Making Psyence Fiction A4

You look at all those bands throughout history like Fleetwood Mac and The Beatles, there’s
always so many stories behind the recording process and the people involved. But I love
reading about those processes and it’s always a part of the really great records. You don’t get
it without going through it.
– James Lavelle, 1998

Copyright © 2020 by James Gaunt
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or
mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses
permitted by copyright law.
Foxteeth Press
www.foxteethpress.com
This PDF has been reformatted for ease of use.
Hard Copy details are below:
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2020
ISBN 9781702889346
First Edition
MAKING
PSYENCE FICTION
By James Gaunt
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 8
JAMES LAVELLE 10
BLUEBIRD AND HONEST JON’S 14
TALKIN’ LOUD 19
MO’ WAX 21
MAJOR FORCE 26
DJ SHADOW 29
TRIP HOP 35
THE TIME HAS COME 41
MO’ WAX EXPANDED 45
ENDTRODUCING….. 51
BELMONDO IN LA 53
ENDTRODUCING…..COMPLETE 64
LONELY SOULS 67
APE SOUNDS 72
RECORDING PSYENCE FICTION 76
TRACK BY TRACK - PSYENCE FICTION 80
"Intro (Optional)" 80
"Guns Blazing (Drums of Death, Pt. 1)" feat. Kool G Rap 82

"UNKLE Main Title Theme" 85
"Bloodstain" feat Alice Temple 87
"Unreal" 91
"Lonely Soul" feat Richard Ashcroft 92
"Getting Ahead in the Lucrative Field of Artist Management" 94
"Nursery Rhyme / Breather" feat Badly Drawn Boy 96
"Celestial Annihilation" 99
"The Knock (Drums of Death, Pt. 2)" feat Mike D 101
"Chaos" feat Atlantique Khan 103
"Rabbit in Your Headlights" feat Thom Yorke 105
"Outro (Mandatory)" 110
“Be There” feat. Ian Brown 111
Unreleased and Unrecorded 113
FINALISING PSYENCE 115
RELEASE 119
TOURING WITH THE NME / BE THERE 127
DOWNFALL OF MO’ WAX / NEVER NEVER LAND 130
WHERE ARE THEY NOW 135
SELECT UNKLE DISCOGRAPHY 142
REFERENCES 144
APPENDIX: TIMELINE 1973-2003 180
INDEX 198
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 202
Introduction
Psyence Fiction is an album I’ve continued to come back to ever since first hearing it back in
1998 or 1999. At the time I was a massive Beastie Boys fan and I was lent two CD’s which
featured Mike D from Beastie Boys, one was Handsome Boy Modelling School, and the other
was Psyence Fiction by UNKLE. Since then I have kept an ear out for anything by UNKLE
and they’ve always impressed me, but Psyence Fiction is the one continues to blow me away
with each listen.
In 2017 I was reading several books on the creation of classic albums and assumed there
would be one about Psyence Fiction, but there wasn’t. At the same time, I watched an early
screening of a documentary about Mo’ Wax and I was frustrated that it skimmed over UNKLE’s
early days prior to DJ Shadow’s involvement.
I had never really looked into the pre-Shadow stuff, so I began researching UNKLE which led
me to find out not only had there been several UNKLE releases prior to Psyence Fiction which
I hadn’t known of, but there had even been an abandoned album recorded in 1995. I kept
researching and then decided to write this book and about three years later it is finished.
Unfortunately, neither James Lavelle nor DJ Shadow were available to take part in this book,
as both were recording their respective latest albums at the time when I contacted them.
Because of this I have instead relied on an extensive collection of interviews so that you can
read their story in their own words.
I have tried to discuss everything relating to the creation of Psyence Fiction, from the
beginnings of Mo’ Wax and trip hop, to Lavelle’s Japanese influences such as Major Force
and Nigo. Naturally some of these topics could fill their own books and I hope my work will
inspire others to write them.
8
9
James Lavelle
Born on February 22nd, 1974 in Oxford, England,1 James Gabriel Leo Lavelle2 grew up in a
house surrounded by art and music. His father, Gabriel Lavelle, was a multi-instrumentalist
who played in groups across several genres including classical, jazz, and folk.3 Gabriel Lavelle
had at one time played with the Irish folk band The Dubliners4 but gave up on his musical
career to instead become a lawyer.5 James Lavelle’s mother, Jennifer (née Smith-Parr), was
a psychotherapist, dance teacher6 and stencil artist who created a household which Lavelle
described as “very beautiful in its art and design.”7
Many of James Lavelle’s extended family came from a musical background, which served as
further influence on him. His grandmother Dorothy Lavelle (née Clifton) was the first Irish
woman to be accepted into the Philharmonic Orchestra, and while he never met him, Dorothy’s
husband Gabriel Lavelle left an impression on the young James through his early career as a
singer, where he appeared regularly on BBC Radio 2.8 Gabriel and Dorothy had two sons,
Gabriel (James Lavelle’s father) and Michael Lavelle both of whom were multi-
instrumentalists.9 10
The Lavelle family influence would not only influence James Lavelle, but also his two younger
brothers, Henry (born 1977) and Aidan (born 1979), who later would both find careers in music
and the music industry themselves.11 12
With such a pool of musical talent in the family it will come as no surprise that there was always
music in the house, and James Lavelle’s earliest memories are of listening to his father play
records by a wide range of artists such as John Coltrane, Marvin Gaye, Deep Purple, Queen,13
Stevie Wonder and Art Blakey,14 as well as a lot of classical music.15 His mother would also
take him on excursions to visit galleries such as the Museum of Modern Art, and the
Ashmolean Museum in Oxford,16 and Lavelle would later describe his childhood as a “constant
feed of visual stuff going on.”17
1
Gregory, A (ed) 2002, p. 295
2
Companies House 2019
3
Allen, R 2018, 00:11:00
4
Greenham, A 2011
5
Burgess, J 1998, p. 59
6
Cole, B 1998, p. 152
7
Williams, E 2017
8
Greenham, A 2011
9
Lavelle, A n.d.
10
Allen, R 2018, 00:11:00
11
Allen, R 2018, 00:11:00
12
Lavelle, H n.d.
13
Potato Head 2017
14
Passey, M 1996, 00:09:00
15
Allen, R 2018
16
Williams, E 2017
17
Ibid.
10
From the age of eight James Lavelle received cello lessons from his Grandmother Dorothy.18
Dorothy had attended the Royal Irish Academy of Music where she played both piano and
cello. She later began teaching cello in Oxford at the local Dragon School after her husband
died in 1960.19 While James Lavelle would later refer to learning the cello as “amazing”,20 he
also found it difficult, explaining:
I was a kid and it was a very pressurized situation. I was only learning because my
family wanted me to. My grandmother was very strict, and for me it was extremely
difficult to learn an instrument in such a disciplined environment.21
In the same year that cello lessons had started, James Lavelle also discovered hip hop culture
for the first time when a performance was put on at his school which included hip hop music
and a breakdancing demonstration.22 Lavelle found himself attracted to hip hop, seeing it as
a means to be part of something, he recalled: “At my middle school in Oxford, I was a bit of a
loner and I had never really felt part of anything, so hip-hop attracted me because it was a
whole culture. There was an art form with graffiti, a language, and a dress code.”23
Soon he began listening to the Street Sounds compilation cassette tapes,24 a series that had
begun in 1983 and collected hip hop and electro tracks such as Rammellzee Vs. K-Rob, and
Davy DMX.25 While Lavelle may have felt like a loner, he wasn’t alone in this interest, with
other students at his school soon arriving wearing Puma trainers with Tacchini tracksuits,26
spending their lunchtimes listening to electro and hip hop on cassettes.27 School was also
where Lavelle’s love of street art formed, with graffiti books being passed around during art
classes.28 He referred to those books, such as Spraycan Art and Subway Art, as being like
“naughty boy bibles”29 which would be used as a distraction during boring classes.30
At 12, Lavelle’s parents separated31 in a divorce which he would describe as “horrific”32

explaining, “I had a comfortable upbringing to a certain point and then my family just destroyed
itself and exploded...My parents divorced because my father thought my mother was mad
'cause she was in Women Against Nuclear Disarmament and all that."33 While their father
moved out, Lavelle and his younger brothers stayed living with their mother in Oxford34 and it
was during this period that he lost interest in his classes, feeling as though he didn’t fit in.35
18
Greenham, A 2011
19
Gaunt, J 2019
20
Greenham, A 2011
21
Ibid.
22
BFI 2018a
23
Mark, O 1998
24
Hodgkinson, W 2002
25
Discogs 2019mmm
26
Metaxas, N 2014, 00:01:00
27
Hodgkinson, W 2002
28
Williams, E 2017
29
Ibid.
30
Ibid.
31
32
Wright, R 2017
33
Cole, B 1998
34
Ibid.
35
11
He was also being bullied at school at the time because of the glasses he had to wear due to
his poor eyesight,36 and had began taking kung fu lessons as a means of self-defence.
Unfortunately, the bullying continued until he was thirteen when he got into a big fight. He won
the fight and afterwards was left alone again,37 but continued his kung fu lessons and began
training to become an instructor.38 By now he was also putting serious thought in to what he
would do once he completed school, with two ideas at the time being either to study Greek
Mythology39 or moving to China to further his studies of kung fu and martial arts.40
In 1987, aged 13, James Lavelle was watching Channel 4 when a film came on that took his
interest. It was Bombin, a British documentary directed by Dick Fontaine that focused on the
graffiti art world in both the USA and UK.41 The film would serve as Lavelle’s introduction to
the street art of Goldie and 3D, who that same year were also featured in Spraycan.42 Bombin’
also featured a sound system from Bristol called The Wild Bunch, who’s members would later
go on to form Massive Attack. Inspired, Lavelle now set his sights on becoming a DJ.43
At 14 Lavelle dropped the cello and played his first gig as a DJ with his friend Matthew Puffet.44
45
The pair then joined up with Justin Winks, Mark Burgess, Paul McMahon, and Dave
Thomson to form a sound system collective of their own, The Underground Movement.46 47
The Underground Movement were a collective of DJ's, rappers, dancers and graffiti artists48
with Lavelle later claiming “I became a DJ because I couldn’t Breakdance and I was no good
at Grafitti (sic).”49 The group would put on parties around their local Oxford area, with Lavelle’s
early sets made up from records taken from his parents collection,50 he would later explain:
We had our own DIY sound system that we would play at youth centers and house
parties. I borrowed money from my mum, bought myself some decks, and I put on a
party, which earned me the cash to pay her back. Those were the gigs where I first
started DJing, and music was primarily influenced by bands like Soul II Soul, Massive
Attack and The Wild Bunch, a mix of influences from Bristol and London.51
After initially listening to the hip hop featured on the Street Sounds compilation tapes,52
Lavelle’s interests began to branch out further towards Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest,
36
Burgess, J 2004
37
Ibid.
