Dim Mak

Dim Mak is Steve Aoki's label, started in 1996 and based in Los Angeles. the label's own site describes it as an independent record label, events company and lifestyle brand, based in Los Angeles and founded by Steve Aoki in 1996, and its tagline, on the site and in its SoundCloud bio, is "By Any Means Necessary" (the SoundCloud version ends with an exclamation mark). Discogs keeps it to one line, "Formed in 1996 and run by influential Los Angeles DJ Steve Aoki.", and Resident Advisor's bio reads "Dim Mak is a label run by Los Angeles DJ Steve Aoki. The label releases music in many different styles ranging from punk to garage rock to disco to new wave and beyond." the name comes two ways. the site's about line calls it "Dim Mak Records" and its footer signs off "© Dim Mak 2026", Beatport, SoundCloud and Discogs all print "Dim Mak Records", and Resident Advisor prints "Dim Mak". we use Dim Mak as the page name, and the catalogue-facing name is Dim Mak Records. where it started is told two ways as well. the site calls itself Los Angeles-based and founded in 1996 in the same breath, while Wikipedia says "Steve Aoki started Dim Mak Records in 1996 at the age of 19, out of his college apartment at the University of California, Santa Barbara." and that after the Pretty Girls Make Graves EP (2001) and The Kills' "Black Rooster" (2002), "Aoki relocated Dim Mak to Los Angeles, initiating the label's second era." so, Los Angeles now, Santa Barbara at the start. per Wikipedia, "The label's first release was a 7-inch record by a hardcore punk band called Stickfigurecarousel." Aoki told Magnetic Magazine "We printed at Kinko's." and that he split the cost of that record three ways with two other guys, around $1200 all in.

the sound is the part the label never pins down. its own words are a slogan, not a genre list, and Resident Advisor's punk to garage rock to disco to new wave line is a range rather than a lane, so we don't tag one. the catalogue backs that up. Pretty Girls Make Graves' self-titled EP (2001) and The Kills' "Black Rooster" EP (2002) are the early-era records Wikipedia names, with "Black Rooster" the one it ties to the move to Los Angeles. Bloc Party "Silent Alarm" (2005) came out with Atlantic and, Wikipedia says, "went on to sell over 350,000 physical albums". then the club years: The Bloody Beetroots feat. Steve Aoki "Warp 1.9", which Wikipedia reports Thump ranked 19th on its best EDM songs list, and MSTRKRFT "Fist of God". on paper, Discogs files the label as "Dim Mak Records" under a parent entry, "Dim Mak Records, Inc.", with a separate sub-label entry called "Dim Mak", and keeps Dim Mak LLC, Dim Mak Publishing and Dim Mak En Fuego as related entries that are not the label itself. En Fuego is the Latin sub-label. the label's own site links three imprints as its own: Dim Mak En Fuego, A Good One, which the site lists alongside the label with no description, and New Noise.

New Noise is the series, and the one imprint with a story of its own. "Dim Mak Presents New Noise" is the label's discovery series, and Wikipedia has its start: "Launched in 2010, New Noise got its start as a compilation series highlighting fresh faces handpicked by Steve Aoki and crew." the numbered volumes run on, Beatport catalogues Vol. 24 under Dim Mak Records and Spotify carries volumes up to Vol. 28, though we could not confirm the date of the latest edition. the series was later relaunched as a copyright-free feed for gaming and YouTube creators, per reports on dancemusicnw.com and musicconnection.com, and it has a YouTube channel of its own. the SoundCloud set on the label's own account, embedded below, promises fresh uploads every other Tuesday in its title.

a few notes on the names. five are here as remixers: D.O.D on "Hades EP" (2013), Goodboys on "No Beef (Remixes Pt. 1)" (DM1391, 2022), Sammy Porter on "Let Me Take You There (Sammy Porter Remix)" (DM1201, 2020) and the "Let Me Take You There (Remixes)" package (DM1202, 2020), San Pacho on "Bang / True G (Remixes)" (DM1155, 2019) and "The Red Tape (Deluxe)" (DM1147, 2019), and Tom Budin on "Dim Mak Greatest Hits 2016: Remixes" (DM886, 2017). Tiësto is here for "Tornado" (2011) with Steve Aoki, and Alok for a track on Steve Aoki's "HiROQUEST 2: Double Helix" (DM1577, 2023). four came through New Noise, whose NN catalogue numbers Discogs files under Dim Mak Records: Manics "Embrace" (NN072, 2017), "New Noise XI" (DM1081, 2018) and "Binary EP" (2019), VNSSA "Anxiety" (NN098, 2018) and "New Noise XIV" (DM1127, 2019), Kyle Walker "Movement" (NN119, 2019) and "New Noise XV" (DM1187, 2019), and Westend "Goin Up" (NN109, 2019) and "New Noise XV" (DM1187, 2019), then back in 2024 as a remixer on "Warp 1.9 (Westend & Cherry Tooth Remix)" (DM1628). the rest are on their own releases: Armand Van Helden "BRRRAT!" (2005), "New York: A Mix Odyssey Part 2" (2010) and "BRRRAT! (Remixes)" (2010), Infected Mushroom "Army of Mushrooms" (2012), "Friends On Mushrooms, Vol. 2" (2013) and "Friends On Mushrooms (Deluxe Edition)" (2015), Max Styler "Badman (Remixes)" (2015), "Heartache" (2016) and "Dim Mak Greatest Hits 2016" (DM882, 2017), Matroda "Ghetto Funk" (DM895, 2017), "Get Down" (DM903, 2017) and "BO$$" (DM930, 2017), Niko The Kid "On The Run EP" (DM937, 2017) next to remixes on "Paradise (Remixes)" (DM932, 2017) and "Paradise (feat. Bright Lights) (Remixes)" (2017), Rromarin "Fading Out" (DM929, 2017) and "Fading Out (Dugong Jr Remix)" (DM616, 2018), BIJOU "Young & Reckless" (DM1025, 2018), "Gotta Shine" (NN075, 2018) and "Gotta Shine (feat. Germ)" (2018), Chapter & Verse "Paragon" (2024) and "Hiro Quest 3: Paragon" (DJKM00040, 2025), and SEUNG "Mind On The Beat" (2026). the punk and indie years are thin on this list, which says something about the list, not the label. 20 artists we track have released on it, a confirmed floor from a catalogue sweep, not the full roster: Alok, Armand Van Helden, BIJOU, Chapter & Verse, D.O.D, Goodboys, Infected Mushroom, Kyle Walker, Manics, Matroda, Max Styler, Niko The Kid, Rromarin, Sammy Porter, San Pacho, SEUNG, Tiësto, Tom Budin, VNSSA, Westend