A small label on the strait.
Strait Sounds was founded in 2024 above a coffee bar on Gratiot, within walking distance of the Detroit River. We press six to eight records a year — melodic house, deep house, the occasional ambient interlude.
The name comes from the river: le détroit, the strait. The water connects two lakes through a narrow channel, and our catalog is shaped the same way — one record flowing into the next.
We press on 180-gram vinyl at Archer Record Pressing in Detroit. Sleeves are uncoated cream stock with a single shuiro seal. Inserts, when we include them, are double-sided washi with mono liner notes.
Digital distribution is modest — Bandcamp first, then Beatport, then streaming. We do not sign lengthy contracts. Artists keep their masters.
Strait Sounds is a label under Strait Media Group, LLC, Detroit. Our sibling imprint Strait Journal publishes essays. We share a mailing address, a coffee order, and a zero-radius aesthetic heritage.
Born in Metro Detroit and based in the city proper, Shawn built his ear on the water — Belle Isle parties, the Movement festival, late-night drives on the Lodge. With Strait Sounds he's building a patient, cream-ground home for the melodic-house lane that Detroit has never quite had its own imprint for.