38
Girou, B 2018
39
40
Girou, B 2018
41
BFI 2018a
42
Chang, J 1998
43
Jockey Slut 2002
44
Rose, C 1994
45
Gadelrab, R 2017
46
Cooper, D 2017b
47
Pustianaz, M 2010
48
Harris, D 1994
49
Girou, B 2018
50
Thompson, A 2002
51
Greenham, A 2011
52
Mark, O 1998
12
De La Soul, Grandmaster Flash, Beastie Boys, and Run DMC who were all beginning to enter
the UK charts.53
Alongside hip hop, Lavelle was still interested in Greek Mythology and Kung Fu, with each
competing for his attention. Lavelle continued taking Kung Fu lessons in London several times
a week, travelling by coach from Oxford,54 and it was through these travels that Lavelle
discovered record stores. He explained:
I was going to London to do kung fu...It was in Chinatown and I realised that area,
around Soho, is where all the good record shops are. So I started getting the bite to
discover records in a different way. Prior to that, I was only buying records that were
domestically released. A lot of it on cassette, too; whether it was Street Sounds
compilations, or early American and British hip hop. But going to London was like going
somewhere alien.55
53
BFI 2018a
54
Passey, M 1996, 00:01:00
55
Long Live Vinyl 2017
13
Bluebird and Honest Jon’s
In 1988 at age 14, James Lavelle needed to complete two weeks work experience for school,
and with his new passion for records and DJing it made sense that he would apply at record
stores for work.56
When he told his friends his plan to get work experience at a record store in London though
they were dismissive and told him “you’re not going to get anywhere."57 Undeterred, Lavelle
applied at Bluebird Records on Edgware Road in London,58 renowned at the time for their
range of the latest imported records across their three stores.59 Lavelle was accepted and
completed the work experience and was then given a permanent position working on
Saturdays,60 reportedly working in exchange for records.61
While at Bluebird, Lavelle was introduced to the likes of Pete Tong, Gilles Peterson, Norman
Jay, Michael Kopelman and Tim Simenon who were all customers of the store.62 63 Working
at a record store also opened Lavelle’s ears to new sounds such as those being put out by
Warp Records which had began in 1989 and released house and techno by groups such as
LFO, Nightmares on Wax, Autechre, and The Forgemasters. Lavelle later recalled,
I remember going to Bluebird on Edgware Road and buying a white label of one of the
first Warp releases – Dextrous by Nightmares On Wax. It started a sudden influx,
hearing that kind of thing. The shops were like clubs…but in the daytime. People
smoking joints; everyone in the latest gear; the latest haircuts; the latest trainers.64
In 1990 Bluebird’s owners asked Lavelle if he would be interesting in managing a new store
they were thinking of opening. Lavelle agreed, but then instead all of the Bluebird stores closed
down65 and Lavelle found himself unemployed and unsure what to do with himself,66 as by
now he was no longer going to school.67 Nearly everyone else in his family had attended
university at either Oxford or Cambridge,68 so James Lavelle enrolled at the Oxford College
of Further Education with the hope to complete Business Studies. He soon found that he
loathed the course but stuck with it for the time as he still felt he had to do something.69
56
Passey, M 1996, 00:05:00
57
Ibid. 00:06:00
58
Gamble, C 2017, ch. James Lavelle
59
Greenham, A 2011
60
Rose, C 1999, p. 146
61
UNKLE 1998, 00:02:40
62
Goodhood n.d. a
63
Rose, C 1999, p. 146
64
65
Passey, M 1996, 00:08:23
66
Mark, O 1998
67
Waterman, R 1994
68
Mark, O 1998
69
Rose, C 1999, p. 146
14
As part of his studies Lavelle was given the opportunity to do work experience again, and once
more chose a record store, this time Honest Jon’s on Portobello Road in London. Lavelle
recalled:
Jon Clare, who owned Honest Jon’s and a few other independent shops, was at the
end of his time in the business and had become a therapist…So I had this weird
interview with him. He had this hardcore knowledge of jazz records, and I knew fuck
all, to be honest with you. But he also asked me: ‘Do you ever have sexual fantasies
about your father?’70
Lavelle passed the interview and soon began work at the store that was described by Honest
Jon’s later co-owner Alan Scholefield as having “a hard, noisy kind of atmosphere…(with)
records being played at high volume all the time, (and) lots of shouting just to be heard."71 But
outside of the noisy atmosphere there were also the customers to deal with, and Scholefield
recalled many of the regulars giving Lavelle a hard time when he started, "They ate him for
breakfast. They absolutely hammered him. And James, to his credit, took it on the chin."72
Lavelle completed the one month of work experience and just like after his experience at
Bluebird he was kept on as a permanent staff member.73 Lavelle began working there three
days a week while also continuing his studies until the now 16-year-old James Lavelle decided
he was tired of business studies and begged Jon Clare to make him full time. When Clare
agreed Lavelle quickly dropped out of college.74
Lavelle tasked himself with building up the hip hop section at Honest Jon’s, hoping to bring in
more contemporary records while also experimenting with putting old and new records
together,75 placing the latest hip hop records next to the records which had been sampled. At
the time many hip hop releases were only available on vinyl as promos and white labels,
promotional releases not meant for sale76 77 but which were often released by labels for DJs
to promote. Lavelle became an expert of precuring promos78 and in 2015 he discussed the
promo culture from his time at Honest Jon’s:
We were the kings of promo hip-hop...If you wanted a Diamond D record or a Pete
Rock record or A Tribe Called Quest record, you had to get it on a promo...In those
days, getting a record was a very important status symbol. If you didn't get the 12-inch,
you didn't get to play it as a DJ. So there would be this mad energy in the shop. You
would play records and hands would go up and you'd be throwing records across to
people and they'd get angry when they couldn't have one…DJ culture in those days
wasn't what it is now…It was working class, it was hardcore...It wasn't as refined and
intellectualised as it is now.79
70
71
Coultate, A 2015
72
Ibid.
73
Passey, M 1996, 00:09:35
74
Rose, C 1999, p.146
75
Passey, M 1996, 00:09:25
76
Hogan, M 2015
77
Rare Records, n.d.
78
DMC 2000?
79
Coultate, A 2015
15
Lavelle built connections with record labels around the world to help keep Honest Jon’s stock
fresh, and these connections allowed Lavelle to get his hands on records before anyone else,
such as when he became the first person in the UK to own House Of Pain’s Jump Around.80
Alan Scholefield for one was unimpressed and questioned the work Lavelle was doing
spending time in the shop organising gigs for bands, but his co-worker, and later joint co-
owner, Mark Ainley reassured him, telling him “Don't you realise that's the only reason we're
busy? Figure it out. He's on the phone to New York and Leeds, making these connections.
That's why we're having a really good weekend, not because you want him to sweep up the
floor.”81
In 1991 Lavelle started his own club night in Oxford called Mo’ Wax Please,82 with the name
meant to reference both the decline of vinyl production at the time, with many hip hop releases
in particular hard to find on vinyl at all,83 and as a direct reference to the 1964 jazz album by
Freddie Roach, Mo's Green Please.84 The club was held at The Oxford Venue on Cowley
Road85 in what is now the O2 Academy Oxford.86 Local Oxford band Radiohead also began
playing at there in 199287 when it was known as The Zodiac, and later used the location to film
the video for their first single Creep.88
James Lavelle recalled his time at the club in 1994:
That was my real breakthrough. We were doing stuff with Galliano, Giles Peterson and
that whole acid jazz thing. I hooked up with all sorts of people. That's how it started. I
got the support of people. What I was doing was young, fresh, left field; it was doing
things that other people weren't and it had the right people involved. They saw the
need for a young element in the jazz scene. I got props from people like Giles Peterson
and the magazine Straight No Chaser. To them it didn't matter who you were, it was
what you had to say and what you had to offer.89
During the opening night of Mo’ Wax Please Lavelle bumped in to an old school friend, Tim
Goldsworthy.90 While they had first met as students at Oxford’s Summertown Middle School
in 1983, they hadn’t got on at the time. But meeting once more at Mo’ Wax Please they started
talking and realised they had some things in common, primarily their interest in music. The
pair soon decided to make their own music together and Goldsworthy helped Lavelle run his
club.91 Tim Goldsworthy described those early Mo’ Wax Please nights in 1995:
80
81
Coultate, A 2015
82
The Guardian 1994
83
Valadez, A 2018, 00:10:00
84
Didcock, B 1998
85
Lavelle, J 2014
86
Hughes, T 2008
87
Green Plastic Trees n.d. a
88
Greenwood, C 2014
89
Waterman, R 1994
90
Lazarus, D 1995, p. 69
91
Ibid.
16
It was mad. There was like 800 people getting really pissed up and doin' it to pure jazz.
It was strange because the scene hadn't set up as a cool kind of jazz scene, everyone
was just having a laugh. Then it got a bit trendy after some magazines caught onto it
and people started dressing up and standing around the edge and it just killed it.92
Mo’ Wax Please nights would also feature guest DJs with Patrick Forge and Gilles Peterson
both appearing as part of Talking Loud nights, a reference to the pairs own Talkin Loud record
label and popular club night held at The Fridge in London.93
Lavelle continued to build connections through his work as a DJ and at Honest Jon’s, staying
in touch with those he had made at Bluebird, such as Gilles Peterson and Pete Tong, and the
new regulars he was meeting at his new store including producer Trevor Jackson,94 Charlie
Dark,95 Tim Westwood, and Paul Oakenfold.96 It was also through Honest Jon’s that Lavelle
met Cynthia Rose, an American journalist who suggested he speak to Paul Bradshaw about
writing for his magazine Straight No Chaser. Lavelle wrote Bradshaw a letter and then went
in to meet him at the Chaser office for an interview, as he later explained:
I’d said I wanted to do a column and something that was a bit more eclectic and
contemporary. I wanted to talk about what was really going on in the underground side
of the music that was happening at that time which was Acid Jazz and Talkin’ Loud
and a lot of Japanese stuff and also the whole thing that was going on with the Groove
Academy in New York, DJ Smash. I just wanted to give a bit of focus for that and that
was how the column started. I was also revealing records and tapes; things that I liked
and that my friends had given me and things that just weren’t getting exposure
anywhere else.97
Straight No Chaser was started by Paul Bradshaw when the first issue launched in March
1988 after he realised that his then current employer, the New Music Express (or NME for
short), weren’t interested in covering music that he was interested in writing about such as
African, jazz and hip hop.98
One of Straight No Chaser’s claims to fame was that it was made entirely on an Apple
Macintosh computer, donated by Island Records director Rob Partridge in exchange for a
break in advertising space.99 The Mac became the tool of Ian Swift, aka Swifty, the magazine’s
art director who gave Straight No Chaser a visual identity that won awards,100 and Swifty’s
work continues to be acclaimed today.101
Swifty later recalled meeting Lavelle on the day of his interview:
92
Ibid.
93
Peterson, G 2017, 01:30:00
94
95
Cooper, D 2013a
96
Rage 2017
97
Goodhood n.d. a
98
Wang, G 2018
99
Goldman, V 1993, p. 74
100
Bradshaw, P 2011
101
Eye Magazine 2017
17
It was his boundless energy and geeky knowledge of all things beats, hip-hop and jazz
that secured him a column in the mag... it was as much about the language and style
as much as the music.102
Lavelle ended his interview with Paul Bradshaw insisting “you need me” and received the
job,103 naming his column after his club night Mo’ Wax, and soon began reviewing the music
he loved, signing his column as ‘The Holygoof’,104 an adopted pseudonym which Lavelle
explained in 2004:
It was from being into the beat generation thing. It was Neal Cassady from ‘On The
Road’, that was his nickname. I was really into Burroughs and Kerouac when I was 15.
I’m still a fan of their view of life, I don’t think it’s something that leaves you. When did
I last use the name? Ten years ago, there was a significant binning of it. It was buried
in the garden, given a respectful funeral.105
While he wasn’t paid for his column,106 he started receiving white labels, demos, and promos
sent from all over the world in the hopes of getting reviewed or played by Lavelle at his DJ
nights. One of those records that found its way to Lavelle was by a group called Zimbabwe
Legit. While he wasn’t that interested in the A Side, Doin' Damage In My Native Language, on
the B-side there was a remix called Shadow's Legitimate Mix which Lavelle found himself
going back to again and again over the years.107
102
Cooper, D 2013b
103
Bradshaw, P 2013
104
Llewellyn Smith, C 1994
105
Burgess, J 2004
106
Rose, C 1999 p. 146
107
Friedman, K 2013
18
Talkin’ Loud
During the summer of 1991 Lavelle was asked if he’d like to DJ at The Fridge, taking over
from Giles Peterson and Patrick Forge while they took a summer break.108 Talkin’ Loud had
started as a small DJ night at Dingwalls in Camden, West London, before moving to Brixton’s
The Fridge which offered them a 1000 capacity room and a budget to put on bands with live
visuals.109
The summer Lavelle joined them, Talkin’ Loud was renamed to Talkin’ Summer to signify the
change over, and Lavelle would play every Saturday for several months, experience that he
would consider his big break as a DJ.110
During his time at The Fridge, Lavelle would continue to receive promos of albums ahead of
everyone else, including Young Disciples’ Road To Freedom which he would later call “one of
the most underrated British records of its time.”111
This was a time for records that would define who Lavelle was as a DJ and musician, with
many releases from this period continuing to be favourites of his for years to come. In particular
Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack which was released in February 1991,112 and
continued to have importance to Lavelle through his life. In 2015 he would praise the song as
the holy grail of his youth, explaining:
This song proved how sophisticated the sound had become. Truly one of the most
beautiful records I’ve ever heard. Sounding as fresh today as it did then. I can’t explain
how it felt to hear it for the first time, I’d never heard an orchestra and hip-hop beats
together before. It was truly revolutionary and made me want to make records.113
Unfinished Sympathy was the second single to be released in the lead up to Massive Attack’s
debut album Blue Lines, which was released April 8th 1991.114 The album featured tracks from
when the group were part of The Wild Bunch sound system as well as newer tracks115
produced by Johnny Dollar and featuring string arrangements by Will Malone.116 NME would
call it “the sleekest, deadliest, most urbane, most confounding LP 1991 has yet seen” giving
it 10/10,117 and Blue Lines has continued to appear in several Top Album lists ever since.118
In 2017 Lavelle described to The Quietus the experience of first hearing Blue Lines, and the
lasting effects it has had on him:
108
Aubrey, E 2017f
109
Resident Advisor n.d.
110
Aubrey, E 2017f
111
Ibid.
112
MassiveAttack.ie 2019c
113
Dummy 2015
114
MassiveAttack.ie 2019a
115
Select 1992, p. 51
116
Discogs 2019z
117
Fadele, D n.d.
118
Pitchfork 2003
19
I just remember when I got the cassette, I got a promo cassette of it...and I was just
sitting there on my bed at my mum's house. I must have listened to it about 100 times.
I just didn't turn it off, just kept playing it. I can't explain how fucking cool it was and
how cerebral it was, and how beautiful it was...This is my favourite album ever made
and the most influential record ever. The idea of a record that had multiple voices and
engaged in a different way…the production, the cover, the paintings, the photographs,
the mystique, everything that about it defined my late teenage years and defined the
beginning of Mo’ Wax. It was amongst other things a blueprint for where I went with
my life.119
119
Aubrey, E 2017d
20
Mo’ Wax
In 1992 James Lavelle had a job in a record store, regular DJ gigs, a column with Straight No
Chaser, and was also contributing to other magazines such as I-D.120 All of these lead to great
connections, enabling Lavelle to have the latest music promos, white labels, and acetates.
