MNX - Aggro and Allegro

MNX is the partner label to a night fast becoming a Glaswegian institution, Monox at the Soundhaus. Label owner and main Monox resident, Dan Monox, started MNX in 2001 to release the kind of music he was playing to those crowds - a mixture of heavy as hell industrial edged techno and the darker side of underground electro.

"The ethos is to avoid the bullshit trends and stick to releasing fresh sounding electronic music without sticking too much to styles or genre's," Dan tells The Skinny. His basic remit? "Keeping it on the dark and scary tip as much as possible!"

If you like your grooves heavy and loud, they are there for you. It's been a label noticed by the world at large, with two early releases from Scots producer Cymbol receiving radio play and support from the likes of big-name players such as Dave Clarke. Other releases include platters and remixes from Mark Hawkins, Ibrahim Alfa, DJ ESP, Adam X and Belgian industrial outfit Sonar. More recently however they released their first full album. Skinny were given a white label of that particular monster - Tales Of Ignorance by MANASYt - and we loved it. It was a twisted creature, dark and dangerous, and it received critical acclaim from the industry bods lucky enough to hear it.

Partly as result of these releases and partly as a result of the night that spawns (and funds) them, the fame of seven year old Monox is now reaching the wider world too. With DJ support for their music from Andrea Parker, DJ Stingray and others, that's hardly surprising. With residents like Adam X and guests like the UR crew, this is a label and night with many friends.

Monox are also right up for giving their pals a good kicking though. The last such scrap was a battle royale of tunes between themselves and Seismic, another Glasgow stalwart, in the Sub Club. It's not just local pals as well: MNX have sent DJs to Tresor to face off the German talents, and label owner Dan has DJd as far afield as Tokyo.

So what's next? Well, there are singles due out from new boy Cestrian, aka Ali Renault. Better known for his Italo vibes (the techno that was techno before techno was), Cestrian will be keeping it hard, fast and scary for MNX. Add to that singles from Lory D of Rome, a mysterious Slovenian posse called Faustian Pact and a new techno release from Belgian mad hatter DJ Valium, and it looks like MNX will continue to blow the head clean off your neck both in and out of the clubs.