Versatile Records

The story of Versatile Records begins with a cassette tape and a photocopied building. When Gilb'R received that demo from the young Nicolas Chaix at Radio Nova, he knew instantly: "it was exactly the sound I was looking for." He had been planning to start a label through the station, but creative differences drove him to go it alone, setting up shop in his girlfriend's apartment.

"I received a tape from Nicolas at the radio station. I remember it was a tape with a photocopy of a big building with an arrow saying, 'Yeah, I'm living here.' I found it pretty funny. And then I started to play the tape and I was amazed by the music and by the diversity of the style."

Gilb'R — Red Bull Music Academy Daily, 2014

The label's name was a statement of intent. When asked if there was a conscious musical direction, Gilb'R replied simply: "The label has always been open. That's why I called it Versatile." He would later describe the label's identity in characteristically playful terms: "Bricolo cosmique / Disco sympathique / Poesie esoterique / House de rue."

The first two releases — I:Cube's Disco Cubizm and Cheek's Venus (Sunshine People) — both became club hits, and the label quickly found itself at the centre of what the world would call the "French Touch." But Versatile always ranged wider than that tag suggested, embracing drum & bass, hip-hop, jazz, ambient, and whatever else caught Gilb'R's ear.

"Even 20 years later, we are still working together and it's still very exciting. It's almost mystical. I don't know how it happened. You don't meet people like that a lot in your lifetime."

Gilb'R on I:Cube — Bandcamp Daily, 2019

With over 100 releases spanning nearly 30 years, Versatile's roster has included Pepe Bradock, Joakim, Zombie Zombie, Acid Arab, Etienne Jaumet, DJ Sotofett, and even RZA from Wu-Tang Clan. It is one of the few independent labels from the 1990s French house era that has not only survived but continued to grow and evolve.