But what he really wanted was to work for a record label.121
Gilles Peterson had started the record label Talkin’ Loud in 1990, naming the label after his
popular club night at Dingwalls122 and in 1991 Lavelle spent two weeks interning with the
label,123 but no job came out of it for him.124 Frustrated that he was unable to get a job at a
record label he next tried to set up a sub-label,125 a small record label which is part of a larger
label.126
Lavelle had been talking to Island Records about a job potentially working for their Antilles
division and starting his own sub-label for them.127 In fact in 1992 Lavelle announced he was
starting a label called Mo’ Wax Please Records, making the announcement in his column in
issue 15 of Straight No Chaser.128
In the issue he revealed two new releases would be coming soon, Strangers by Sweatmouth
and an Untitled EP credited to The Venus Project. Strangers is described as “fast breakbeats
meets jazz vocals with some funku (sic) club business", and was intended as the first release
of Mo’ Wax Please Records with a release date of March 1992. The Venus Project was also
given a release date of late March and described as “the sounds of new age jazz-funk.”129
Neither of these were released on any label, let alone a Mo’ Wax Please Records and it is not
clear what happened to them or whether this was the label Lavelle had intended to start with
Island Records or not. In the next issue of Straight No Chaser Lavelle apologised for the delay,
explaining that something would be dropping in mid-June, but no further explanation was
given.130
Thanks to his column in Straight No Chaser readers from all over the world had begun sending
Lavelle their demo tapes,131 especially after he announced he was starting his own label.132
Lavelle explained, "I had all these records being sent for review, all these records that nobody
else could get. I used to search high and low for weird b-sides, hip-hop instrumentals."133 This
120
Stokes, N 2008
121
Rose, C 1994
122
Didcock, B 1998
123
Davis, J 1999, p. 22
124
Peterson, G 2017, 01:30:00
125
Rose, C 1999 p.147
126
Rutter, P 2016, n.p.
127
Rose, C 1999 p.147
128
Lavelle, J 1992a, p. 58
129
Lavelle, J 1992a, p. 58
130
Lavelle, J 1992b, p. 62
131
Metaxas, N 2014, 00:04:17
132
Davis, J 1999, p. 22
133
21
fit well with Lavelle’s hopes of Mo’ Wax mirroring record labels such as Hollywood BASIC,
who were releasing music by a wide range of international artists.134
One of the groups who sent a tape to Straight No Chaser were called Repercussions,135 a
group from Brooklyn in the USA who Lavelle had begun talking to and hoped to sign once his
deal with Island Records was finalised. Unfortunately, the deal with Island fell through but one
of the members of Repercussions suggested Lavelle could put it out himself if he gave them
£1000 in cash.136 Borrowing the money from Mark Ainley at Honest Jon’s, Lavelle flew to New
York with the £1000 in an envelope and made the deal.137 Mo’ Wax Records was then formed,
taking the name he’d been using for his column and club night, because he “couldn’t think of
another name for a label.”138
While most sources credit Mo’ Wax Records as having been founded by Tim Goldsworthy and
James Lavelle together,139 this is incorrect and it was created solely by James Lavelle,140 with
Goldsworthy later joining and helping Lavelle with some of the business side such as A&R,141
or Artists and Repertoire which is essentially talent scouting, overseeing the recording process
and assisting with marketing.142 Goldsworthy was also tasked with delegating design work to
Swifty for potential artwork on Mo’ Wax’s releases.143 Swifty, who worked with Lavelle at
Straight No Chaser and had also been designing flyers for Lavelle’s club nights, was brought
in as the Mo’ Wax Art Director, and he designed the initial Mo’ Wax cover art and the original
Mo’ Wax logo which would evolve slightly over time until settling in 1994.144
The very first Mo’ Wax release was the 12” record for Repercussions’ Promise of which an
initial one thousand copies were pressed,145 and Lavelle made sure to promote the record in
his own column within Straight No Chaser, announcing:
D-Day! The launch of Mo' Wax Records coming atcha with NYX’s, the Repercussions
massive. Straight outta Brooklyn ‘n’ lettin’ off the vocal 70’s funk influenced ‘Promise’
and ‘Field Trippin’ - a the native tongues new wave hip-hop summer groove. Massive
music droppin’ live ‘n’ sample free.146
The announcement was reproduced word for word on the cover for the Repercussions 12” as
linear notes. This first release would be followed up by two more before the end of the year
which also featured a review on their covers. The second Mo’ Wax release was Raw Stylus
Many Ways which featured the following linear notes:
134
Ma, D2017, p. 74
135
Metaxas, N 2014, 00:04:44
136
Rose, C 1999 p. 147
137
Bradshaw, P 2014a
138
Rose, C 1999 p. 147
139
Geoghegan, K 2014
140
Tubbs, Christopher 2013, 00:01:00
141
Discogs 2019mm
142
Music Careers 2019
143
The Mo'Wax Vaults: The Lost Men from Unkle 2018, 00:12:00
144
Cooper, D 2013b
145
Bradshaw, P 2014a
146
Lavelle, J 1992c p. 58
22
Raw Stylus come from a growin' new vibe-- London Soul, Beats, Bass, phunki break
downz 'n' strong 'n' musical contentz. Arrivin' on the scene in 1989 with "Bright Lights
Big Cities". Raw Stylus came on a breaks 'n' beats tip, hittin' the U.K. 'n' U.S. on a large
underground tip. After an abcense of 2 years the boyz came back with the prolific
"Pushin' Against The Flow" bustin' boom boxes from London to LA. Now the RS
massive drop another piece of soul flavoured London funk. So lick up a fat blunt 'n'
support the new soul massive.147
Followed by Palm Skin Productions Getting Out Of Hell:
Working harder to bring you hands-on music: hands on the decks, hands on the mix,
hands on the drum. Music made not by style of clothing but SKIN OF PALM. Inside the
deep lick, running things, the sound of the PALM SKIN coming easy on the downlow.
Working with a clear conscience 'cos PALM SKIN do it LIKE BROTHERS every time.
Too often the brother's a chameleon, he leaves you dry with the change of season, so
when your'e GETTING OUT OF HELL you need A LITTLE SKIN to put you on the
primrose path. PALMSKIN PRODUCTIONS: building a fat blunt for your ears. We
Come in Peace. Release.148
Each of these early Mo’ Wax releases stood out thanks to the distinctive design of the record
sleeves, a plain white cover with a strip of colour down one side full of information about the
record such as the descriptive linear notes. The initial three releases featured this strip stuck
on as a sticker, but from then on they were printed on to the cover instead149 due to it becoming
too expensive to pay someone to put the stickers on.150 This design was inspired by the obi
strips seen on Japanese imports of albums Swifty and Lavelle had around them. Swifty
explained:
There was no money for expensive sleeves and packaging then – it was all done on a
shoestring and a lot of belief! The idea of the stripe came from the belly-wrap which
we’d seen on Japanese imports, particularly the Blue Note LPs which were floating
around the Straight No Chaser office at the time. It was my idea to do something that
could be knocked out quickly. 151
Lavelle continues:
The identity we created was initially based on a love for those Japanese records, which
had an obi wrapped around original British or American artwork. The obi would have a
Japanese language explanation. We based the idea of the early sleeves on those
wraps. And at the time, everybody had a million logos. Originally with Mo’ Wax it was
‘A Men From U.N.K.L.E. Production’152
147
Mo’ Wax Discography 2011a
148
Mo’ Wax Discography 2011b
149
Foakes, K 2015
150
The Mo'Wax Vaults: Asthetic Origins 2018, 00:05:20
151
Cooper, D 2013b
152
Bradshaw, P 2014a
23
The ‘Men From U.N.K.L.E. Production’ logo featured on the back of every Mo’ Wax 12” sleeve
for the next few years, but at the time it was just a logo. Lavelle had also used the name when
creating charts, such as the Honest Jon’s Mo’ Wax Please 20 chart153 which was credited to
The Men From U.N.C.L.E. with the acronym standing for “United National Command For Long
Playing Electro.”154
The first actual music credited to Men From U.N.K.L.E. came out in 1992 as a remix on United
Future Organization – Loud Minority, entitled Moondance “(Moon Chant: Hip Sensibility
Mutates....)” which acted as the B Side to initial CD’s put out by Zero Corporation,155 and the
12” released in 1993.156 The remix featured programming credited to Tim “Tibbs” Goldsworthy,
while James “Holygoof” Lavelle was credited with the arrangement. The remix also featured
Simon Richmond of Palm Skin Productions and received a write up in Lavelle’s Mo’ Wax
Please column where he described it as “eight and a half minutes of musical deepness. Check
the 808! Boom!”157
While this was UNKLE’s first released remix, Lavelle and Goldsworthy had previously created
a remix for Ronny Jordon after Lavelle convinced someone at Island Records to give them the
job, Goldsworthy explained:
[Lavelle] knew someone at Island Records who was looking after Ronnie Jordan and
he told them I knew everything there was to know about working in studios - when all
I really knew how to operate was my Casio. We remixed 'Get to Grips' but the end
result was never released. It may have had something to do with the fact that we didn't
like Ronnie's guitar solo so we took it out. With Ronnie being a guitarist, it obviously
didn't go down too well.158
The track never came out and Lavelle has said it will never be heard as it was “horrible”.159
Lavelle and Goldsworthy would release two more remixes as The Men From U.N.K.L.E. before
retiring the name in favour of the shortened U.N.K.L.E.. Vibe P.M. (Stranger Things Have
Happened - Brazil On A Jimmy Hill Mix) was a remix off Mondo Grosso’s 1993 Marble mini
album, which also featured remixes by Norman Cook.160 Their second remix was Men From
U.N.K.L.E. Featuring Marden Hill - Come On (2010 Version) which featured on the compilation
Mo' Wax Presents Mo' Groove Vol.1. This was a remix of Marden Hill’s Come On, which
featured exclusively on the Mo’ Groove compilation and released only in Japan by Avex
Trax.161
The remixes were created at Goldworthy’s house along with some “dodgy techno”162 the pair
created for fun. Initially Goldsworthy only owned a Casio keyboard, but after the first few
153
Lavelle, J 2014
154
Bradshaw, P 2014a
155
Discogs 2019vv
156
Discogs 2019ww
157
Lavelle, J 1993, p. 53
158
159
Metaxas, N 2014, 00:23:28
160
Discogs 2019bb
161
Discogs 2019iii
162
McLean, C 1995a, p. 106
24
remixes he decided he wanted to better commit himself to making music, and he bought
himself a sampler and soon “started experimenting with the likes of Alice Coltrane, Miles Davis
and mad jazz stuff sampled on top of dark beats.”163
While the UNKLE name came from Lavelle and Goldsworthy’s love of 1960’s television
programs, namely The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,164 the origins of the initial UNKLE logo are
thanks to Swifty. Lavelle was visiting Swifty at his home while they were planning the first Mo’
Wax releases and seeing that he had some toys from the TV series The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Lavelle became inspired. There Lavelle insisted that a Men From U.N.K.L.E. Productions logo
be put on the Mo’ Wax 12” sleeve’s, with Swifty taking the original U.N.C.L.E. TV series logo
and changing the gun into a “dooby”.165
During this time, Lavelle had been taking a coach from Oxford to London each day, but now
that he had his own label, and a fulltime job at Honest Jon’s, it was time to move. One of
Honest Jon’s regulars was Fraser Cooke, a writer for culture magazine The Face, and when
Lavelle one day asked if he knew of any places to stay Cooke offered him a room. Cooke had
a place just off Portobello Road, close to Honest John’s, and Lavelle took him up on the offer,
with Goldsworthy becoming a regular visitor at the flat as well, crashing on their couch with
his Casio.166 167 The meeting was fortuitous as Cooke was not only working at The Face, but
also within the music industry as a distributor, and so was able to help Lavelle license tracks
for early Mo’ Wax releases. He would also help out by making t-shirts and bags for the label,
which were sold through ads in Straight No Chaser, and other magazines.168
163
164
Ibid.
