Albums | Femme-fronted, inclusive underground dance label Delusional Records celebrates PRIDE with 1 Year Anniversary Compilation

Posted by VMan on July 2, 2022

Queer, LA-based underground artists Maude Vôs and Marie Nyx launched Delusional Records last year as a hub for all delusional individuals to thrive together, driven by the core values of experimentation, visibility and inclusivity. Delusional Records is working to revive the roots of dance music culture; when there were no rules, just honest expression. 

The imprint is dually celebrating PRIDE Month and their first-year milestone birthday with the Delusional 1 Year Anniversary VA Compilation – a 15-track package of left-field sounds designed primarily on modular sythesizers and analog gear by female, LGBTQIA+, nonbinary and BIPOC producers.

The label’s co-founders anchor the compilation via their own individual productions – Vôs with the propulsive, spacious “iele,” and Nyx with the extraterrestrial techno track “Asteria.” 

Standout tracks include the compilation’s first offering, M-Other’s “Smoke and Honey,” a swirling, psychedelic cut with funky basslines, reverbed drum-patterns, atmospheric synth pads, and an all-encompassing spoken word passage. Next up is “Cat Dance” from modular synthesist Marie Ann Hedonia, an acid and italo-disco inspired rave experience with clave production. Then there’s “Infliction” from experimental hard dance producer and vocalist Dahlia Fae, a track that oscillates between glitchy breakbeats and pounding happy hardcore drums – a combo that vividly transports you to classic 90s raves. 

Delusional 1 Year Anniversary VA Compilation achieves the imprint’s goal of reviving the roots of dance music: by imbuing its varied, all-inclusive tracklist with an abundance of retro rave sounds, the compilation feels limitless, returning the listener to a time when dance music culture was pure, honest expression. 

Delusional Records has come a long way since its inception last year, which launched with Maude Vôs’ three-track The Umbra EP serving as the label’s debut offering. The anniversary compilation marks Delusional’s tenth release, following drops such as Marie Nyx’s transcendental techno debut EP Elysium which ranked #1 on Beatport’s Raw Deep Hypnotic Techno chart and earned her plaudits from DJ Mag as an ‘artist-to-watch.’ 

Vôs and Nyx are an unstoppable dynamic duo. Each artist boasts a plethora of individual accomplishments – collectively they’ve shared stages with Pleasurekraft, Prok & Fitch and Baltra, released on labels like Desert Hearts Black, Rules Don’t Apply and Glory Hill, and performed at notable parties like Mixmag Lab LA, Clinic Wednesdays, and Minimal Effort. 

Furthering Delusional Records mission to revive club music made by women, non-binary, queer, and hardware artists, the anniversary compilation speaks to the labels’ inclusive, boundary-pushing sensibilities through hypnotic package of genre-blending cuts helmed by rave resurgence throwback elements.