Late in 2025, the French imprint Astropolis Records celebrated its first decade with an all-star compilation featuring label stalwarts like Madben, Manu Le Malin and Cuften, along with international stars of the calibre of KiNK, Legowelt and Rone.
Initially formed as an offshoot of Astropolis Festival, which was established in the Breton town of Brest back in 1995, the 10-track collection is a thrilling snapshot of a label that rejects genre norms in favour of energy and creative freedom from across the electronic music spectrum.
In under an hour, you’ll hear dreamy downtempo, breakbeat-powered rave, cosmic electro, peak-time techno, and much more.
We caught up with label owner Gildas Rioualen (pictured above) for the lowdown on the past, present, and future of one of France’s most exciting labels.
The label developed from the Astropolis Festival, which began in 1995 and has its roots in the 80s rave scene. What’s the ethos behind it all?
Peace, love, unity, respect. These are the foundations of rave culture, and values we’ve stood for since day one.
The label was created to highlight our true favourites, as well as artists we support and develop. Sometimes it can take months before tracks are released on certain labels. Today, we’re able to offer artists on our label the chance to play at our events and benefit from our network of media, promoters, and publishers.
The label and festival are based in Brittany – to what extent is that a part of your identity?
Brittany has always been a land of welcome, culture, and celebration. Music has always brought Bretons together. Raves have often been compared to fest-noz – traditional Breton dance parties. From May onwards, there are music festivals every weekend, showcasing a huge diversity of sounds. Bretons are very proud of their region – and so are we.
The compilation shows off an impressive range of sounds, moods and tempos – was that your intention when putting it together?
Yes, it was our intention to create a project bringing together different sounds and atmospheres – just like our festival. The artists involved in the compilation had complete creative freedom. We suggested some collaborations, the vibe clicked, and things happened naturally. We’re really happy with the result. This compilation perfectly reflects the energy of Astropolis.
How did you go about choosing music and sequencing the compilation?
All the tracks were composed specifically for this 10-year anniversary compilation. The artists kept us updated on the styles they wanted to explore, and everything came together quite organically – including the track order.
Eight of the tracks are collaborations between artists – what’s the reason for that, and how did they come about?
There are a lot of artists on the label, and many more we also support through our booking agency. Others are close to the festival and play with us regularly – so yeah, that’s a lot of people.
Encouraging collaborations to boost creativity and bring together as many artists as possible felt like an obvious choice. Crossing musical identities was the main motivation, and the artists were immediately on board.
Are there any tracks or featured artists that you are particularly excited about, or that you had to work hard to secure for the album?
You could say this compilation took some time to come out! A lot of thinking, a lot of waiting for tracks. But we’re extremely proud of the final result.
None of the artists featured are there by chance – they’re all part of Astropolis’ story, and artists we deeply respect. The compilation could have included many others as well.
Tell us about the artwork for the compilation – who is the artist, what was the brief, and how pleased are you with how it turned out?
The cover was created by Romain Navier, an illustrator, graphic designer, motion designer, and ceramic artist we’ve collaborated with before and absolutely love working with. For this release, we wanted to play with the meaning of Astropolis – literally ‘the city of stars’. This universe was developed during the festival’s early editions but had been set aside over time.
This compilation brings together day-one artists and younger talents, forming a kind of dream team of resistance against the overwhelming rise of hard techno. We leaned fully into this idea by creating a whole mythology: a B-movie-style scenario inspired by Star Wars and Underground Resistance. Our events are part of the story – places of resistance, freedom, openness, peace, and tolerance, values that sadly feel increasingly under threat today.
We already had a very clear visual idea: turning the Astropolis ‘A’ into a spaceship in a sci-fi comic universe. Romain nailed it perfectly. Around this concept, we created a mini Panini-style sticker album inside the vinyl, with one sticker per artist and track.
For the CD booklet, we also wrote short texts for each track, blending fiction and reality. People have really connected with the visuals and the universe – it tells a story, our story. It’s not just a bunch of tracks thrown together.
So yeah, we’re extremely happy with it. Bravo Romain – you’re the GOAT.
What do you look for when signing music to the label?
Music, of course – but also the human side. We support many artists we sign to the label, and some are also part of our booking agency. The same applies to our two other labels: Dôme (bringing together professional and amateur artists from western France, selected through the contest we organize every year at the summer festival), and MKNK, an industrial music label we run with Manu Le Malin.
What do you think has been the most significant or pivotal release on the label – other than this compilation!
There are so many highlights!
- The first release with Madben, We Want to Rave On
- Let Us Fight by Oniris
- Misericordia by W.LV.S (The Driver aka Manu Le Malin & Electric Rescue)
- Keroual by Kmyle
- Animal Suicide by Cuften
And artists who delivered remixes or collaborations we absolutely love, like Laurent Garnier, Jennifer Cardini, Michael Mayer, Rebeka Warrior, Traumer, Gregor Tresher… We’re proud of every single release.
Which labels do you particularly look up to or try to emulate?
We don’t try to imitate any label. Our label evolves based on the artists we meet, support, and fall in love with creatively. Every label needs to build its own identity. There are so many labels today – and just as many artists looking for one.
10 years in, what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about running a label?
Everyone knows the record market is tough right now. For independent labels, it can be difficult to balance budgets with the time and money invested. On our side, we’ve developed booking, publishing, and we also program artists at our own events. All of this helps us move closer to balance. Promotion is essential – radio, social media, print and digital magazines.
The last decade has been a rollercoaster for independent labels with financial pressures, a changing scene and the pandemic – how much have things changed for you, and what is your motivation for pushing forward?
As you said, we keep moving forward. Last year we launched the hardcore and industrial label MKNK with Manu Le Malin. A label is an essential tool for the survival of our culture – and for artists themselves. Releasing an EP or LP helps artists secure gigs and earn a living. It’s absolutely necessary.
What does the future look like for Astropolis Records?
May the adventure continue – meeting great artists and releasing beautiful music.