165
Cooper, D 2013b
166
Goh, G 2012
167
168
Goh, G 2012
25
Major Force
While working at Honest Jon’s if a customer came in looking for a hard to obtain record James
Lavelle would make a deal with them. He’d tell them he would get them their record if they
would bring him some Major Force releases, which were hard to find at the time in
London.169170
Major Force was a Japanese record label set up in 1988, initially releasing Japanese house
and hip hop music by artists such as Kan Takagi and Fujiwara Hiroshi under their Tiny Panx
and TPO monikers, Nakanishi Toshio (aka Tycoon To$h) and Masayuki Kudo under their
Major Force Productions moniker, and DJ Milo from the Wild Bunch.171
Nakanishi Toshio had been an original member of Japanese New Wave band Melon who
released their debut album Do You Like Japan? in 1982. During the recording sessions in
New York the band had seen Afrika Bambatta performing and became interested in hip hop,172
with the album featuring record scratching at the end their song Optimistic Depression. At the
time in Japan hip hop was still considered underground, but musicians from overseas would
occasionally visit and Kan Takagi would later recall taking Chuck D and The Jungle Brothers
record shopping on separate occasions.173
Masayuki Kudo visited London in 1985 where he met with The Wild Bunch, and Melon joined
him in 1986 to record their next album, this time with Kudo as a contributing member. During
1986 Kudo spent more time with DJ Milo and Nellee Hooper from The Wild Bunch and they
played him demos for their single The Look of Love and introduced him to Soul II Soul and
Jazzy B.174 One of Kudo’s strongest memories of this time was seeing Run DMC at the
Hammersmith Odeon where he was shocked to see the group perform with only two turntables
and two microphones. This was the first time he had seen such a set up and he deciding that
Melon should tour with a similar system once they returned to Japan.175 By 1987 Melon’s
second album Deep Cut was released with a hip hop infused sound,176 taking the influence
that the group had found in New York and London and channelling it in to what would next
become Major Force.177
Like Kudo, Tiny Panx member Fujiwara Hiroshi had an early taste for hip hop when had spent
time in London during the 1980’s. Originally he had been drawn there due to a love of punk
rock178 but while in London Hiroshi had stayed with producer Malcolm McLaren who
introduced him to hip hop and suggested that Hiroshi visit New York.179 At the time McLaren
was completing his hip hop fused Duck Rock album which featured New York hip hop crew
169
Metaxas, N 2014, 00:24:50
170
UNKLE 1998, 00:06:00
171
Yoshioka, K 2018
172
Egaitsu, H 2014
173
Yoshioka, K 2018
174
Takayama, Y 2013
175
Ibid.
176
Tycoon To$h Kingdom n.d.
177
Takayama, Y 2013
178
Li, R 2019
179
Cooke, F 2010
26
World's Famous Supreme Team alongside production by members of British experimental
group Art of Noise. McLaren’s album would release in 1983 and feature the singles Buffalo
Gals and Double Dutch.
After visiting New York and seeing early pioneers such as Afrika Islam, and Kool Lady Blue180
Hiroshi had returned to Japan and formed Tiny Panx with Kan Takagi , releasing their 12” Last
Orgy in 1988181 and opening for the Beastie Boys during their Japanese tour182 in Tokyo.183
This was followed by Hiroshi + K.U.D.O. Featuring D.J. Milo’s D.J.Mix, which featured Return
Of The Original Art Form on the B-side, which became a favourite of producer Howie B in
England, where he used it to close his DJ sets.184
In 1992,185 Nakanishi Toshio and Masayuki Kudo (usually referred to as Toshi and Kudo
respectively)186 had moved to London with the intention of recording a Love TKO album,187
and one day wandered into Honest Jon’s record store where James Lavelle was working.
Lavelle had become a big fan of Major Force releases, but they were hard to get in London
and when Toshi and Kudo came in asking about some records Lavelle answered with his
usual “Sure I can get it, if you can get me some Major Force records”,188 to which the duo
replied “we ARE Major Force!” and the group soon became friends.189
It wasn’t just Japanese music which interested Lavelle, as he had also become a fan of
Japanese street fashion thanks to Michael Kopelman, who in 1991 had been put in charge of
distribution for the fashion brand Stüssy, and created the “International Stüssy Tribe”, a group
of tastemakers around the world who would be sent boxes of streetwear as a means to
promote the brand.190 The two had become friends while Lavelle had been working at Bluebird,
and Kopelman had given Lavelle his first Major Force record.191 At the time Kopelman was
also distributing brands such as Bape, Neighborhood, WTAPS, and Supreme, and Lavelle
credits Kopelman with helping him discover Japanese clothing culture, thanks to him giving
Lavelle t-shirts whenever he would stop by Kopelman’s office.192
Lavelle was becoming more and more interested in Japanese music and culture193 but it wasn’t
until December 1993 that he would get a chance to visit the country which had held his
fascination. The trip was made possible thanks to Straight No Chaser arranging a tour to
Japan, with Paul Bradshaw taking some of his staff along, including Lavelle. During the tour
Lavelle visited fifteen cities across the country and would take in the design and style of
180
Ibid.
181
Yoshioka, K 2018
182
Yu, S 2019
183
Li, R 2016
184
Muzik 1995, p. 85
185
Takayama, Y 2013
186
Metaxas, N 2014, 00:24:00
187
Takayama, Y 2013
188
Metaxas, N 2014, 00:25:00
189
Darby, A 2013
190
Deleon, J 2015
191
Dike, J 2017
192
Ibid.
193
Butler, A 2014
27
Japanese streetwear and records.194 195 Kudo arranged a meeting for Lavelle with Kan Takagi
and Fujiwara Hiroshi from Major Force,196 and he also meet with DJ Krush who was preparing
his debut album for its January 1993 release on Chance Records in Japan.197 198
Lavelle had heard some demos that Krush sent Paul Bradshaw at Straight No Chaser and
had become interested in signing him to Mo’ Wax.199 Gilles Peterson also heard the demos,
and both he and Lavelle made offers to release an album in the UK, with Krush unsure which
label to choose. Conveniently for Lavelle, he was able to visit Krush in Japan, and after
meeting one another in person Krush became convinced by Lavelle’s enthusiasm and soon
signed with Mo’ Wax.200 201
While Mo’ Wax’s early releases would feature an acid jazz sound, Lavelle was taking in wider
influences and moving on as he had become more interested in downtempo instrumental hip
hop. The record that is most often attributed with this shift is Mo’ Wax’s 14th release, 1993’s
In/Flux / Hindsight by DJ Shadow.202 203
194
Williams, E 2017
195
Darby, A 2013
196
Ibid.
197
Winston, D 2017, p. 53
198
Discogs 2019d
199
Winston, D 2017, p. 53
200
Ibid.
201
Omae, K 2018
202
Pemberton, A 1994
203
Cooper, D 2014
28
DJ Shadow
Joshua Paul Davis, aka DJ Shadow, was born on June 29, 1972204 and grew up in Davis,
California.205
After first hearing Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s The Message in 1982,206 Davis
became interested in hip hop due to how many of the songs were created from sampling other
music. While he became more involved in the culture of hip hop, similar to James Lavelle,
Davis wasn’t able to breakdance so he chose to focus on music and DJing.207 In 1984 he
received his first record player,208 a $99 Sears combination turntable which included a radio
and dual cassette tape decks, allowing Davis to make copies of records and record songs off
the radio.209 He also began experimenting with scratching, after having seen it demonstrated
on TV in music videos for Run DMC, and Grandmaster Flash. In 1985 he began calling KDVS,
a college radio station in Davis California, where a DJ named Oras Washington had a hip hop
show. Davis began calling in to request hip hop records and in 1987 he asked another favour,
whether Washington could play a mix he’d made at home.210 Washington agreed, requesting
a 20 minute mix, and in 1988 Davis left him a cassette tape before returning home to record
the show on to another tape.211 The recording was later released as an MP3 called Josh Davis
- Spinning Live At KDVS '88.212
By the late eighties Davis had sold all of his comics and was using the money earnt from a
paper-route to fund his new obsession of buying records.213 He was buying used soul and rock
records such as James Brown and Bobby Byrd and soon noticed that these old records had
also been sampled by the hip hop artists he was listening to such as Eric B & Rakim, and
Public Enemy.214 At the time several hip hop records were created by sampling the break from
another record, such as James Brown’s Funky Drummer.215 The ‘break’ being a short
instrumental section of the record, often a drum solo, which could be sampled and looped or
cut up to create a larger backing track.216 In 1989 Davis saw Public Enemy perform and noticed
they weren’t just sampling the same breaks that everyone else was, but they were using
records which even his dad owned, such as Isaac Hayes.217 This was a breakthrough moment
for Davis as he realised he could potentially make this music too.218
204
Levine, M 2019
205
Wilder, E 2017 p. 24
206
Spine Magazine, n.d.
207
Grundy, G 1997, p. 252
208
Wilder, E 2017 pp. 34-35
209
Fox, K 2016
210
Ma, D 2017, p. 65
211
212
Discogs 2019u
213
Grundy, G 2012
214
Ibid.
215
Scott, D 2017
216
Toop, D 1991, pp. 113-115
217
Hermes, W 2002, p. 98
218
Grundy, G 2012
29
In high school, Davis saved up $300 for a four track cassette recorder,219 the Yamaha MT-100
4-Track,220 and began creating his own hip hop music, sampling songs from his record player
on to the four track by recording a drum break, rewinding the tape, and then recording
scratches over the top.221 Many of these songs were eventually given an official release by
Davis in 2007 and then collected in 2009 as DJ Shadow: The 4-Track Era Collection.222
Now that he had become serious about making music a DJ name was required. Some early
names included DJ Motivator,223 DJ White Lightning, and DJ 24KT224 (24 Carat),225 before
settling on DJ Shadow. The name was in reference to his preference for DJ’s who stayed in
the shadows behind the turntables, whereas he felt that in 1989 there was a trend towards
having the DJ or producer step in to the spotlight.226 When speaking to The Face about the
origins of the name, DJ Shadow likened it to being a movie director because “people know
their names, but they don't need to know their face."227
Around 1991 DJ Shadow met with the program director for KMEL, a radio station located in
San Francisco,228 where he told them “you need me,” and he was hired to create mixes.229
Shadow would spend 2-3 weeks creating intricate one hour mixes on his four track recorder,
and began using the fact he had a show on KMEL as a means of getting promo records from
labels.230 These record labels, such as Tommy Boy and Profile, were eager to get their records
heard and so would send Shadow records, posters, stickers etc. and in return he would feature
their records on his mix tapes.231
In early 1991 Shadow sent two tapes to The Source, one of the few hip hop magazines at the
time, with one addressed to Dave Klein, a writer whose work Shadow had enjoyed, and the
other addressed to Matty C for his Unsigned Hype column232 dedicated to giving recognition
to hip hop artists who were yet to be signed to a record label. The tape was a 90 minute mix,
featuring original remixes created by Shadow, and was featured in the June 1991 issue of The
Source where they suggested readers “check him out for production, or if you seek new flavor
for a remix.”233 This wasn’t Shadow’s first appearance in the magazine either, as he also had
a letter printed in the May 1991 issue where he laments MC’s who disrespect each other
based on the colour of their skin.234
219
DJShadow.com 2010
220
Discogs 2019h
221
Rule, G 1997
222
DJShadow.com 2010
223
Grundy, G 1997, p. 253
224
Ma, D 2017, p. 65
225
Grundy, G 1997, p. 253
226
Ma, D 2017, p. 65
227
Grundy, G 1997, p. 253
228
Wilder, E 2017, p. 49
229
Bradshaw, P 2014b
230
Ibid.
231
232
SLurg, 2006
233
C, M 1991, p. 22
234
Shadow 1991, p. 10
30
Dave Klein, better known as Funkenklein,235 also got in touch with Shadow telling him “I think
I have a job for you, if you're interested in earning $ 3,000.”236 At the time Shadow was working
for a pizza shop earning a minimum wage of $3.55 an hour237 while also studying
Communications at Davis University. He was blown away by the offer which resulted in his
first releases on Funkenklein’s label Hollywood BASIC, a hip hop focused subsidiary of the
Disney owned Hollywood record label. Funkenklein’s vision was for the label to feature an
international roster of artists, and included acts from Japan, Netherlands and Africa.238 While
this vision wasn’t commercially successful, it would influence others such as James Lavelle
and his own vision for Mo’ Wax Records.239
Later in 1991 Shadow had his first record released on Hollywood BASIC, Lesson 4,240 a
megamix combining samples from various records.241 The title was a reference to the Lessons
series which had been released by Double Dee & Steinski, starting in 1983 with Lesson One
(The Payoff Mix),242 with the series pausing in 1985 after the completion of Lessons 3243 before
Double Dee & Steinski later returned with their own Lesson 4 in 2018.244
Shadow recorded his Lesson 4 in 1991 on the Yamaha 4-Track,245 and when it came time to
release it Shadow was asked to list all of the songs sampled. At this time record labels were
starting to get sued for the use of uncleared samples and when Hollywood BASIC saw the list
of 80 samples they decided to release Lesson Four as a promo only, rather than release it to
the public,246 and it was made the B-side of Lifers Group Real Deal (Shadow Remix).247 This
was followed in 1992 by another megamix similar to Lesson 4, Basic Mega-Mix,248 and his
remix of Zimbabwe Legit Doin' Damage In My Native Language (Shadow's Legitimate Mix)
also from 1992.249
Shadow had also provided production for the local Californian rapper Paris.250 Paris’ second
album Sleeping With The Enemy was released in America on November 23 1992251 after
some delay due to its controversial themes. Shadow is credited as providing samples on three
tracks, Make Way For A Panther, The Days of Old, and Funky Lil' Party,252 though DJ
Shadow’s website credits Shadow as providing co-production and/or scratches for eight songs
on the album.253 These including Bush Killa, one of the songs which led to his record label
Tommy Boy refusing to release the album forcing Paris to release it on his own Scarface
235
Ma, D 2017, p. 73
236
SLurg, 2006
237
Ma, D 2017, p. 73
238
Ibid.
