Dance Music Alumni, Aluna, Has Announced New Record Label Noir Fever
Multi-award-winning artist, Aluna launched her record label, Noir Fever, in partnership with record label moguls EMPIRE. The label will celebrate Black dance music, with a focus on Black women and LGBTQ+ artists.
The genesis of Noir Fever began following Aluna’s 2020-penned open letter to the dance music industry, rightfully making waves and headlines all over the world, calling out the lack of Black representation across the industry as a whole. Championing Black and queer voices both behind the scenes and on the stage, her latest album, MYCELiUM (LISTEN) saw her collaborate with a cohort of collaborators and allies from around the world, including KOOLDRINK, Roofeeo, Pabllo Vittar, TSHA, Tchami, Kareen Lomax,MNEK and more. The critically acclaimed album saw Aluna notch her first Billboard No. 1 as a solo artist, with the song “Running Blind” (with Tchami and Kareen Lomax) landing the top spot on Billboard’s Dance/Mixshow Airplay Chart.
“I started Noir Fever records as a key component to my 360• strategy of making sustainable and effective change to the future of Black dance music, an idea which was born as a response to my own letter to the Dance music industry in 2020. Investment in the recording side is essential to fostering emerging talent and by focusing on Black women and the queer community I can ensure that everyone is being uplifted. This label will work in tandem with my events company so that those who I am opening doors for are not simply walking into another closed door, I’m trying to create a path not an opportunity to slip through a crack.”
Since its founding in 2014, Moonshine has carved out an enviable niche in Montreal’s nightlife milieu by celebrating a wide range of fledgling local talents, championing Afro-futuristic, bass-heavy, electro-funk sounds, and bringing together communities that wouldn’t necessarily cross paths otherwise. As the name indicates, the lunar-based Moonshine recipe has the collective throw an all-night, sensory-soaked party on the Saturday after every full moon in ever-shifting, unpredictable locations across the city, always strictly disclosed via text messages. With fresh cuts supplied by resident DJs Pierre Kwenders, Vanyfox, San Farafina, and AKantu, visual installations and a slew of live musicians and performers that have included Kaytranada, Dâm-Funk, Le1f, Venus X, Uproot Andy, Bambii and Branko, the parties have become a staple of the after-hours scene, in Canada and abroad, with appearances in NYC, LA, Paris, Brussels, Milan, Lisbon, London, Barcelona and Santiago just to name a few.
“The essence of Moonshine came out of parties we used to throw in our kitchens. We felt like we couldn’t go out and find what we had cooked up in that kitchen. It’s one of the reasons we started Moonshine: to share that with more people who felt just like us, and who didn’t have access to such sounds or vibes.”
Still going strong nine years on, Moonshine has also begun making use of the aesthetic, network, and structure it established with the parties to promote affiliated artists, expanding its vision from ephemeral moonlit soirées to an expanding catalog of genre-busting music, art, and apparel.
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