about
This is my chance to be write a self indulgent (auto)bio with delusions of grandeur…
I grew up listening to the music my parents played: bebop, jazz-funk, Latin jazz; raga, qawwali, ghazal, bhajan, hamd, polli-giti; Motown, 60s pop and rock’n'roll. It was the Bristol trip-hop sound (Portishead, Tricky, Massive Attack), as the perfect accompaniment to smokey afternoons in Brighton, that was my first stepping stone to the music I came to love: underground hiphop, JA dub, roots reggae, drum’n'bass, dubstep, etc. Bass and soul.
Brighton is small but its music scene is diverse and vibrant; nurtured my love of these styles: Strictly Reggae at the Volks (at which a good mate, DJ Felix, was a regular selector at the time), Slipjam-B at the Freebutt (open decks, open mic at a little pub by the Level), the Lunarcy full moon dnb/techno parties, the Jazz Rooms, etc. I fancied myself as an emcee for a while but I was wack: I’m too deliberate and cold-blooded to thrive in such a spontaneous artform. Good lyrics but no freestyle flair.
Meanwhile I was building up a collection (since lost and rebuilt) and broadening and deepening my knowledge. I spent countless hours listening to tracks over and over, either soaking in the vibe or analysing every hi-hat and phrase; I had no musical training but I intuited theories and discovered patterns that formed a framework that I still (unconsciously) refer to in my listening, selection and production. Dabbling in music journalism let me meet some of my musical heroes and hear their thoughts at first hand.
Fast forward to 2009. I live in the Blue Mountains of Australia, every Friday heading down to Sydney to play the Inna Riddim Session on Bondi FM with my comrade Slice, the other half of Inna Riddim. I’m still tinkering with making tracks, but nowadays I’m writing more stories than beats; that’s another kettle of fish though and nothing to do with the purpose of this blog.