239
Ma, D 2017, p. 74
240
Discogs 2019v
241
242
Christgau, R 1986
243
Double Dee 2017
244
Double Dee & Steinski, 2018
245
Rule, G 1997
246
247
Discogs 2019v
248
Discogs 2019ff
249
Discogs 2019qqq
250
Wilder, E 2017, p. 47
251
AllMusic.com 2019a
252
Discogs 2019ee
253
DJShadow.com n.d. c
31
Records.254 The possible reason for this discrepancy in credits is that Shadow created demos
for Paris which Paris then resampled as a way to get around giving Shadow credit for
production, leading Shadow to later thank Paris for teaching him “the game”.255
While his mixes were well constructed, Shadow wanted to move beyond the limitations of his
four track and had been looking into samplers after a producer named Mr. Niceguy showed
him his Emu SP-1200,256 a sampler released in 1987.257 By the time Shadow had saved
enough money to buy a sampler of his own, he was told by Stretch Armstrong aka Adrian
Bartos, that he should look in to the Akai MPC-60 mkII,258 a sampler designed by Roger Lin
and released by Akai in 1991 as the follow up to the original MPC-60 released in 1988.259
On May 26th, 1992, Shadow became the owner of his first sampler, the Akai MPC-60 mkII.
The unit was purchased at Guitar Center on Mission Boulevard, San Francisco for $2,821
including tax,260 thanks in part to money lent by his Dad,261 but he also had his friend Paris
come with him to better negotiate a discount as he was a regular at the store.262 He would
later tell Keyboard Magazine about his excitement for the MPC:
By the time I got the MPC, I was so ready for something new. I mean, I’d taken the 4-
track to the limit, doing everything from putting the tape in on the other side for reverse
loops, to everything I could possibly think of, and there was nothing more for me to do
with it, and it was really depressing...I was so ready. I’d fantasized about it for so long
that when I got it, I took it home and I was shaking and sweating. I stayed up all night
reading the manual front to back. I had to use it immediately because I was bursting
with all these ideas. The first record I actually made on the MPC was the very first
SoleSides record.263
But moving from a four track to the MPC wasn’t easy, as the MPC could at times be unintuitive.
Shadow spent his first night with the MPC learning how to program it. He explained:
...it took a long time because I couldn’t figure out certain things. The menus were not
very intuitive, and there were a lot of limitations to what they could show you and the
amount of information they could give you at any one time. You had to scroll through
menus. There was a lot of referring back and forth to the manual and making little
asterisks in the manual. I don’t think I went to sleep until about 6am that day because
I just really wanted to complete a beat.264
After three releases on Hollywood BASIC Shadow was now struggling with getting his music
released as the label was on the decline due to Funkenklein’s deteriorating health. Shadow
254
Kellman, A 2019
255
DJShadow.com n.d. c
256
Rule, G 1997
257
Vintage Synth Explorer 2020
258
Doyle, T 2017
259
Polynominal, n.d
260
DJShadow.com 2009a
261
SLurg, 2006
262
Wilder, E 2017, p. 61
263
Rule, G 1997
264
Doyle, T 2017
32
was sending work to labels such as Tommy Boy and Profile, but they preferred a more
recognisable hip hop sound, and they didn’t release any of the music he sent them.265
Meanwhile back in England, after repeatedly listening to Shadow's Legitimate Mix, curiosity
eventually got the better of James Lavelle and in late 1992 he called Albee Ragusa at Tommy
Boy and asked if they knew anything about Shadow. Tommy Boy had been trying to work with
Shadow for a while but were finding his style didn’t suit their sound, so they gave Lavelle
Shadow’s phone number and told him he seemed a better fit for Mo’ Wax.266 Calling out of the
blue in November 1992,267 Lavelle and Shadow immediately bonded, talking for hours about
records, labels, and movies they each enjoyed. In fact, Shadow already knew who Lavelle
was thanks to his interest in British music magazines such as NME and Melody Maker, where
Lavelle occasionally popped up.268 Lavelle took the opportunity to tell Shadow to keep doing
his own thing, and asked for something to put out on Mo’ Wax.269
Lavelle and Shadow then met in person in 1993, with Shadow introducing Lavelle to the
sounds of David Axelrod as they drove around LA,270 before Shadow joined Lavelle on a Mo’
Wax European tour in November,271 playing in Germany272 and then joining Lavelle as a guest
of That’s How It Is at Bar Rumba in England.273
Lavelle had also continued to encourage Shadow to submit something to Mo’ Wax, and he
was eventually sent the track In/Flux / Hindsight.274 But prior to the release of In/Flux, Shadow
released another solo track as DJ Shadow & The Groove Robbers in February 1993, entitled
Entropy.275 This was still a solo record, with the Groove Robbers being a reference to
Shadow’s two turntables.276
Entropy marked the first release on Solesides, an independent label set up in 1991 by
Blackalicious (Chief Xcel & Gift of Gab), Lyrics Born, Lateef the Truthspeaker, and DJ
Shadow,277 with assistance from DJ Zen.278 Entropy featured Send Them by Lyrics Born on
the B-side, known as Asia Born at the time,279 and while the release attracted little notice in
America at the time280 (with one of the few reviews coming from Spin Magazine in December
1994)281 it was later considered an underground classic.282
265
Ma, D 2017, pp. 76-77
266
Aubrey, E 2017b
267
Ma, D 2017, p. 74
268
SLurg, 2006
269
Ma, D 2017, p. 77
270
Wilder, E 2017, p. 61
271
unkle98 2019
272
Wilder, E 2017, p. 61
273
Swift, I 2013
274
Wilder, E 2017, p. 60
275
Discogs 2019m
276
Kirwin, P 2003
277
HipHopCrack, nd
278
Chennault, S 2005
279
Discogs 2019m
280
Fine, J 1997, p. 61
281
Aaron, C 1994, p. 110
282
Reeves, M 1999
33
In/Flux / Hindsight was released by Mo’ Wax in November 1993 under the moniker DJ Shadow
& The Groove Robbers,283 and had been recorded across the Spring and Summer of 1993284
at Dan The Automator’s studio.285 The Automator, aka Daniel M. Nakamura, had a home
studio in his parent’s attic286 which was known as The Glue Factory,287 and had invited Shadow
to use it after meeting and realising they had a mutual love of hip hop, with In/Flux being the
first thing Shadow recorded there.288
In 1993 when Lavelle had first received In/Flux from DJ Shadow he played it to people at Mo’
Wax and they were confused by how Lavelle was going to market an instrumental record.
Lavelle made sure the right DJ’s played it and soon the press took off289 with Melody Maker
calling it “the most delicious sound of the week, a colossal feast tipped straight in to the open
mind.”290 While NME enthused that it was “undoubtedly one of the musical highlights of a
confused but eclectic 1993.”291
Both In/Flux and it’s B-side Hindsight were sample heavy explorations different from what hip
hop fans were used to hearing, but Shadow was not alone in his sonic explorations with DJ
Krush soon releasing his own record on Mo’ Wax which featured a similar sample-based
style.292 These releases would serve as hints of a new sound which Mo’ Wax would be at the
forefront of, and there was still more to come.
283
Cooper, D 2014
284
Discogs 2019l
285
286
Wilder, E 2017, p. 78
287
Doyle, T 2017
288
Wilder, E 2017, p. 60
289
The Mo'Wax Vaults: Extended interview with James Lavelle and DJ Shadow 2018, 00:26:35
290
Parkes, T 1993
291
NME, 1994
292
Sutherland, A 1994, p. 32
34
Trip Hop
Trip hop as a term has not always been popular, with many of the acts associated with the trip
hop sound unimpressed by it,293 while music fans have likewise found themselves arguing
over what is and isn’t trip hop, and what exactly makes someone trip hop anyway.294 While
people will argue over whether a descriptive term is really a genre, or just pigeonholing by the
press, in their 1995 article on acid jazz, Fly described the use of terms like trip hop as a
“necessary evil” that helps sell records and “in turn keeps musicians afloat.”295 Regardless,
trip hop as a term has stuck around and is still applied to music today, generally to describe
slower hip hop songs.296 But where did this hip hop inspired genre spring up from?
Hip hop began in the United States of America, specifically New York City during the 1970’s
and as a culture it came to comprise of four main elements: DJ, MC (Rapping), Graffiti and
Breakdance.297 Some of the originators and founders of hip hop included DJ Kool Herc who
introduced the Jamaican sound systems to parties in America, as well as DJs such as
Grandmaster Flash who used two turntables to seamlessly extend the instrumental breaks on
a record which created the breakbeat, and Afrika Bambaataa298 who’s 1982 single Planet
Rock would include samples from Kraftwerk299 mixed with Roland TR-808 Drum Machines.300
In England new sounds were also brewing in the 1970’s with punk becoming a subculture of
its own thanks to the popularity of groups such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash. But while
punk was still developing there weren’t many Punk records for DJ’s to play so they began
playing dub reggae instead.301 Punk groups were also reggae influenced, with The Clash
featuring a cover of a reggae song, Police and Thieves, on their 1977 self-titled debut album
and former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon’s group Public Image Ltd. featured a noticeable
dub influenced sound. With punks listening to reggae they started going to Jamaican sound
system parties as well as their own punk shows.302
Sound systems had become popular in Jamaica during the 1950’s with the idea being that
instead of hiring a large band to play at your event you have a DJ play records instead.303 The
records played included styles such as ska, rock steady, reggae, dancehall, and dub.304 Dub
music is often bass heavy in nature, and strips reggae back to its essence, and dub mixes
were created as an early form of remix where artists such as King Tubby, Scientist, and Lee
Perry began adding reverb, delay and other effects305 to give dub its own trippy soundscape
293
Reynolds, S 1994c
294
Zen <solesides@aol.com> 1996
295
Phenian, 1995
296
Twells, J and Fintoni, L 2015
297
Tate, G and Light, A, 2019
298
Ibid.
299
Reighley, K 1999 p. 72
300
Anderson, J 2008
301
Howe, R 2019
302
Ibid.
303
BBC, n.d. c
304
Ibid.
305
BBC, n.d. b
35
like sound.306 Another element of the sound system was toasting, or MCing, where the DJ
would rhyme and hype up the crowd, in what is seen as a natural precursor to rap.307 Sound
system culture found its way to England in the 1970’s308 and gained popularity with several
sound systems set up309 and competing across the UK.310
At the time American hip hop had also entered the British Music Charts, with the Sugarhill
Gang’s Rapper’s Delight reaching #3 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1979,311and The
Rock Steady Crew peaking at #6 in the charts with their single (Hey You) The Rock Steady
Crew, which became the 50th Best Selling Single release of 1983.312 For many people their
introduction to hip hop in Britain wasn’t until 1982 and 1983 when British artists began
releasing their own take on the genre such as Malcolm McLaren’s Buffalo Gals and DJ
Newtrament’s London Bridge Is Falling Down313 the latter of which is considered to be the “first
authentic British hip hop tune.”314
1983 also brought the first Street Sounds Electro compilation, released on 12” record and
cassette by the Street Sounds record label,315 featuring an assortment of hip hop infused
tracks licensed from America.316 The Electro series would extend for 22 volumes,317 lasting
until 1988,318 and electro as a genre had now taken off in the UK319 with its robotic sound
described in 1984 as a fusion of “street funk and hip-hop mixed with influences from British
synthesizer groups, Latin music and Jazz fusion - all thrown into the robot dancing, breaking
and moonwalking meltdown.”320
Meanwhile in 1982, Grant Marshall became resident DJ at The Dug Out,321 a club in Bristol
often described as a melting pot of cultures where DJs played various genres such as punk,
soul, hip hop, reggae, funk, and jazz,322 and the crowds were built up of “Punks, Soul boys
and girls, Rastas, Afro-Caribbeans, students and ‘Clifton trendies’; artists and musicians.”323
In 1983 Grant Marshall was joined by The Wild Bunch,324 a sound system generally credited
for birthing what was termed the Bristol sound, and in particular they became famous for the
parties held in the Bristol neighbourhood of St. Pauls.325 Influenced by the Jamacian sound
system culture, the group played an assortment of genres including punk,326 hip hop, reggae,
306
BBC, n.d. a
307
BBC, n.d. d
308
Dagnini, J 2010
309
NME 1981
310
Fearon, R 1981
311
May, C 2015
312
Wikipedia 2020
313
May, C 2015
314
Dabydeen, D, Gilmore, J, & Jones, C 2007, p. 549
315
Discogs 2019nnn
316
Titmus, S 2013
317
Street Sounds, 2015
318
Discogs 2019ooo
319
Toop, D 1984, p. 40
320
Ibid. p. 48
321
Webb, P 2007, p. 39
322
Murray, R 2018
323
Dubplate To Dubstep, n.d.
324
Pride, D 1995 p. 80
325
British Council, n.d.
