Today Records was the soulful, street-level sister label to New York’s Perception Records, active primarily in the early 1970s and revered today for its raw, deeply grooving soul, funk, and proto-disco output. Under the guidance of producer and music-industry entrepreneur Patrick Adams—whose fingerprints are all over the era’s underground dance sound—Today Records became a home for fiercely independent artists with heavy rhythm sections, gritty horns, and a production aesthetic that favored immediacy over polish.
Its small but potent catalog includes classics by Black Blood, JJ Barnes, The Eight Minutes, and Adams’ own studio-driven projects, many of which have become sample goldmines for hip-hop and modern funk producers. Though its lifespan was brief, Today Records carved out a distinctive identity: concise, hard-hitting records rooted in soul tradition but pointing toward the emerging dancefloor culture.
The label’s releases have since become collector favorites—treasured for their warm, analog heft, rare-groove charisma, and their unmistakable place in the evolution from deep soul to modern club music.