AFTER FIVE YEARS, JOIN THE FUTURE IS HERE!

December 2nd 2019 is a day that I thought would never arrive. Five years ago, I set out to research and write a book about Bleep techno and the role it played in kick starting what would become British bass music. Today that book, Join The Future: Bleep Techno & The Birth of British Bass […]

THE MENTOR: THE DJ MARTIN STORY

Last week saw the publication of an article I’ve been waiting to share for some time. It concerns someone whose contributions to a number of pioneering early UK “bleep and bass” techno records has largely gone undocumented: Martin Williams AKA DJ Martin. The feature is called “The Mentor: The Untold Story of DJ Martin” and you […]

ROB GORDON STEPS OUT OF THE SHADOWS

To mangle the words of LFO’s clanking bleep-era anthem “We Are Back”, there are many imitators, but very few true creators. When it comes to British dance music, Robert Gordon is undoubtedly a “true creator”. Gordon’s story is seldom told, a by-product of not only the overlooked nature of the turn of the ‘90s “bleep […]

THE INSIDE STORY OF LFO’S “LFO”

Take a peek inside this month’s issue of DJ Magazine and you’ll find my first ever feature for the magazine, an in-depth “Game Changers” article on what I believe to be one of the most influential and timeless British dance records ever made, LFO’s 1990 debut single “LFO”. Arguably the critical, commercial and artistic high […]

I:CUBE – LA VIE EN CUBIZM

As you’d expect, I was rather surprised when I received an email last November from Parisian producer Nicolas Chaix, better known as I:Cube. He’s never really been one to court media coverage, and the email was not a plea for coverage, but rather a friendly message to say how much he’d enjoyed reading some of […]

FROM THE ARCHIVE: MAC TALLA NAN CREAG

Earlier today, while half watching a documentary on wildlife in the Highlands of Scotland with my house mate Owain (the man behind the excellent Innate blog), the topic of Firecracker Recordings superb Mac Talla Nan Creag album came up. For the uninitiated, that was an ambitious project that involved creating new musical and visual works […]

RAVE ON AT ROUGH TRADE

This Wednesday (17th January), I’ll have the pleasure of interviewing journalist and author Matthew Collin on stage at Rough Trade Bristol (7pm, free entry). We’ll be discussing his new book, Rave On, and the wider topic of global dance music culture in 2018. As many of you may know, Collin’s first book on dance music, […]

MORE “INSTRUMENTAL INSTRUMENTS”

Last week, Red Bull Music Academy Daily re-booted their Instrumental Instruments series of features, which concentrates on key pieces of music-making hardware and software. Amongst the flurry of features were two written by yours truly. Some may remember that I previously wrote articles for the series focusing on two pieces of kit with vastly different […]

THE FAIRLIGHT CMI STORY

The history of music technology is full of remarkable stories, but few are quite as eyebrow-raising as the tale of the Fairlight CMI. This pioneering “Computer Musical Instrument” has long held power over those who love electronic music. Initially developed in a harbourside basement in Sydney, Australia at the tail end of the 1970s, it […]