326
36
funk, rap and R&B.327 The group was founded by Miles Johnson (DJ Milo) but grew to include
Nellee Hooper, Grant Marshall (Daddy G), Claude Williams (Wille Wee), Robert Del Naja (3D),
and Andrew Vowles (Mushroom). Other collaborators included Adrian Thaws (Tricky), though
reportedly their members effectively included anyone “who could be trusted to distribute flyers
or sell a few cans of lager.”328
The group released two singles, Tearin Down The Avenue in 1987 and Friends And
Countrymen in 1988, the latter of which was described by James Lavelle as “The record that
started it all... This is the blueprint of British sound system soul.”329
By 1988 The Wild Bunch had broken up, Nellee Hooper began producing Soul II Soul, DJ Milo
had moved to Japan to work with Major Force, and Daddy G, 3D, and Mushroom formed
Massive Attack, releasing Any Love in 1988, featuring co-production from Smith & Mighty.330
By the late 1980’s hip hop had gone mainstream in the UK with the Beastie Boys album
Licensed To Ill bringing hip hop back in to the British music album charts,331 and artists such
as Public Enemy,332 Beastie Boys and Run DMC extended their tours in to the UK, giving
British fans a chance to experience hip hop live.333 British hip hop likewise continued to strive
with many local artists making the mainstream charts, but they rarely made the cultural impact
that many of their American contemporaries would.334 Two documentaries were created in
1987 focusing on British hip hop and the respective scene, Tim Westwood’s BBC
documentary Bad Meaning Good,335 and Channel Four’s Bombin’ which featured The Wild
Bunch’s 3D.336 But while hip hop was going mainstream other new genres were popping up in
the UK as well.
In 1987 the Acid Jazz record label was formed by Giles Peterson and Eddie Piller.337 Peterson
had also been part of BGP Records338 which released a series of compilations entitled Acid
Jazz which collected old jazz and funk songs.339 Acid jazz soon became considered a genre
in its own right, through it was never truly defined, and in the liner notes from Acid Jazz Vol. 2
Chris Bangs states, "When you've finished listening to this album, you probably still won't be
sure what Acid Jazz really is. That's exactly what Acid Jazz is all about. It's new music, old
music, it's esoteric music."340
By the early 1990’s the name acid jazz had become the buzzword for a scene made up of
new music by bands such as Brand New Heavies, Galliano, and The Young Disciples, but
artists and fans continued to argue over what acid jazz really was, and if it was a genre at
327
British Council, n.d.
328
Red Lines, n.d.
329
Dummy, 2015
330
331
Official UK Charts Company 2019f
332
Mccray, JL 2013
333
Phillips, M 2017
334
Love, L 2018
335
BBC 2019
336
Spray Daily 2014
337
Acid Jazz 2018
338
Ace Records 2019
339
Discogs 2019fff
340
Discogs 2020h
37
all.341 Early Mo’ Wax releases were considered part of the acid jazz scene342 before they
became more hip hop focused,343 and Lavelle began describing these as “progressive
electro”344 and “abstract musical science.”345
In 1993 a new British sound had reached America bearing the electro name, with Billboard
reporting that electro is “one name for a multifaceted scene that many in the British music
business are busting to define.”346 Some of the suggested definitions include “jazz but not
jazz” and “street soul”, but Billboard explained it was “the mutant child of what used to be
called rare groove, 70’s funk, and acid jazz.”
Electro groups began to enter the charts in the UK, with Gabrielle’s Dreams hitting the #1 spot
in 1993, where it stayed for three weeks and remained in the charts for a total of fifteen.347
Another big hit for the scene was Jamiroquai, who in 1992 reached #52 in the charts with
When Your Gonna Learn released by Acid Jazz.348 He then signed to Sony and his debut
album Emergency on Planet Earth reached #1.349 This eclectic melting pot of styles led many
to doubt electro would have any success in America, with Paul Bradshaw explaining to
Billboard in 1993, “America doesn’t understand what’s going on at all.”350 As an example, they
highlighted how The Brand New Heavies had their album’s American release delayed by
fifteen months, by which time the lead singer had left the band.351 The Guardian further
theorised that America’s lack of understanding stemmed from the fact Britain’s distinctive take
on hip hop was “so thoroughly mutated that they’re unrecognisable to American hip-hop
audiences.”352 Notably in an interview with Dazed & Confused in 1994, 3D admitted Massive
Attack’s Blue Lines album, widely heralded in UK, had not done well at all in America.353
Massive Attack’s Blue Lines was followed by more albums featuring similar downtempo beats
such as Björk’s 1993 Debut, produced by Nellee Hooper, and Portishead’s Dummy released
in 1994. To the British press by now it was clear a new sound had evolved in England, and in
June 1994 an article in the British magazine Mixmag suggested a new term to describe the
sound, trip hop. Describing the genre as:
Slow and crunching hip-hop beats, no vocals, just strange swirling noises over the
top...a deft fusion of head-nodding beats, supa-phat bass and an obsessive attention
to the kind of otherworldly sounds usually found on acid house records. It comes from
the suburbs, not the streets, and with no vocals you don’t need to be American to make
it sound convincing.354
341
Phenian, 1995
342
Twells, J and Fintoni, L 2015
343
Davis, E 1996, pp. 72-74
344
Discogs 2019l
345
Discogs 2019n
346
347
Official UK Charts Company 2019d
348
Official UK Charts Company 2019e
349
Official UK Charts Company 2019c
350
351
Ibid.
352
Reynolds, S 1994c
353
Leedham, R 1994, p. 47
354
Pemberton, A 1994
38
While the record Mixmag held up as the pinnacle example of trip hop, DJ Shadows’ In/Flux,
was technically created by an American, the point the article tried to get across was that British
hip hop had suffered in comparison to the sounds coming from America, and trip hop was the
answer.
At the time in the 1990’s British hip hop wasn’t respected, with Lavelle explaining “British Hip-
hop lacks the lyrical skills of US counterparts, but British kids have got the musical side. They
know about records. That’s the step forward. Now they can do their own style, they don’t have
to copy anything.”355
But while fans ate up the music, the artists weren’t impressed with being slapped with the trip
hop name, as it lumped together artists such as DJ Shadow, Massive Attack, Tricky,
Portishead, Björk and even The Chemical Brothers. Lavelle has spoken out on the term
several times when pressed in interviews, stating in 1998:
The whole trip hop thing was odd. It was great to receive attention for what we were
doing, but the term was horrific. Neither the bands on the label or myself had really
decided what we were doing and we got put into the same category as people who
weren't really on the same course as us. We'd always get mentioned along with the
Chemical Brothers and the whole big beat scene. I'm sure they were equally upset
about being compared with a mellow hip-hop label!356
DJ Shadow also had an opinion on trip hop, telling Spine Magazine in early 1995:
What I can't stand - and find most difficult about being on Mo'Wax - is that in America
almost any kind of new music that comes out of Britain is considered 'acid jazz'.
Jungle is considered acid jazz. The type of records I do back home are considered
as following in the lineage of acid jazz. I didn't even know what acid jazz was 'til
James (Lavelle) called me before the release of 'Influx'. I don't know what that is... I
don't know what 'ambient' is... I wasn't even influenced by dub. If you're into hip-hop
it's hard enough keeping up with the latest shit without having to buy all this other
stuff. A lot of people I'm down with know that what I do is my interpretation of hip-
hop, it's not my interpretation of 'ambient-meets-hip-hop-meets-techno’…But anyway
this whole trip hop thing is just dumb.357
The term trip hop wasn’t the first time someone had tried to place a new label on this style,
with other examples including “Ambient Hip-Hop”358 and “The Bristol Sound”359 originating
from journalists trying to contextualise Massive Attack and those that had also come from or
been influenced by Bristol such as Nellee Hooper, Tricky and Portishead.
355
Ibid.
356
Thatcher, D & Lavelle, J 1998, p. 66
357
Spine Magazine n.d. c
358
Reynolds, S 1994c
359
Pride, D 1995, p. 1
39
Massive Attack’s 3D has given the most relaxed attitude to the term, telling Melody Maker in
1994 “If you're doing anything in music, you've got to have some kind of category so that
people can get a handle on you. It's like helping people find what they want."360
360
Reynolds, S 1994a
40
The Time Has Come
June 1994 saw the first release by UNKLE, at the time stylised as U.N.K.L.E. and featuring
James Lavelle, Tim Goldsworthy, Masayuki Kudo and Nakanishi Toshio as members.
Released on both Mo’ Wax and Major Force as Mo Wax Vs. Major Force : Time Has Come,
the 12” EP contained two tracks, Major Force vs. UNKLE The Time Has Come, and Howie B.
vs. Major Force Martian Economics [unified planet theory].361
Previously UNKLE were primarily a remix or production outfit, with only Lavelle and
Goldsworthy appearing on the credits of UNKLE and Men From UNKLE releases. Lavelle
would bring in ideas and samples, while Goldsworthy would put everything together and make
the actual music,362 with UNKLE being Lavelle’s way of getting the records he wanted to hear
made by bringing people together who had the skills to realise his ideas.363 Kudo and Toshi
had moved to London in 1992 as a means of exploring new sounds and recording an album
as Love TKO,364 which became the album Head Hunter, released in 1994 and featuring co-
production by Howie B.365
At this time James Lavelle was moving his Mo’ Wax offices to a new building and offered a
space for Kudo and Toshi, giving them a studio and forging a new partnership, Major Force
West,366 a record label run by Kudo and Toshi from the Mo’ Wax office which put out a handful
of releases in 1994, each featuring hand drawn artwork by Toshi.367 The label released the
Head Hunter album, as well as EP’s by Love TKO, Howie B, and Major Force vs. UNKLE’s
Time Has Come.
The Time Has Come was largely built around a sample of Sun Ra's Twin Stars of Thencei,
from his album Lanquidity, recorded and released in 1978 on Philly Jazz.368 Vocal samples
from a 1967 soundtrack by Dr. Timothy Leary for the documentary film Turn On, Tune In, Drop
Out369 are inserted across the track, beginning with “Are you ready to die, and be reborn?”,
screams for help, and the source of the title “The time has come.” Lavelle described the
recording as stemming from “a session in the studio for a day just mucking around”, after he’d
convinced Kudo to let him come into his studio.370
David Toop, reviewing The Time Has Come for The Times London, called the track “like music
heard through a dream” and concluded “Reviews so far have emphasised what it is not. What
it is, nobody knows”.371
361
Discogs 2019jjj
362
363
Ma, D 2017, p. 75
364
Takayama, Y 2013
365
Discogs 2019x
366
Takayama, Y 2013
367
Mo’ Wax Discography 2011d
368
Sun Ra 2014
369
Discogs 2019o
370
UNKLE 1998, 00:06:55
371
Toop, D 1995
41
In 1995 Dazed & Confused magazine asked Tim Goldsworthy about the use of “astro, weirdo,
boingy noises” that feature in UNKLE’s songs and Goldsworthy explained:
When you're listening to the tunes, sitting on the window ledge, looking out on the
world with a spliff and a cup of coffee, mad noises can add a new dimension, an
unmusical dimension which adds something to the entire thing. Looking for sounds
can become an obsession. For example the other day my girlfriend Samantha was in
bed with a slightly blocked up nose and she was snoring but she was doing this really
full on banging beat. I just had to get to work.372
The Time Has Come B-side, Martian Economics [unified planet theory]I, was provided by
Howie B and described by The Wire as “a wacked-out, Sun Ra-meets-The Orb affair they
knocked up in five hours,”373 and which Howie described as “like me doing a tune with Jimmy
Smith, even though he wasn't there.”374 He explained the release of the track, saying "We took
it to James Lavelle and said "what do you think?'. Five weeks later I was in a club and I heard
it, thought "Fuck, what's going on?!" James'd released it without telling us!"375
Howie, Toshi and Kudo would continue their collaboration as Skylab, recording and releasing
Skylab#1 in late 1994, with the Seashell 12” preceding it, releasing on July 1994.376 In his
review of Skylab#1 The Times’ David Toop again likened this release to music heard through
a dream, asking “How many more remarkable albums can be released before the end of the
year?”377
While Nakanishi Toshio created the visual style for Major Force West’s record covers, James
Lavelle was also looking for new visual ideas and collaborators on Mo’ Wax. The first twenty
releases on Mo’ Wax featured the familiar obi strip design, but then for the twenty first release,
Deep Joy’s Make Some Sense of This, the cover featured a colourful Mo’ Wax logo as its
artwork, which then featured across the next two releases in slight variations.378
These were followed by DJ Shadow & DJ Krush’s split release Lost and Found (S.F.L) /
Kemuri, and DJ Krush’s album Strictly Turntablized. These last two releases not only
epitomized the new Mo’ Wax sound, but also showcase a new visual style for Mo’ Wax
introducing people to the work of graffiti artist Leonard Hilton McGurr, better known at the time
by his graffiti tag Futura2000, and later simply as Futura. Futura and Lavelle met while they
were both in Berlin in 1993 while Lavelle was performing at triebWerk as part of a Mo’ Wax
party on August 27th, and Futura was taking part in the first Cycle Messenger World
Championships where he raced and took part in a live art performance with Stash.379 The
Championship was held in Berlin from August 27-29, with Futura reportedly placing 82nd out
of 400 in one of the events.380 Lavelle was already a fan of Futura’s work, and they had a
372
373
Reynolds, S 1996 p. 26
374
Ibid. p. 27
375
Ibid. p. 26
376
Discogs 2019ii
377
Toop, D 1994
378
Mo’ Wax Discography 2011c
379
Messenger 2011
380
McLean, C 1998, p. 65
42
mutual friend in artists Stash and Eric Haze.381 Lavelle introduced himself to Futura382 and
asked if he had any paintings Lavelle could buy to use as album artwork,383 and Lavelle later
visited Futura in his Brooklyn studio. He would discuss their meeting to Graphotism in 2000:
I went to his studio and, from then on, it was pretty quick. I bought paintings used for
the original DJ Krush covers. The first sleeve I bought was used on DJ Shadow’s and
Krush’s split record, Lost & Found / Kemuri, and then the UNKLE sleeve for Time Has
Come...I don’t get him to design specific things. I go and look at his work and then
choose things because I prefer to have that choice. I’m very picky about what I want,
so I found that if you commission people it’s sometimes not as good as when you have
an opportunity to look through a selection of work. So most of Mo’ Wax covers have
been paintings he’s just done or what he’s doing the time. I’d have a specific thing in
mind for what I’d want on the cover, and you’d either see it or you wouldn’t.384
Futura was not new to the world of music, having toured with The Clash in 1981, and he had
even released a 12” of his own The Escapade of Futura 2000. In 1982 he joined Afrika
Bambaata, Rammellzee, the Rock Steady Crew, and Fab Five Freddie on the The New York
City Rap Tour in Paris, where he performed385 and painted on stage,386 and also met his future
wife.387 He also supplied artwork for several vinyl releases in the early 1980’s for artists such
as Fab Five Freddie and Cabaret Voltaire.388 By the mid-80’s he had settled down somewhat
and moved away from graffiti to became a bike messenger while also working various jobs to
support his family.389 During this period Futura was still exhibiting artworks390 but in his own
words had “basically just abandoned the whole art world”391 but began returning to art seriously
once more after teaming with James Lavelle. In 1994 Mo’ Wax began releasing records
featuring artwork by Futura, which introduced the artist to a new audience as well as future
collaborators.392
Their first collaboration, the split release of DJ Shadow and DJ Krush – Lost and Found
(S.F.L.) / Kemuri,393 was released in September 1994,394 and also served as the first Mo’ Wax
release worked on by Ben Drury, who had joined Mo’ Wax as their new Art Director, sitting
alongside Will Bankhead and Swifty on the graphic design team.395
This was followed in December by UNKLE’s The Time Has Come EP, a remixed version of
the previous Mo' Wax v.s. Major Force 12”. This new 12” featured a fresh rendition of The
Time Has Come by UNKLE entitled, If You Find Earth Boring (UNKLE Mix), which opens with
381
Cooper, D 2013c
382
Bradshaw, P 2014a
383
Cooper, D 2013c
384
Graphotism 2000
385
Le Républicain Lorrain, 2019
386
Schwartzberg, L 2015
387
Bird, G 1996, p. 6
388
Discogs 2019p
389
Spine Magazine 2002?
