Thanks to Nath & Arjo who gave me these CDs as a birthday present.
Hed Kandi is a UK-based record label and a music brand, established 1999, specialising in house music. Founded by DJ and A&R man, Mark Doyle, Hed Kandi's catalogue includes both artist albums and various genres of club compilations.
The brand has grown in strength through the years, culminating in the purchase of the record label at the end of January 2006 by the Ministry Of Sound, one of the largest dance music brands. Hed Kandi, along with the Enterprise Records division of Smooth FM was purchased for an undisclosed sum from Guardian Media Group Radio Holdings.
Hed Kandi also holds nightclub events around the United Kingdom and worldwide, most notably summer residencies in Ibiza. There are also a monthly residencies in London nightclub Pacha, Bournemouth University's Student Union, The Old Firestation and New York's Crobar.
On March 31 of 2007, the world's first bar bearing the name Hed Kandi was opened in Hurghada, Egypt, on the Red Sea. Hed Kandi Beach Bar is designed according to the well-known Hed Kandi style. The sentence Red Sea is the new White Island is written on a wall near the open-air dancefloor. Similar to the music releases, the club has a unique "release number", which is painted on the wall, namely HKV001.
The Ministry Of Sound plans on maintaining the current style of Hed Kandi, whilst Mark Doyle has now established a new house music label called Fierce Angels.
Hed Kandi The Mix
Hed Kandi releases on average two mix albums a year, most will usually be in a 3CD mixed format with one CD in each set mixed from various Hed Kandi genres, for instance The Mix Summer 2004 is made up of CD1 "Disco Heaven" Mix, CD2 "Twisted Disco" Mix and CD3 "Back To Love" Mix. Exceptions to this rule are sampler CDs which are usually released during Hed Kandi's residency in Ibiza and are released as a single mixed CD featuring a few minutes of selected tracks from major Hed Kandi releases around that time. Interestingly, Australian releases of The Mix Summer 2004 and The Mix Winter 2004 are released as World Series 2 and World Series 3 respectively with some tracklistings slightly modified or shifted around.
The Mix Summer 2004 (2004)
The Mix Winter 2004 (2004)
The Mix 50 (2005)
The Mix 2006 (2005)
The Mix Summer 2006 (2006)
Hed Kandi Classics (2006)