After Max Payne and GTA, Rockstar Games Studios create their own music label

In the ultra-competitive world of video games, Rockstar Games has crushed everything in its path. While the Max Payne and Red Dead Redemption franchises have left no gamer indifferent, it’s above all the Grand Theft Auto series that has built the studio’s reputation since its release on consoles in 1997. The fifth opus in the series, released in 2013, has sold more than 130 million copies worldwide… In this ultra-violent open-world game, you move around a fictitious American city embarking on various dubious missions involving robberies and disastrous shoot-outs. A small detail much appreciated by fans of the genre: the player has the option of turning on the radio during his motorised journeys. Snoop Dogg, Rihanna or 2Pac… GTA V thus has 388 real music tracks spread over 17 imaginary stations. All this leads us to believe that Rockstar Games is a music lover’s studio.

 

 

Our suspicions have since been confirmed as Rockstar Games is now stepping into the music industry. In collaboration with the events company CircoLoco (which has been celebrating house and techno music for over twenty years with volcanic parties in Ibiza), Rockstar Games has now set up its own music label: CircolocoRecords. This partnership has resulted in a five-track collective EP, Monday Dreamin’ Green, which is already available. It features various artists and above all the track Keep On Coming by Moodymann, a true house music legend…

An indolent challenger to the pioneers of house, Moodymann – just like Mike Banks and Jeff Mills – illuminated the grim city of Detroit with his sampling from the 90s onwards. Sometimes in the shadows, masked with a fishnet hoodie, other times under the spotlight handing out shots of vodka to clubbers, Moodymann remains the champion of an underground scene allergic to the jet-set when it suits him. He arrived on the scene in 1994 with “I like it” and “Emotional Content”, two deep house tracks that mix elements of soul and jazz in an ambiance that’s pure lounge. The original vinyl format, released on his own label KDJ, today sells for more than 300 euros. Three years later the DJ released his first album Silentintroduction (1997) and then a second in its wake: Mahogany Brown (1998), considered by many to be his masterpiece. At the time, Moodymann had only two words to say “groove” and “sex”. It was no surprise that this Prince fan seized the tracks  I Want Your Love by Chic and Desire by José James. Today we can count 12 albums (of varying lengths) by Moodymann. Between soul classics and old funk samples, the erotic house of this underworld genius was never aimed at the “masses” but a reckless squadron that listens (truly) to the murmurings of his cavernous voice.

 

 

 

Monday Dreamin’ Green [CircoLoco Records], available.