Getting to Know Silence In Metropolis

“We wanted to bring back a dance floor friendly vibe and also go back to the roots of house music… you know, deep house tinged with a good vibe for the dance floor,” says Bilal Arshad, who, along with Sam Kosh, founded DC based independent record label Silence in Metropolis (SIM) nearly two years ago.

“We’d been talking about starting a record label for a while,” said Bilal, whilst we Skype in two different time zones. “It wasn’t until we were in Miami for a music convention that we made it happen and cemented the idea.” And with that Silence in Metropolis was born, the label’s name an homage to the iconic 1927 sci-fi movie Metropolis–a cult favorite of their dance music generation.

“DC has started to pop recently, over the last five years you’ve seen a lot of new talent that you’ll see being released on our label. The great thing is that it is in an environment where things are fresh, you get a new perspective,” said Bilal, originally from Virginia. It is hard to deny Europe’s appropriation of house music over the last two decades and it seems SIM are trying to bring it back to where it started—a kind of correction—while at the same time providing a new progressive sound.

Bilal and Sam initially met via Soundcloud after Bilal commented on one of Sam’s mixes. “I noticed he was from the DC area and we were literally chatting face to face about music a couple days later,” said Sam. The two connected through their love of deep house and they were both keen on starting a label that involved blending their tastes and bringing together artists who they thought were both excellent and overlooked.

In 18 months the two of them, with the guidance of their good friends Jarett Parker and Greg Andrews, have managed to push out five expertly crafted releases and successfully run dozens of club nights. The label is now twenty four artists strong, bringing sounds from the likes of P Lopez in Paraguay and remixes by UK based JMF. Locally, artists such as Jus Nowhere and Funkdamentalist (Bilal’s DJ name) also bring some strong beats, reminding one of those warehouse parties way back when. Tracks like “My Soul” by Funkdamentalist and Dale Howards’ “Give Me” have a bright upbeat ‘get up and dance’ soulfulness that makes you feel that going back to basics is where you want to be.

The SIM gang will be performing alongside George Fitzgerald at U Street Music Hall Friday, December 20^th. Check out their latest release from label head Funkdamentalist below. 

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