Early years Steve Aoki started Dim Mak Records in 1996 at the age of 19, out of his college apartment at the
University of California, Santa Barbara. The label's first release was a 7-inch record by a hardcore punk band called Stickfigurecarousel. The name "Dim Mak" is a reference to
Bruce Lee's
Death Touch martial art technique. Prior to launching Dim Mak, Aoki was involved in the local hardcore punk scene. As a writer for a small
zine, Aoki would often receive demos and albums to review. Meanwhile, he began hosting punk and hardcore shows in the living room of his college apartment, which came to be known as
The Pickle Patch. Hundreds of acts played in this early space, sometimes in exchange for a place to sleep for the night, including The Rapture, Jimmy Eat World, Atom & His Package, and more. Around the same time, Dim Mak released an album from Mstrkrft titled
Fist of God, which brought major pop and hip-hop collaborators into the electro scene.
New Noise New Noise is Dim Mak's new music discovery imprint that focuses on cutting-edge sounds from burgeoning artists across the genre spectrum. Launched in 2010, New Noise got its start as a compilation series highlighting fresh faces handpicked by Steve Aoki and crew. By 2015, the platform evolved into a bi-weekly, free-download platform based on singles.
Ghastly's underground house single "Every Night" was the first release of many under this format. As of 2016, New Noise's current incarnation is a copyright free model that allows the budding community of
Twitch gamers and amateur YouTube content creators to use New Noise music in their videos and live streams sans purchase or fees, all in exchange for linking back to the artists and their music. ==Music publishing==