Anjunabeats was formed when Jono Grant and Paavo Siljamaki met at the University of Westminster in London, England and discovered a mutual love of electronic music. The label's first release was Anjunabeats Volume 1 in 2000. Soon afterwards Jono and Paavo became friends with fellow producer Tony McGuinness and together the three went on to form Above & Beyond. When the Above & Beyond remix of Chak
ra ‘Home’ reached number one in the UK club charts, the trio were in demand from many of the world’s leading labels knocking at their door, offering some interesting remix opportunities. The most exciting came from Madonna, who invited the boys to give ‘What It Feels Like For A Girl’ the Above & Beyond treatment. As Above & Beyond’s profile as artists grew, so did the Anjunabeats label, which they used as an outlet for their numerous production projects – OceanLab, Aalto, Freestate, Nitromethane, P.O.S., Rollerball and Tranquillity Base. In late 2002, James Grant joined the Anjunabeats management team and the label began to expand its output, signing a series of fresh artists. The first external release was Aspekt's "Mobetta / Something Else" (2002). Aspekt is a trance project consisting of producers Oliver Smith & Mark Pledger, however both "Mobetta" and "Something Else" was produced entirely by Oliver Smith, making him the very first external artist to be signed to Anjunabeats. Subsequent releases included Rusch & Murray's "Epic" – a track made entirely across Internet forums by two producers who’ve never met – with further signings including Finnish trance maestro Super8 (who has now formed a successful partnership with DJ Tab), Swedish trance producer Endre and Dutch Deep Tech artist Stephen J.Kroos. In 2005, Anjunadeep was founded, a progressive trance and house offshoot of its parent label, Anjunabeats. The Anjunabeats roster has expanded to over 30 artists and Anjunabeats. In February 2008, the label achieved 100 vinyl releases and celebrated with a series of Anjunabeach parties, including a return to the label's roots in Goa.