390
Artnet, 2019a
391
Spine Magazine 2002?
392
Ibid.
393
Graphotism 2000
394
Discogs 2019n
395
Discogs 2019b
43
an answering machine message from Shadow rapping.396 Lavelle had asked Shadow to come
in and work on a remix for the track, serving as the first time Lavelle and Shadow would appear
together under the UNKLE name,397 though
The new EP was subtitled “A tribute to Sun-Ra and all things fucked up” and took its song
title of If You Find Earth Boring from Sun Ra’s Outer Spaceways Incorporated where “If You
Find Earth Boring…” is part of the repeated lyrics.398 Alongside the UNKLE remix, the EP
featured remixes and reinterpretations by Adrian Utley of Portishead, Howie B, and two by
Plaid.399
The artwork was another piece created by Futura, but unlike the previous abstract graffiti
styles, The Time Has Come featured his pointmen characters which would continue to be
utilised as the logo for future UNKLE projects. Lavelle had first spotted the pointmen when
visiting Futura’s studio after their meeting in Berlin. Futura described their meeting:
So we met in Brooklyn, he comes in to my studio and I had a painting on the wall that
was one character. They’ve been called Pointmen, just because their heads are
pointed, that was a subtle shout out to HR Giger, who was a bit of an influence on
me. So James goes, ‘Who’s that little bloke over there?’…I thought a bloke was a
guy, a man. So I said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’, so he said, ‘Oh, the
little bloke with the ears’ and I realised he was talking about my character and it just
made me laugh. It was funny how my guys were my guys but nobody really ever
looked at them. So the artwork had been there…but it was really James who
embraced them. They went on to symbolise, initially, U.N.K.L.E. — and...they just
appropriated those characters as an identity.400
Their collaboration would continue, and in 1995 Futura travelled to London to work on
paintings at the Mo’ Wax offices, with Lavelle picking out the ones he wanted for future
releases.401
396
Discogs 2019rr
397
Ma, D 2017, p. 75
398
Burega, G-M 2014
399
Discogs 2019rr
400
Donners, B 2018
401
Graphotism 1995, p. 4
44
Mo’ Wax Expanded
In 1993 Mo’ Wax was losing money402 but had been able to stay afloat thanks to an
international distribution deal in Japan, worth £25,000.403 London Records had offered James
Lavelle a £25,000 licensing deal, but he turned it down,404 and it wasn’t until March 1994 that
the label turned their first profit, with the release of Federation's album Flower to the Sun,405
released March 30, 1994.406 This was followed by the Headz compilation in November 1994,407
which sold 40,000 copies by the end of 1996408 making Mo’ Wax a £20,000 profit, close to the
amount of money Lavelle had turned down from London Records.409
The Headz compilation was spread across three 12” records, and would be followed later by
an even larger sequel.410 Both instalments contained tracks by artists such as Attica Blues,
Nightmares On Wax, Le Funk Mob, Autechre, DJ Shadow, and Howie B, combing Mo’ Wax
artists with licensed tracks from other labels Lavelle admired.411
Headz signalled a new direction for Mo’ Wax as a label, as it stepped away from the acid jazz
sounds that defined the label, and Melody Maker called it “Arguably the most radical
redefinition of hip-hop since De La Soul’s birth of the Daisy Age”.412 Headz is the release
Lavelle would credit for putting Mo’ Wax on the map,413 and at the time Radiohead’s Thom
told NME the album was a favourite of his, which made Lavelle consider a future collaboration
with the band.414
Lavelle’s lack of business focus led to the release of another Mo’ Wax’s compilation, Royaltie$
Overdue, so named because the label had run out of money to pay their artists.415 The album
served as an overview of the label and their various acts at that point in mid-1994, and while
it spent five weeks in the UK Compilation Charts416 it also received very mixed reviews,417 with
Melody Maker commenting “the Mo Wax roster is evenly divided between the brilliant and the
bland.”418
In 1994 Lavelle was moving Mo’ Wax away from the labels acid jazz roots and was looking
towards finding its own niche, or as he explained at the time, “Mo’ Wax isn’t the label that puts
402
Passey, M 1996, 00:21:00
403
McLean, C 1995b, p. 156
404
Halasa, M 1996, p. 15
405
Mark, O 1998
406
AllMusic.com 2019b
407
The Guardian 1994, p. 45
408
Halasa, M 1996, p. 15
409
McLean, C 1995b, p. 155
410
Hermes, W 1997, p. 160
411
Yellow Peril, 1995
412
Bush, C 1994, p. 37
413
414
415
The Mo'Wax Vaults: The Lost Men from Unkle 2018, 00:03:50
416
Official UK Charts Company 2019h
417
Penman, I 1994, p. 66
418
Reynolds, S 1994b
45
out the biggest records, it’s the label with the fattest concepts.”419 Some of those concepts
included a follow up to Headz and Mo’ Wax Vs Grand Royal, a compilation featuring artists
from Lavelle’s Mo’ Wax and the Beastie Boys Mike D’s record label Grand Royal.420 But
beyond music Lavelle also planned to expand in to publishing books on graffiti, art gallery
shows, a range of clothes, videos, films, soundtracks, a magazine and CD-ROMs.421 422 In
terms of the future sound of Mo’ Wax, Lavelle explained at the time, “I think when people see
the next load of records come out, people will see it’s changing.”423 Some of these releases
included La Funk Mob, DJ Shadow, and DJ Krush, with Mo’ Wax showing it was leaving acid
jazz behind as the label embraced a greater hip hop influence.
Lavelle discussed the differing sounds of Mo’ Wax in early 1994:
We've got two sides to the label. There's the live jazz thing which is basically soul, funk
and jazz orientated music - bands like Federation, Step, Mistura and to an extent, Palm
Skin, which fits into the normal acid jazz criteria. And then we've got a progressive,
head music sound which is DJ Shadow, Attica Blues, Revolution Per Minute, Men
From Unkle and various things that are coming soon.424
Further to this distinction was Lavelle’s plan not to just emulate labels such as Hollywood
BASIC with their international hip hop aesthetic,425 but to include a wider range of genres as
well,426 with hopes to include techno, jazz, abstract hip hop, as well as a rock / hip hop band
in the future.427 Lavelle explained that last point in further detail in 1994, “We are gonna launch
a mad hip-hop/thrash fused band, a young Beastie Boys kind of thing. I'm into the total energy
of the Beasties and that whole kind of skate thing. I want that energy and total madness
surrounding the whole idea."428
By the end of 1994 Mo’ Wax had also started entering the charts, with DJ Shadow and DJ
Krush’s Lost and Found (S.F.L.) / Kemuri split release entering the UK Top 100 Singles Chart
in October where it spent a week at #84. This was just a taste though of what was to come,
with DJ Shadow’s What Does Your Soul Look Like entering the Singles Top 100 at #59 on
25th March 1995, before dropping to #97 in its second week, and then out of the charts. While
UNKLE’s The Time Has Come EP was the first Mo’ Wax release to enter the Album Charts
on January 21st 1995, spending one week at #73 before dropping out again.429 At the time
Lavelle noted now that UNKLE had reached the charts he felt an immense pressure for the
next UNKLE release to live up to expectations. The Time Has Come was recorded in two
days, 430 and Lavelle felt that UNKLE had previously been more of a fun, spontaneous, “it’ll
419
Crysell, A 1994, p. 53
420
Diamond, M 1995
421
422
Gray, L 1994, p. 32
423
424
Harris, D 1994
425
Ma, D 2017, p 78
426
Gray, L 1994, p. 32
427
Waterman, R 1994
428
Ibid.
429
Official UK Charts Company 2019l
430
Passey, M 1996, 00:56:00
46
just be a laugh, we’ll go and see what happens”431 type of project between Tim Goldsworthy
and himself. But now Lavelle felt he had to take UNKLE more seriously.432
But at the time Lavelle’s main focus was on Mo’ Wax and in 1995 Lavelle had big plans,
explaining:
We’re one of the biggest independent labels...Most people on that scene will sell 4,000
records, whereas we’ll sell 10-12,000. Which means that I know we’ve gone beyond
the trainspotting thing. There’s the real underground market, then there’s your market
that us and Warp have got. Then you’ve got that market where people buy Björk and
Massive Attack and Portishead. That’s the next market you’ve got to get into.433
Lavelle was at a crossroads with Mo’ Wax Records, and the major labels were starting to steal
his acts. Groups that had been released on Mo’ Wax via licensing agreements were now
getting snatched up before Lavelle could sign them himself. Or worse, groups that he had
hoped to sign were being wooed to the major labels because Mo’ Wax couldn’t offer as much
money. Two of those better-known acts were Portishead and Tricky.434 Lavelle had
approached Portishead about releasing their single Sour Times as a 12”, with the intention of
having it released jointly through Massive Attack’s Wild Style and Lavelle’s own Mo’ Wax.
