Thermal Recordings was founded in Oakland in 1998 by Merit Toutjian and Brianna Pope to release their own work and music by local drum and bass artists. It was the Bay Area’s third drum and bass label and Oakland’s first. Toutjian handled most of the A&R and design, while Pope looked after marketing, promotion and advertising.
The label debuted in spring 1999 with hardstep from UFO! and Undercover Agent, and TeeBee’s The Execution / Suspended Animation followed in 2000. By January 2002 Thermal had issued seventeen records, with Pieter K and Phunkateck among its artists. After a quiet year it announced new releases in 2003 and opened submissions to house, techno, downtempo and ambient as well as drum and bass, and ASC’s album Heights of Perception came out on Thermal in 2007.
