UK-based house label, established by Mark Doyle in 1999. Acquired by Ministry of Sound in January 2006. Hed Kandi is best known for their house music compilations in a variety of styles and events all over the world. Illustrations were created by Jason Brooks (4).
Hed Kandi
Hed Kandi
Profile:
Sublabels
A Taste Of Kandi,
Back To Love,
Base Ibiza Records,
Beach House,
Disco Heaven,
Disco Kandi,
Fit & Fabulous,
HK Records (2),
Nu Cool,
Nu Disco,
Serve Chilled,
Stereo Sushi,
The Acid Lounge,
Twisted Disco,
Winter Chill
Parent Label:
Contact Info:
MSHK Limited
103 Gaunt Street
London, SE1 6DP
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0) 870 06000 10
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7740 8654
103 Gaunt Street
London, SE1 6DP
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0) 870 06000 10
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7740 8654
Sites:
Marketplace
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Reviews
FunkyBeak
May 25, 2020
edited over 3 years ago
They faded into complete obscurity in slow motion over a 19 year period...but man were those first 3-4 years of releases just absolutely glorious times.
I can't decide when "the moment" was when the series started to "shift from its original goal" (aka "die")...it was either when they started the repetitive "Disco Heaven" series which resulted in them over-saturating their own niche of what made them great, or this release, their first "mixed" comp...joining them with the ranks of many great compilation labels that started going the "non-stop mega mix!!" eventually cheapening what they've already accomplished.
I can't decide when "the moment" was when the series started to "shift from its original goal" (aka "die")...it was either when they started the repetitive "Disco Heaven" series which resulted in them over-saturating their own niche of what made them great, or this release, their first "mixed" comp...joining them with the ranks of many great compilation labels that started going the "non-stop mega mix!!" eventually cheapening what they've already accomplished.
Escary
February 13, 2021The first release that I bought from Hed Kandi was Disco Kandi 5, only because it had the full version of "Do You Love Me?" by Mademoiselle... But then listening to both discs, there were many great tracks that I didn't have in my music collection or that I've never heard of before... That's how I knew about artists/producers such as Miguel Migs, Knee Deep, Jask & labels such as Defected & Soulfuric... I was really pleased with this release, so I decided to buy the other 4 Disco Kandi releases... Not long after, I discovered other Hed Kandi series such as Beach House, Nu Cool, Back To Love, Disco Heaven & the brilliant Stereo Sushi... Stereo Sushi was definitely my favourite...
Hed Kandi was very different at that time because Mark Doyle (the original boss/creator) would release all these compilations & all the tracks were in full length/unmixed/DJ friendly (well, most anyway, some of the songs were slightly edited or faded out)... These compilations were unique & it wasn't like many other CD compilations at that time (such as Ministry Of Sound), where MOS releases & many others were all DJ-mixed...
But just like many other labels/brands, it was getting popular, started to expand by releasing some DJ-mixed compilations... Just before or by the time that Mark Doyle left in 2005, Hed Kandi truly started releasing very-average compilations... The selections of the tracks were either cheesy or just plain awful...
By 2008, I started to turn away from Hed Kandi because many CD releases were getting worse... The music selections weren't great (but then the House music "sound" was changing as well), full length tracks were heavily edited & there were more DJ-mixed releases... The one thing that I was frustrated about - when they stopped releasing Stereo Sushi compilations in 2008 (see my review on the Stereo Sushi label page here on Discogs)...
The last Hed Kandi release that I've bought though was "Hed Kandi Anthems & Artwork" in 2010... It was a 4-CD set that was packaged as a hard-cover book... It’s more like the "best-of" Hed Kandi (so far), split into 4 popular series on each CD - Disco Heaven, Twisted Disco, Beach House & Back To Love... It also had a booklet of many Hed Kandi’s previous artworks... That was a good release, I'm glad that I have this release... But after that, I couldn't buy Hed Kandi anymore, which is sad because I loved this label/brand a lot...
Now owned by Ministry Of Sound/Sony, Hed Kandi releases are all DJ-mixed releases, except for the digital releases... Hed Kandi, please go back the way it was... I do understand that labels/brands need to evolve but it wasn't the right move, that's my opinion anyway...
Overall, Hed Kandi was great & it taught me about House music!!