“It’s as vital as the decks and samplers we use at gigs and in our studios,” he reveals. “Dada was all about throwing art and the respected trends on their head; it was focused on a sense of mirth, the cut-up ‘found’ art aesthetic, and innovation. We like to think that IF? pursues all these things.”

After all, just as the influential magazine American Art News once naively called Dada “the sickest, most paralyzing and destructive thing that has ever originated from the brain of man”, UK commercial club ‘zine Mixmag once disparaged an IF? Records release – Zeitgeist 2, in 1996 – as sounding “like a rabid dog being flogged against a corrugated iron fence”.

Since 2001, after shifting base to Tokyo, IF? has made some dramatic inroads with a flurry of events and records, working with DJs and producers in Japan like Tatsuya Oe (Captain Funk), Magnet Toy, Yamaoka, Slam-dunk Ninja, Funkamor, and the experimental TTAK Collective – along the way exploring more innovative Japanese electronica, techno, house and hip hop.

“Tokyo is more competitive,” says Bergen, who took the label to Japan also six years ago. “In some ways it’s a tougher scene to break into. But generally people are very open-minded, and they’re there to revel in the music rather than associated psychotropic influences. But there were people like that before we came to Tokyo, and they made the early years of IF? something special.”

If it sounds like Bergen is making comparisons, it’s because he is – with Melbourne, the city that gave birth to IF? in 1995.

Back in the ‘90s, IF? kick started the careers of Melbourne-based producers like Adam Raisbeck (Sense), Shaun Green (Blimp), Damian Stephens (Isnod), vocalist Marcella Brassett, Allan Klinbail (Son Of Zev), Bergen’s own musical outlet Little Nobody, and the collaborative LN Elektronische Ensemble – which churned out one of the more memorable, hilariously eclectic reconsiderations of The Doors classic Light My Fire.

IF? worked extensively with pioneering Melbourne live acts Voiteck, Zen Paradox, Honeysmack, Frontside, Digital Primate, and Artificial, early on in their respective careers, and collaborated with clubs like Filter, Centriphugal, Honkytonks and Teriyaki Anarki Saki, as well as the MUD rave party crew (Every Picture Tells A Story).

The events IF? put on were mad – innovative collaborations of DJs and live acts crossing the spectrum of beats and pieces, often called upon to play one-on-one and challenge themselves as well as each other, at parties like the Omniglobe raves at Global Village, and the legendary Zoetrope live sessions at the Punters Club in Fitzroy from 1997 to 2001.