Garuda

Garuda was founded in 2011 by British DJ-producer Gareth Emery as a creative home for his own productions and a curated platform for the wider vocal-uplifting trance scene. Named after the mythological bird carrying spiritual freight in Hindu, Buddhist, and Indonesian traditions, the imprint positioned itself from the start as a songwriter-driven label rather than a release-volume operation, and stayed there through the genre's commercial peaks and softer middle. Garuda's commercial high-water mark was Gareth Emery & Christina Novelli's "Concrete Angel" (2014) — a vocal-led uplifting record that crossed into mainstream visibility while remaining identifiable as trance proper. The label also released the bulk of Gareth's solo album catalogue including Long Way Home (2012) and Drive (2014). Through the 2010s and 2020s the label has hosted releases from Ashley Wallbridge, Standerwick, Ben Gold, and other vocal-uplifting peers, and runs the Lasers compilation series and the Garuda branded events that have toured globally. Gareth's mid-2010s shift toward the Choon brand (released through Garuda) added a parallel uplifting-house identity to the catalogue.