Founded in 1999 as One of the First Online Radio Stations, dublab Has Provided a Platform For Tastemaking DJs (Including Flying Lotus & Brainfeeder, Daedalus, Jimmy Tamborello of The Postal Service, Cut Chemist, and More) to Express Themselves, and Has Fostered Artistic Communities Through Local Events and Multimedia Projects
Stay Tuned For Information About dublab’s 25th Anniversary Celebration, Happening On September 28th in Los Angeles
“…the world’s best online radio station” – The Guardian
“Dublab came first…it’s great that you survived and keep giving air and space to emerging DJs and producers and artists” – BBC Radio’s Giles Petersen
The Rundown:
Since its founding just one year after Google and two years before the iPod and iTunes, dublabhas provided a platform for tastemaking DJs to express themselves to the fullest. Today, in an age of predictive algorithms and noisy social media feeds, the L.A.-based community-supported internet radio station is an oasis of careful curation, presenting hundreds of hours of programming that provide windows into the vast world of music–past and present, underground and mainstream. Next month, on September 28th at Zebulon in L.A.’s Frogtown, dublab celebrates its 25th anniversary as “the world’s best online radio station” (The Guardian), culminating a quarter-century of broadcasting and cultivating artistic communities online and IRL.
dublab was founded in Los Angeles in September 1999, by Mark “Frosty” McNeill and current executive director Alejandro “Ale” Cohen, among others, during the initial “dot-com” era and has been broadcasting ever since, setting a standard for online radio that persists to this day. The not-for-profit, listener-funded station presents over 180 radio shows, and hundreds of hours of unique programming per week, from selectors that range from prominent producers, renowned DJs, established artists, L.A. scenesters, and respected music critics and historians. The heart of dublab is that tight-knit community of artists and curators, who have turned the station into an epicenter for global experimental music.
Notable among current and past resident DJs are Jimmy Tamborello of The Postal Service and DNTEL, producer/DJ Daedalus, jazz guitarist Jeff Parker, and drummer/composer/producer Photay, while past residents have included luminaries like Cut Chemist, jazz musician and Andre 3000 collaborator Carlos Niño, GODMODE founder Nick Sylvester, and many more. Legends like Flying Lotus, and his label Brainfeeder, Flea & John Frusciante, who performed a special setduring the pandemic, and Four Tet have popped by to showcased their esoteric tastes over the years
Los Angeles remains dublab’s home, but it has since established satellite locations in Japan (Tokyo), Spain (Barcelona), Germany (Cologne), and Brazil (Sao Paulo). dublab has inspired similar freeform online radio stations around the world, including the United Kingdom’s NTS and Worldwide FM, NYC’s The Lot Radio, and more.
Over the past decade, dublab’s ambitions have expanded beyond the digital airwaves, as the organization has produced art exhibits, films, events, television, and community education projects. For example: In 2022, dublab created “Luminaries of Light and Space,” a dynamic multimedia art installation at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and earlier this year, unveiled “Nose Music,” a limited edition set of ten custom-formulated fragrances and accompanying artwork, each inspired by the spirit and essence of a classic album.
The organization approaches its 25th anniversary with an eye towards its future, planning many more events, art installations, and innovative programming in the months to come. Stay tuned to hear much more about dublab’s celebration at Zebulon, and other exciting anniversary festivities.
Listen live to dublab HERE
Follow dublab on socials and read about recent initiatives HERE
Learn more about dublab HERE
