Brought to you by Grace George, of London record shop The BBE Store & one half of DJ alias RAW SILK, Label of Love is a new series that tells short histories of music labels & their legacies.

We celebrate Ukraine today on the LABEL OF LOVE show, tune into Melodic Distraction at 2pm GMT. We’ve previously covered the country’s Studio Leo in 2019. This time considering the on-going war, it was hard to choose one imprint. We’ve selected a range of past & present Ukrainian record labels & musicians; a tiny focus on a huge country’s musical output. We’ve selected contemporary jazz from Dennis Adu, the soulful pop sounds of Таїсія Повалій & a New Beat thumper by Скрябін + more. A biased selection but we hope you enjoy nonetheless.

We stand with Ukraine in their horrendous fight against Russia’s invasion. I hope my ignorance of the Ukrainian & Russian languages, its deep history & its current tragedies haven’t led me to select inappropriate song choices. Please inform us of any errors as we are keen to learn.

Please consider donating to a Ukrainian charity or purchasing music from Ukrainian labels & musicians, helping those in the fight against oppression. We’ve previously donated to The Sunflower of Peace organisation:
“We are acquiring and distributing first-aid backpacks, medicine, medical instruments, and other means of survival that are saving hundreds of lives. These supplies meant the world to people affected by violence when we started our first fundraiser in 2015, and they mean the world to all Ukrainians now.”
https://www.sunflowerofpeace.com/