Rinse

Rinse is the record label associated with Rinse FM, a London community radio station known for programming that centres on UK dance music and its local offshoots. The station is licensed for “young people living and/or working within the central, east and south London areas,” and its musical identity reflects that remit, drawing heavily on scenes rooted in London’s clubs and pirate-radio culture. Rinse FM’s output spans garage, grime, dubstep, house, jungle and UK funky, alongside related styles that have circulated through the United Kingdom’s dance underground.

The label’s profile is closely tied to the station’s role as an early platform for emerging sounds. Rinse FM operated as a pirate radio station from 1994 to 2010, before being granted a community FM broadcast licence in June 2010. Across that period, it became widely associated with the rise of grime and dubstep, and is often described as an early pioneer and champion of both genres. The label functions as an extension of that broadcast identity, aligning releases with the station’s emphasis on DJ-led, bass-driven music and the artists who move between radio, clubs and recordings.

Rinse’s catalogue includes artists whose work reflects the station’s broad but recognisably UK-focused spectrum of dance music. Names associated with the label include Katy B, whose career is linked to the crossover between underground club sounds and wider audiences, and Mozey, whose releases sit within contemporary drum and bass. The label has also worked with acts such as Kings Of The Rollers and Watch the Ride, pointing to its continuing interest in modern jungle and drum and bass, as well as OKO UK, James Hiraeth and Voltage. South African producer Vigro Deep appears among the label’s notable artists, indicating that Rinse’s scope is not limited to London even as its identity remains anchored there.

As a label, Rinse is best understood as a recorded counterpart to a long-running radio institution: London-based, community-licensed, and closely identified with the sounds that have moved through UK pirate radio into the mainstream of electronic music culture.