Started in 1994 by Josh WInk and King Britt, Ovum Recordings has remained one of America’s defining house and techno labels. The label is celebrating it’s 15 Year Anniversary this month, with a series of events stretching from Israel to Belgium—with more dates on the way. Label manager Matt Brookman selected his fave Ovum records out of the labels 100+ releases.

1. DJ Dozia “Pop Culture” (1998) This record from Philadelphia’s own DJ Dozia caused quite a stir at the time.  A record that was huge with the likes of Danny Tenaglia when it was initially released, it has stood the test of time and is still heard in sets all around the world today.  This record also came out during the time we were being distributed by Columbia Records and showed that our feet were still firmly planted in the underground.  One of the most sought after releases from the early Ovum catalogue.  The remix package included amazing mixes from Ovum’s own King Britt and Josh Wink.

2. Scuba “The Story Of Attraction and Seduction” (1998) The follow up to Scuba’s Where The Wild Things Are EP, Swell was a piece of gorgeous deep house vocals.  Debut house release for now well known vocalist Vikter Duplaix, this became a classic in deep house circles and showed the deeper side of Ovum.

3. David Alvarado “Klugh” (1999) A record from one of our favorite producers David Alvarado that was a great example of how Ovum releases would be played by all types of DJs and cross genres.  This record was huge in the house, techno, and progressive worlds and is a classic.

4. Wink feat Lil Louis “How’s Your Evening So Far” (2000) Josh used to do a lot of re edits and remixes on his own and then came this incredible monster that sampled Lil Louis’s incredible “French Kiss”.  This was a record that initially wasn’t supposed to be released, but we gave a few copies out at the Winter Music Conference and the rest is history.  I will never forget Carl Cox dropping this at Crobar at the WMC and seeing the frenzy of DJs rushing to the booth, to see what it was. Sven Vath then played it at Love Parade and then we had one of Ovum biggest hits.

5. Universal Agents “West Of Athens/East Of Washington” (2001) A release from G Pal and Hollis P Monroe, this was a great example of how we liked to have a release appeal to different types of DJs on record.  This was a tale of two very diverse tracks.  The A side “West of Athens” was a deep gorgeous journey and then you flipped to its counterpart which was the driving tribal “East of Washington. ” Both tracks were big in their own ways and cemented Ovum as a label that not only broke new music, but put out diverse music.

6. Rulers Of The Deep “Dirty Grooves” (2002) Coming off the incredibly successful  ”Track One”, the Rulers Of The Deep returned to Ovum with the anthem at the time “Dirty Grooves”.  Again Ovum was breaking new talent and keeping the sound diverse. A monster from the talented Estonian producers.

7. Wink “Freak” (2002) A classic from Ovum’s own Josh Wink that was another huge record.  The first time I heard this track, you just knew it was going to be huge.  A very minimal record, but the results were maximal.  Again another track that is still heard in DJ’s sets today and will be for sometime.

8. Steve Bug “Houze/Summer Nights” (2004) The debut Ovum release from Poker Flat’s own Steve Bug again showed how we liked to have two diverse sounding tracks on one release.  One of the records that really helped catapult the growth of the minimal sound, “Houze” became a huge record and one of Ovum’s bigger releases.  The B side “Summer Nights” is still one of my all time favorite Ovum tracks and is an amazing piece of deep emotional music.

9. Wink “Fill Me With Acid/Oakish” (2004) Another EP that became part of the 20 to 20 album gave us the incredible B side Oakish.  Initially we were thinking the A side “Fill Me With Acid” would be the go to track from this release, but Oakish became a a huge track as well in the minimal/techno world.

10. Nick and Danny Chatelain “Is Killing Me” (2005) Debut release from Spanish producers Nick and Danny Chatelain.  This was a track that Josh was championing for a long time prior to us releasing it.  It had become one of the biggest records in his sets and we were able to the pick the track up for Ovum.  This went on to become a massive record for the label and one of the biggest tracks of that year!

11. Loco Dice “Menina Brasiliera/Jacuzzi Games” (2005) I remember getting this demo handed to me at the Ovum party at Winter Music Conference from Timo Maas.  Timo said check these tracks out as I think they would be good for Ovum.  When I got back from Miami, I put them on and I was blown away.  The first big release on Ovum from Loco Dice and what came after we all know.  One more huge release on Ovum and now stardom!  We were glad to be a part of the early stages of Dice’s career and this record was truly a classic and I still love it today.

12. Shlomi Aber “Freakside” (2007) Debut release from Israeli producer Shlomi Aber on Ovum was absolute monster.  Shlomi who had done some releases on Renaissance at the time and a couple other labels, but this record really catapulted him as a producer.  This was a huge track from Ovum and clearly a seminal release for Shlomi as he went on to win best minimal artist on beatport.  We continue to work with Shlomi as an artist and be on the lookout for his debut Ovum album in the fall.

13. Chymera “Umbrella” (2007) This release from up and coming producer at the time Chymera included incredible remixes from Funk D’Void and Spooky.  The sleeper track on this release was the Beatless Mix.  Initially Bren had done a shorter beatless mix and Josh asked him to stretch it out.  The track ended up being nominated for best ambient track at the Beatport wards and is an incredible piece of intelligent electronic music.

14. D’Julz “Just So You Know” (2008) Long time Ovum artist D’julz delivered this monster to us in early 2008. We released it in the beginning of the summer and what we got was a record that was heard at every festival and Ibiza all through the summer and into the fall.

15. Josh Wink “When A Banana Was Just A Banana” (2009) To me, this is Josh’s most complete album and represents his diverse production style at its best.  The album came about after Josh dropped “Stay Out All Night” at the Winter Music Conference and it cause such a tremendous stir from all the big DJ’s.  Stay Out All Night was kind of the start of a trend back to a housier sound returning to underground dance after a couple years of the minimal sound.  “Stay Out All Night” led to Josh making some other new tracks and digging through some other productions he had been working and we decided to put out the album.  The album received incredible critical claim and was well received commercially.  It features some of my favorite tracks from Josh including “Jus Right”, “Dolphin Smack” and “Minimum 23″.  A seminal album from Mr. Wink and showed that he was still as vital as ever!

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