So who are you guys and what’s the story behind VALE?

“Well, we are both named Josh, so good luck figuring that out. We grew up in the same town in Michigan in the states. Despite not hanging out much in high school, we eventually connected over our fondness of electronic music and particularly the niche sound that we now push. Now living in different parts of the country, the internet has fortunately allowed us to makes this VALE thing possible.“

“As you may or may not know, VALE was formerly the IDM Collective channel. Josh #1 started IDM Collective a couple of years ago and was able to secure a surprising number of amazing artists including Kursa, Vorso, Mr. Bill, etc. to be featured on his channel. After participating in a few B2B mixes together for IDM Collective showcases and events, Josh #1 and Josh #2 ultimately formed a permanent tandem. Looking toward the future, we realised IDM Collective needed to grow into something more legitimate with a true tangible identity and offer label-like services to our partnering artists. We still get ‘wow’ reactions to this day when we tell people VALE is IDM Collective evolved.“

“Now as VALE, we try to use our unique perspective as ‘super fans’ to provide a unique, flexible release experience for producers. It is important to mention we received some critical advice early on, including a very strong sense of direction from Hudson of Upscale. Building this thing as we go, we try to observe and consider what certain release entities do well and what we can do to stand out, taking into account what will get fans locked in to keep them coming back. Easily the most important part of this process is the music, and we have become annoyingly* more picky as time goes on.“

You recently released your first EP, what are your plans for the future?

“We have two more EPs completed and waiting to be released, with a handful of others currently in the works. One upcoming release in particular (end of June, through early July) will really showcase the imagination of VALE, and what can happen when there is true synergy between artists and label. We want to save the surprise, but there are a lot of brilliant artists involved in this one. Be on the lookout for promo later in June.“

From each of you, what are your top 3 tracks released on VALE?

"Well this is impossible but here we go.“

Josh #1

Josh #2

“I see you guys are going for a really specific dark sound (which is what I love), do you think this will remain or will you branch out to other styles?“

“I think the dark sound is relatively infinite. Spanning all music types, it’s really more of an atmosphere or emotional cue than a genre. The mind knows when something is truly dark. There may be obvious ways to build a classically dark song, such as those fitting in the neuro category, but it is not limited to this. We are always on the lookout for those artists pushing the boundaries of sound production or design that fit this sort of grand musical architecture. Sometimes this is through recruitment, but we also have received many amazing submissions contributing to our catalogue (thank you). None of what we have done would be possible without the exceptional producers involved.“