Before Spotify algorithms, before streaming playlists, before any of it — there were record labels that genuinely shaped culture. London Records was one of them, and if you're not entirely sure why, that's exactly the point of their new podcast.

Hit That Perfect Beat: The London Records Story launches May 6 across all streaming platforms, and the guest list alone tells you why this is worth paying attention to: Goldie, Pete Tong, Paul Hartnoll (Orbital), Sara Dallin & Keren Woodward (Bananarama), Shaznay Lewis (All Saints), Siobhan Fahey (Shakespears Sister / Bananarama), Roland Gift (Fine Young Cannibals), Reverend Richard Coles (Communards), Tony Mortimer (East 17), and more — all talking candidly about what it was actually like inside one of pop's most electric eras.

The label's history reads like a greatest hits of cultural moments: Bananarama, Bronski Beat, The Communards, Fine Young Cannibals, East 17, Orbital, Goldie and the birth of drum & bass, New Order (signed after Factory Records collapsed), All Saints, the Sugababes. Five episodes, weekly drops every Wednesday starting May 6, covering the label from the early '80s through three decades of music that kept reshaping the pop landscape.

Former London A&R man and novelist John Niven sums up the atmosphere perfectly: "Working at London Records was like going on an SAS raid performed by the cast of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Alongside the podcast, London Records is also releasing a companion 2CD/digital compilation Hit That Perfect Beat — 40+ top 40 hits, 20 top 10s, 15 top 5s, 5 number ones — dropping digitally on May 6 and on 2CD June 12.

If you grew up with any of these artists or have ever wondered how a semi-independent label managed to soundtrack an entire generation, this is five episodes well spent.

Subscribe here. | Watch the trailer. | Pre-save the compilation.