Warp Records has a special grip on my heart, it is unquestionably responsible for exposing me to the widest and most diverse array of talents in the music industry, well the electronic music industry to be honest. For those of you who don't know much about Warp, they are a truly independant indie record label founded by Steve Beckett in Sheffield in 1989. Thanks to FACT MAGAZINE this is what we know about their celebrations so far:

"Throughout this year Warp is planning a raft of celebrations including one-off live events around the world and a series of special new releases. The label will host “Warp 20” events in Paris in May, New York in July, Sheffield in August, London in September and Tokyo in November. Details of the events are yet to be released, although it is known that the Paris leg of Warp 20 will take place at the Cite De La Musique museum on May 8th and 9th, with a line-up featuring Aphex Twin, Andrew Weatherall, Flying Lotus and Pivot.  Most  of the Warp 20 events will incorporate art installations and film, reflecting Warp's pioneering work in the visual as well musical field. Warp Films is the production company behind a number of successful pictures, most notably Shane Meadows' "Dead Man's Shoes" and "This Is England"."

To put the final touch on Warp's celebrations they are planning to release a 'Warp 20' deluxe box set made up of Warp archive material from some of the label’s most infamous artists. They are also compiling votes from all those dedicated hardcore Warp fans, to create a compilation of the record labels top tracks. To vote for your favourite tracks, click here warp20.net.

2009 will see Warp releasing new albums from the likes of Maximo Park, Grizzly Bear, Prefuse 73 and Tim Exile, Hudson Mohawke and Gonja Sufi. Despite the current troubling times for the music industry Warp remains strong record label, and i'm sure they have plenty of new artists to discover.

CLICK HERE FOR WARP RECORDS

CLICK HERE FOR FACT MAGAZINE