The company was founded in the late 1990s by Daniel Jacobson and John Cosgrove, with the aim to release and promote the work of local underground artists.[13] The label began releasing electronic releases sporadically, mainly on vinyl.[14] After a period of inactivity, Diatribe Recordings was re-launched in 2007 and releases became more frequent with the label focusing on a broader musical vision. From 2008, the label has been under the direction of Nick Roth and Matthew Jacobson.
According to label director Nick Roth:
"The main reason for the existence of our label is not as a commercial enterprise but as a way of furthering and promoting the music".[15]
The label has produced 29 album releases to date, ranging across genres including jazz, electronica, classical and contemporary music.
In 2009 the label then released a series of projects focusing on individual musicians called the Solo Series Phase I.[16]
The set constituted a conspectus of new music from three continents.[17] Diatribe revisited this concept again in 2014, releasing another four projects under the Solo Series Phase II,“which features some of the country's most exciting and ground-breaking musicians making music today: Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh (Hardanger d’Amore); Kate Ellis (cello); Adrian Hart (violin) and Cora Venus Lunny (violin, viola).”[18]
The label released a solo record by fiddler Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, with one reviewer stating that Ó Raghallaigh's Music For An Elliptical Orbit, "contains some of the most beautiful and visceral musical compositions to have graced this earth".[19][20]
