Spencer Brown: Leading Diviine Records into the Future

As record labels within the dance music industry continue to seek innovative and exciting new sounds from artists, the call for ingenuity and originality continues to flourish. American DJ and producer Spencer Brown is one of those artists who continuously strives to put out irresistible tunes that maintain his core value of creating dance music without any limits. Brown’s mastery and knowledge of dance music spans across multiple genres, such as progressive house, techno, trance, and deep house.

Brown’s two full-length progressive house albums, Illusion of Perfection (released in 2018) and Stream of Consciousness (released in 2020) through Above & Beyond’s record label, Anjunabeats. Furthermore, his persistent drive and dedication have landed his music across other noteworthy labels such as mau5trap, Last Night on Earth, and Factory 93.

The artist began his DJ journey around the age of 12 years old but had been connected with music since the age of two when he started playing the drums. At 16, Brown had a pivotal moment in his DJing career as he discovered a passion and understanding for progressive house.

“I was really inspired by Eric Prydz and deadmau5 when I was a kid, I was going to their shows and seeing what they were doing,” Brown explains. “I thought it was super cool how they were bringing really tasteful, progressive house and techno, stuff that is a little more underground and making a massive production out of it.”

The inspiration the artist received when he was a teenager had resonated with him for years, so much so, that he brought his vision to reality this past year by hosting his own live shows. The audience can expect to be submerged into an extraordinary audiovisual production with an ever-expanding palette of energizing high-tempo sounds from Spencer Brown.

Aside from his massive success of consistently blowing the minds of his crowd during his performances, Brown had also launched his own record label this year called Diviine Records.

Brown decided to kickstart the label after he produced his double-sided release called “18 Min Loop” which, in fact, is 18-minutes of blissful melodies and blossoming frequencies that immerses listeners into a musical passage.

“I knew a label wouldn’t release an eighteen-minute song, I needed to start a label and release it because this was just out of the norm. It feels amazing because no one is telling you what you should do, or what you should sound like, or what the sound should be, or what you need to cut. It is freeing in a way”.

As for his other release on the label, “Forbidden Flow”, Brown starts off the track by revealing his techno-identity when incorporating a glitchy and dark melody that rides across pounding basslines. About halfway through the song, he gently transitions into a more sensual and hypnotic sound, causing a wave of an emotional groove.

“The spirit of the label is just creative freedom. People like to ask, ‘What is the sound of the label?’ The sound is do I like it? Can I play it? I’m looking for a sound that stands out and is in its own space.”

Brown’s most recent EP release on his label was a collaboration with Senegalese American singer-songwriter Marieme. While recording Stuck/Reflex during the pandemic, the artists were social distancing with doors and windows wide open-hence the title of the song “Stuck”.

“It just made it sound really fresh because Marieme hadn’t really made anything in dance music, and I never really made anything with singers, songwriters or vocals before. I like switching it up, I don’t like sticking to one sound, it bores me a little bit, so it was a lot of fun creating that with someone as talented as her”.

Combining Marieme’s multi-octave R&B voice, alongside Brown’s melodious elements, the duo pumped out two soulful tracks that bring listeners on a sonic journey during difficult times within humanity.

Aside from wearing his artist hat when producing his wide range of avant-garde music, Brown also switches off to his business hat. After spending months researching blockchain technology and the innovative art space it provides, he released his first “18 Min Loop” NFT. As NFTs are traditionally developed into short clips or static images, the artist decided he was going to apply a musical twist and publish something based on his double-single release.

“I have been really deep into blockchain and Web3 and the technology behind it since 2015 while I was at Duke. The beauty of it is that an NFT can be anything. It’s just like a digital certificate of authenticity. I wanted to put it up on auction and see what would happen.”

His brilliant approach to pioneering the NFT world sustains his message of liberation through creativity for artists. Brown received support from other world-renowned DJs and producers such as Paco Osuna, Marco Carola, Above & Beyond, and more.

Brown’s evolvement over the last 15 years has been nothing short of remarkable as he consistently stayed true to his roots with dance music while making groundbreaking power moves within the industry. Throughout his years at Duke University, Brown toured North America with Avicii on his True Tour, while juggling several other responsibilities such as, producing music, maintaining good grades in school, and attempting to balance a social life.

Spencer Brown has paved a prosperous path for himself and other artists in the dance music scene, as he has set an admirable tone for authenticity and artistic freedom.

Brown is currently touring and is set to play in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Brazil, and Mexico through the beginning of December.