Unchained Recordings is a drum and bass label operating from Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China, within the wider Unchained Asia collective. Lyndon Jarr and Daniel Power set it up in 2018 to develop Asian producers and connect the region’s bass music community with audiences abroad. The label grew out of Unchained club nights, which began in Shenzhen, and followed several years of work building the local scene. The collective’s founding group also included Abby Yuen, known as Just Bee, and Nick Gavin, known as Immuno. Lyndon Jarr manages the label and later ran it from Sydney.
Its releases span drum and bass, halftime, neurofunk and techstep. The first release was Subp Yao’s Backwitda EP in 2018, and that year Royalston, Severity and Whiney released the single Fakeworld on the label. Leo Cap’s single Energy followed in 2024, and HØST is among the other artists whose work has appeared on Unchained Recordings. The label has also explored leftfield bass and other electronic styles alongside its focus on halftime and drum and bass.
Unchained Recordings put out Unchained: The Year of The Rat on March 13, 2020. Its third annual lunar-calendar compilation, Unchained: The Year of The Tiger, came out on March 4, 2022, with 12 tracks across drum and bass, footwork, halftime, grime and jungle by producers from across Asia, the UK and Europe. Unchained events in Shenzhen have hosted international performers.
