Paul Rose, aka Scuba (above), is the current king of underground dance music. His recent mix for DJ Kicks is an absolute masterclass in forward thinking house, techno and dubstep and his forthcoming third album 'Personality' is a stunning effort that explores lush four-to-the-floor territory. Oh, and in case you didn't know, he's got an excellent taste in music, resulting in revered DJ sets and an ever on-point record label, Hotflush.
If you want to get an idea of what's been happening in the realm of bass heavy dance music since 2003, just take a listen through the Hotflush back catalogue. It has helped define the journey from foundation dubstep through to the current cross-pollination of styles that the scene is currently enjoying. There's Toasty's seminal track 'The Knowledge' from 2004, the heavy rolling '1 On 1' by Distance from 2006, Mount Kimbie's 'Maybes' EP (and subsequent groundbreaking output) from 2009 and Roska and Joy O's warped take on house and techno from 2011. More recently the label has released Sepalcure's (second below) acclaimed self-titled album and Scuba's club smash 'Adrenalin'. The list could go on, but it's obvious that Hotflush is home to some crucial dubstep, house, techno and two-step records produced by some of the finest underground producers in the game.
Mixmag caught up with Scuba to chat all things Hotflush and also grabbed an exclusive mix of label material selected by George FitzGerald (below). You can read our Q+A session and download the mix, which features forthcoming tracks from Sigha, Scuba and Sepalcure, below.
To get the full taste of Hotflush, hit Fabric, London, this Saturday, February 4. The label is in full effect, with sets from Scuba, Sepalcure (live), Sigha and George Fitzgerald. Grab tickets here. It'll go off...

George FitzGerald presents Hotflush
1. Sigha - Something In Between Us (forthcoming)
2. Scuba - The Hope (forthcoming)
3. Joy O - Jels (HF027)
4. Sepalcure - The One (Kevin McPhee remix) (forthcoming)
5. Lando Kal - Rhythm Sektion (forthcoming)
6. Sigha - B1 (HF029)
7. George FitzGerald - We Bilateral (Back and 4th compilation)
8. Paul Woolford & Psycatron - Stolen (Dub 1) (HFT018)
9. Scuba - Action (forthcoming)
10. Mount Kimbie - Carbonated (CNL003)
11. Scuba - Ruptured (Surgeon remix) (HFRMX003)
12. Toasty - The Knowledge (HF006)
13. Sepalcure - No Think (HF026)
14. Scuba - Dream (SCUBA003)

Hotflush will be celebrating its tenth birthday next year, which is an incredible achievement. How did it all begin and how has the label managed to last for a decade?
The label started out as an unrealistically grandiose project intending to release all different kinds of music with the logo acting as a seal of quality rather than an indication of how the record might sound, run by me and a friend (who quickly realised what a bad idea the whole thing was and left to get a real job).
The dubstep association happened entirely by accident and is something that we still have to put up with, but in the last couple of years we've been slowly moving towards the position that it was intended to occupy at the start. I don't think we're there yet but we're getting closer slowly.
I think any label can survive if you keep costs low enough to avoid thinking about whether releases make money or not and just concentrate on putting out good music. And that's what we've done for the most part.
Hotflush has always been one step ahead with its releases. It has put out the classic half-step of Distance and Jazzsteppa, UK funky from Roska, Mount Kimbie's move into post-dubstep, the new school garage of Sepalcure and even the Sasha backed house of Scuba's 'Adrenalin'. What's the secret of staying on-point with every record???
I don't think there's a secret really, it's just a case of releasing music that I'm into. I guess I have to keep reasonably up to date with what's going on just to keep my DJ sets fresh and that feeds into the A&R process for the label to a certain extent. But there's no magic formula, it's just a case of releasing the good stuff that comes in and ignoring the bad stuff (of which there is an awful lot).
The Hotflush back catalogue sounds like the evolution of underground, bass heavy music. Is it the label's intention to move with the times? How do you find new artists and what epitomises a Hotflush release?
In the early years of the label what I really wanted to do was keep hold of the new artists I was finding and build them up slowly, but because we were such an obscure label that was difficult.
More recently we've been able to do that so the amount of first-timers in the release schedule has decreased quite a bit, which is fine because I'm finding it much harder to find original music these days. The majority of what we get sent seems to be what people imagine we would want to put out, which is usually the opposite.
It's difficult to pin down what is required for a release on the label, but I think there's a common thread running through most of what we've put out over the years, even if it's varied quite a bit stylistically. There isn't a conscious effort to do the next cool thing or whatever, I just get bored of stuff pretty quickly and want to do something new.
What's the perfect setting in which to listen to Hotflush records?
Panorama Bar on a Sunday, but that's the perfect setting to listen to pretty much anything.
What's next for Hotflush?
We have some exciting album projects in the works for this year, which is another thing I've wanted to do more of for a while. And there's the usual frantic schedule of 12"s, including new stuff from George FitzGerald, Locked Groove, Sigha, Lando Kal and various others.