READ EXTRACTS FROM ‘JOIN THE FUTURE’ ONLINE

Since the publication of “Join The Future” in December, I’ve been overwhelmed by the positivity of feedback from readers. It’s been genuinely heartening to see how well the book has been received. Remember, if you’ve yet to grab your copy, you can get one direct from my publisher Velocity Press. If you still need persuading, […]

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 […]

DANCE MUSIC & CLASS: TACKLING THE “ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM”

In 2018, dance music began to tackle a few issues that had gone untreated for far too long, most notably the gender balance and inappropriate sexual conduct at events. In 2019, I’d like to see the British dance music industry, in particular, turn its attention to another issue within electronic music culture: wealth, class and […]

BASS IN YOUR FACE: JOIN THE FUTURE MIX 01

Last week, my Join The Future mix of sub-bass propelled early UK techno and electro was named as one of the mixes of the month by Fact magazine, which was a pleasant surprise. Since then, it has also been named Mix of the Week by German blog Das Filter. While my German is a little […]

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 […]

TALKING “DUB ROOTS” AT INNER CITY ELECTRONIC

This coming Saturday (2nd June 2018) sees the inaugural edition of the Inner City Electronic festival take place across 11 venues in Leeds. It’s a similar format to those previously used by things like No Bounds and Tramlines in Sheffield (before the latter’s move to Hillsborough Park) and Simple Things in my home city 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 […]

THE STORY OF THE UK ‘ALL-DAYER’ SCENE

Before I go any further, a quick apology for the lack of site updates of late. Before a much-needed three-week summer break, I spent four months frantically working on a book, which is due for publication in the autumn. I’ll be making a bit of noise about that closer to release day, so you’ll just […]