blind?

I started Coyote off the back of just sitting on a lot of music that I thought deserved to see a proper release. I’m essentially a music writer [for Mixmag and Clash] so I’d spent a good few years reviewing people’s music and during that time, started to get to know different people and get an understanding of how releasing records worked. It got to a point where I just felt like it was something I really wanted to do and it coincided with Mella Dee sending me ‘CTRL’, which would go on to be the debut release on Coyote. I don’t think he even had a name for it at the time but I heard it and just knew it needed to be out there. Still love that record now.

Tell us about the artists on the label, and your relationships with them. 

The artists on the label are from all over the place to be honest. I went to University in Leeds and Mella Dee used to be involved with a great little night called Tropical there – they were putting on people like Girl Unit and Oneman back in 2008/2009 and I used to go along and chat to him a bit. When I left to go back to London, we stayed in touch and anyone who knows Mella will know how much music he makes so I guess if anyone was going to christen the label, it’d be him.

TS7 I’d been into since his early bassline days and just hit him up on the off chance he’d fancy releasing something because he’d been quiet on the vinyl front since 2007 – he sent ‘Grade A’ over and I’d signed it within the hour. Timing with him was great too because about two weeks after release last November, he signed a deal with 3Beat / Universal, charted with ‘Heartlight’ and landed a show on Kiss.

Walter Ego I spoke to through Mella who’d encouraged him to pass on some tunes. He sent ‘Wavey’ and ‘Military Mind’ and naturally I knew they were perfect for the label – that release was the one that got everyone talking and got us recognised. From there, Arctic was someone who’d hit me up with a few tracks from Australia, not expecting much other than feedback I don’t think, but I really liked his sound. Our latest release came from OH91 who got in touch via Royal-T a few hours after mixing down ‘Stealth’ and that I’d signed after about 15 seconds – it’s probably my favourite tune of the year in all honesty. EPs from Spare and Chemist are pencilled in for 2014.

You’ve gone from releasing music by Mella Dee and TS7 – who aren’t huge but have released elsewhere before, and have a certain profile – to releasing a succession of debut records. Do you find releasing an artists’s first single particularly rewarding?

I’d not really given it too much thought until a few months ago but I guess it’s nice to have been able to do that. With the more established names like Walter for instance, who’s been signed to Girls Music for a while, I always counted myself lucky getting them on board but it’s different with guys like Arctic and OH91 because you can see the tangible development off the back of it. I think a vinyl gives artists the confidence to go on and believe they’re good enough to make it and that’s really important. I’m proud of what everyone’s gone on to achieve and hope I can carry on doing my bit with Coyote.

Any particular inspirations on the label, past or present? 

Without Butterz I would never have believed I could have released grime on vinyl and made a success of it so I think everybody doing what we do owes them some gratitude. At the moment though, it’s nice to see a few newer labels bouncing off each other and really pushing instrumental stuff. Boxed and particularly Slackk deserve a lot of credit for giving the music a platform to be heard and labels wise, I’ve got a lot of time for Lost Codes, Oil Gang and Glacial Sound in particular. Tumble Audio have been fairly prolific in terms of releasing good, honest grime-orientated club music as well and Logos / Keysound should get some sort of award for Cold Mission. That kinda redefined how I digest grime personally, but also the way it was received across the board is a great motivation to keep doing what I’m doing with Coyote – maybe we’ll put out an album that good one day…