While this didn’t occur, it did lead to Lavelle meeting 3D in person which led to future
collaborations.435 Portishead’s Sour Times was released in 1994 by Go! Discs, and would
reach #13 on the UK Singles Charts spending a total 8 weeks in the charts.436 While Tricky’s
debut 12” Aftermath had its records pressed by Mo’ Wax before the deal fell through,437
eventually being released by 4TH & BROADWAY it would reach #69 in the UK charts and
stay in the Top 100 for two weeks.438
To counter this, Lavelle had begun talks with London Records to start a new sub-label for
them called S.F.T., or Smoke-Filled Thoughts.439 Steve Finan, who had started managing
Lavelle as an artist, laughed when he saw the deal with London, telling Lavelle it was ridiculous
to start a new label that would eat in to what he was doing with Mo’ Wax.440 Instead Finan
introduced Lavelle to three major label execs from Deconstruction, Virgin, and A&M, who each
made offers for Lavelle and Mo’ Wax to join them. The deals from A&M and Virgin were similar
and Lavelle was leaning towards Virgin, due to their connection with Massive Attack,441 and in
November 1994 New Statesman & Society made the announcement that Lavelle had signed
a deal with Virgin where he would be starting new record labels for them, both major and
independent.442 This appears to have been premature, as when Steve Finan announced to
Lavelle that he was going to work for A&M Lavelle decided he wanted to follow, and so told
431
UNKLE 1998, 00:09:00
432
Passey, M 1996, 00:56:00
433
McLean, C 1995a, p. 106
434
Thompson, B 1995
435
Lavelle, J 2019, 00:44:45
436
Official UK Charts Company 2019i
437
Metaxas, N 2014, 00:11:00
438
Official UK Charts Company 2019k
439
Rose, C 1999 p. 147
440
Rose, C 1999 p. 147 (IBID)
441
Bradshaw, P 2014a
442
Gray, L 1994, p. 33
47
A&M he would sign with them if they bought him an artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat.443 They
agreed,444 and he signed a three year deal to A&M445 for £350,000,446 and received Basquiat’s
1981 drawing Untitled (The sky is the limit), which features the text “Cowards will get rid of
you, the sky is the limit.”447 448
Finan then began to manage the business side of Mo’ Wax,449 and became a 50% owner of
the label,450 split with Lavelle as co-owners.451 Reassuring the press that Mo’ Wax wouldn’t
change, Lavelle told The Independent, “We are still independent in practice...I still sign all the
acts, we distribute and market ourselves and design all our own packaging."452
The deal with A&M brought in larger budgets so Lavelle was now able to sign and release a
broader range of acts such as Money Mark, Andrea Parker,453 and Dr Octagon, a hip hop
project from Dan The Automator and Kool Keith.454 Lavelle stated after the deal that Mo’ Wax
likely would have gone bankrupt if they hadn’t signed with a major,455 but he would also later
describe signing to A&M as "the worst decision I ever made".456
At the time, James Lavelle wasn’t interested in the business side of the label, which meant
Mo’ Wax often lost money,457 but with Finan taking over the business side Lavelle was now
free to focus on other interests.458 In 1996, Ashley Newton, the Virgin Records Deputy
Manager who Lavelle almost signed Mo’ Wax with, and who famously signed Massive Attack,
had this to say: “Success has changed James. As soon as you plug into a corporate system,
there is a certain demand that comes with that.”459
Previously, Lavelle would release records it whenever suited him, and if they sold that was
great, but if they didn’t then they would move on to the next one.460 Under A&M though, there
was pressure to adhere to a schedule, and for records to sell.461 Before the deal, Lavelle was
also very hands on with the acts he signed, allowing them to call him at all hours462 and take
the time needed to experiment in the studio, but this was not the case so much afterwards.463
464
Attica Blues were one of those affected groups who felt they were being pressured in to
443
Williams, E 2017
444
Ibid.
445
Farsides, T 1998
446
Horan, T 1999
447
Bradshaw, P 2013, p. 129
448
Artnet, 2019b
449
Wilder, E 2017, p. 66
450
Companies House 2019
451
Heimlich, A 1998
452
Sturges, F 1998, p. 15
453
Thompson, B 1995
454
455
Ibid.
456
Sturges, F 2014
457
Passey, M 1996, 00:21:00
458
The Man from Mo’ Wax 2018, 00:23:00
459
Halasa, M 1996, p. 15
460
Duyn, E 1996
461
Cooper, D 2013a
462
Patterson, S 2007, p. 53
463
Cooper, D 2013a
464
48
creating a “radio friendly sound”.465 The group had joined Mo’ Wax in 1992 when Lavelle
suggested Charlie Dark record something for the label. They would release a handful of EP’s
between 1994-97 before Mo’ Wax released their self-titled debut album. The band would then
depart Mo’ Wax and sign with Sony / Columbia Records for their next album released in
2000.466
Andrea Parker was another artist affected by the A&M deal. While she released two EPs in
1996 after signing with Mo’ Wax, the A&M deal reportedly caused her debut album Kiss My
Arp to be delayed for three years, eventually releasing in 1998.467
While the deal with A&M would later be viewed as something which lead to a dip in quality for
Mo’ Wax,468 at the time it was seen to have saved Mo’ Wax financially.469 Business was
booming, and while Mo’ Wax had put out almost 50 releases in 1995, this would jump to over
100 in 1996, counting records, CDs, and promo items.470 It led to comparisons being made
between Lavelle and Virgin Records founder Richard Branson which had begun in 1994 due
to Lavelle’s age when he had started Mo’ Wax,471 but after the A&M deal the comparisons
became more frequent and Lavelle was less fond of them, in 1996 telling The Guardian:
I don't want to be Richard Branson. Virgin cola is about contributing to a market, I'm
about creating something new. Mo'Wax is an attitude that encompasses a whole
culture - music, style, design. I want to change the way people perceive commercial
and accessible music.472
After Mo’ Wax’s deal with A&M, Lavelle moved Mo’ Wax to new offices on Caledonian Road
and surrounded himself with new people. He later explained his feelings from the period:
I felt very lost at the time because I was 18 and everybody else was a lot older. The
scene didn’t seem to be about young kids, it seemed to be about 28 year olds. I needed
to appeal to people my own age. I hooked up with Slam City Skates because I was
into all the clothes and I met Will who designs all my sleeves now and he was my
age.473
It was around this time that Swifty left474 and Will Bankhead and Ben Drury stepped in as
Artistic Directors when they were asked to take over the design of the label, with Drury later
recalling the change:
James encouraged us to source new materials, use special printing processes,

develop new packaging solutions and to experiment across the range of formats, his
465
Berry, D 2009b
466
Ibid.
467
Berry, D 2009a
468
Sturges, F 2014
469
470
jimmyjrg 2020
471
Rose, C 1994
472
Halasa, M 1996, p. 15
473
474
Cooper, D 2013b
49
mania for novelty and the profuse output of the label made this both an instructive and
intense period and some of these sleeves are among my personal favourites.475
The collaboration between Bankhead and Drury continued for a year until Bankhead left to
develop his own work, and Drury remained on as Art Director of Mo' Wax.476
The new Mo’ Wax offices were soon decorated by Lavelle’s Star Wars memorabilia,477 and
the Major Force West studios were also moved with Masayuki Kudo and Nakanishi Toshio
located in the basement. Kudo later described the studio to Wax Poetics Japan as being dark
and cold, with a low ceiling, which initially didn’t leave a good impression. But he continued
working none the less.478
475
Drury, B 2001
476
Drury, B 2001
477
478
Takayama, Y 2013
50
Endtroducing…..
Following the releases of In/Flux in 1993, Mo’ Wax wanted an album from DJ Shadow. Both
1993’s In/Flux and 1994’s Lost and Found 12” singles had been well received by the press
and the obvious next step was to release an album. Shadow for his part had been working on
one, spending four months on a series of tracks entitled What Does Your Soul Look Like,479 a
title Shadow discovered when flipping through an old psychology book and one of the chapters
featured that title.480
Shadow presented the collection of tracks to James Lavelle as a work in progress to give an
idea of how the album was progressing, but Lavelle felt this would do better as an EP and
released it as such in June 1994481 to great acclaim, leading to more high praise from the
press for Shadow and Mo’ Wax.482
What Does Your Soul Look Like would later be re-released in 1995 and enter the UK Singles
Top 100 at the #59 spot on March 25th 1995, before dropping to #97 in its second week, and
then out of the charts.483 Meanwhile the release of his album in progress meant that Shadow
was forced to start again, and Shadow feared he had “missed the boat” as albums by
Portishead were being released which the press positioned as competitors to the sound
Shadow had developed.484
Shadow decided for his debut album that he wanted to make a statement, with the proposed
title Endtroducing meant to signify the end of the sound he had been associated with so far.
He explained in early 1995:
The album's going to be called 'Endtroducing'. Side one's called 'Build' and side two's
called 'Destroy'. The last song's called 'The Phoenix', because it's all about destroying
the thing that you've created.485
The album was also intended as a statement regarding the state of sample-based music in
hip hop at the time, he later told WestWorld:
What I was trying to do was push the art of sampling forward because, as I was starting
to make mixes in '89 on a four track and got my MPC in '92, all throughout that time
frame, the manipulation of samples was becoming more and more intricate and
challenging and people were pushing the boundaries.
Then around '93 and '94, sampling took a turn a little bit to the stylings of what Dr. Dre
was doing with adding keyboards over the top and having live instrumentation played
over just a couple of samples...By '95, when I was really working on Endtroducing
heavily, I was very much trying to make a statement about, "Why are we all abandoning
479
Fader, L 2012
480
Bright, M 1995, p. 37
481
Discogs 2019k
482
Kulkarni, N 1995
483
Official UK Charts Company 2019n
484
Bradshaw, P 2014b
485
Spine Magazine n.d. c
51
this artform? What everybody else is doing is great, but I feel like there's a lot of work
left to be done in this discipline." And I wanted to create a record that pushed that
conversation forward. That was then and I've tried to do that through the year at various
times still, just sort of be like, "Well this little moment on the record I'm going to try to
blow people's minds.486
Songs for the album were created from samples discovered while digging for records at Rare
Records in Sacramento, a record store which had a basement overflowing with records which
the owner Ed Hartman allowed Shadow access to.487 The store was opened by Hartman in
the 1970’s and remained in its location on the 700 block of K Street, Sacramento until the mid-
2000’s when it moved to 1618 Broadway, before closing in 2016.488 One of the records
Shadow had found there was David Axelrod’s 1969 album Songs Of Experience.489 Axelrod
had produced several albums for David McCallum, an actor and musician who starred in the
TV series The Man From U.N.C.L.E., before Axelrod went solo.490 He would release several
albums across the 1970’s which would be heavily sampled as they were later discovered by
hip hop producers during the 1990’s with artists such as De La Soul, Dr Dre,491 and Kool G
Rap492 all using elements of Axelrod’s productions in their work.
For DJ Shadow, Axelrod’s The Human Abstract featured a piano which fit perfectly with a
breakbeat Shadow had created from Life Connection, a 1968 song by Rotary Connection.493
Shadow then added samples from Sower of Seeds by Baraka, Sekoilu Seestyy by Pekka
Pohjola, Releasing Hypnotical Gases by Organized Konfusion, Dolmen Music by Meredith
Monk, and California Soul by Marlena Shaw, which together became Midnight In A Perfect
World.494
Shadow would record the samples in to his MPC and an ADAT machine.495 DAT is short for
Digital Audio Tape and was a format created by Sony which was used by many musicians in
the studio due to the higher quality of audio in comparison to regular audio cassettes,496 while
ADAT was Alessis’ take on DAT which was a more affordable alternative.497 Once a track was
complete, Shadow would record from the MPC to ADAT and then take the tapes to Dan The
Automator’s studio where they would be copied across to DAT for further mixing.498
In the middle of the Endtroducing sessions, James Lavelle had arranged with A&M for a
budget to allow Tim Goldsworthy, Masayuki Kudo, and himself to travel to LA499 and record
the first UNKLE album at producer Mario C’s studio, with Shadow also invited to contribute.500
486
Murphy, T 2013
487
Doyle, T 2017
488
Macias, C 2016
489
Doyle, T 2017
490
Kreps, D 2017
491
Weiss, J 2017
492
WhoSampled 2019f
493
Doyle, T 2017
494
WhoSampled 2019l
495
Rule, G 1997
496
Shambro, J 2019
497
White, P 2010
498
Rule, G 1997
499
O’Connor, F 1995
500
McClean, M 1995, p. 106
52
Belmondo in LA
In 1995, while James Lavelle was finalising a deal between Mo’ Wax and A&M Records,
UNKLE had continued to record, remix and release tracks including two which saw release in
March of that year.
March 16th saw the release of Dewback, a new UNKLE song produced by Tim Goldsworthy
and Lavelle, featuring D’Afro (Charlie Dark of Attica Blues) and Patterson aka David Patterson.
Dewback was released on a compilation of trip hop entitled 110 Below - Trip To The cHIP
sHOP Vol-2.501 The title Dewback is a reference to the Dewback creature from the original
Star Wars film, where the Dewback are thick-skinned reptiles native to the planet Tatooine
seen in the film mounted by sandtroopers.502 At the time Lavelle was well known for his
collection of Star Wars memorabilia which filled the Mo’ Wax offices,503 and the Dewback toy
was considered to be quite rare during Lavelle’s childhood504 with many fans assuming it was
only a rumour,505 but Lavelle eventually found one by chance in a shop when he was 18.506
The second UNKLE track released in March 1995 was a remix of Massive Attack’s
Karmacoma, released on the Karmacoma EP on March 20th, featuring production from Tim
Goldsworthy, Masayuki Kudo and Lavelle as well as scratches by DJ Shadow.507 The remix,
entitled Karmacoma (U.N.K.L.E. Situation), contains samples from Doctor John’s 1968 song
Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya, and was featured next to remixes by Ben Young, Blacksmith, and
Portishead.508
James Lavelle was also continuing with plans for an UNKLE album, and in June 1995 MC
Rammellzee was flown to the UK by Lavelle to record something in the Major Force West
Studio.509
Rammellzee aka RAMM:ΣLL:ZΣΣ was born in 1960, though his birth name and exact date of
birth have not been made public.510 He entered the graffiti art scene in the 1970’s, tagging
trains in the New York City subway, and appeared in the hip hop films Style Wars and Wild
Style. He would also appear as “Man with Money” in Stranger Than Paradise, Jim Jarmusch’s
second feature film released in 1984.511 Rammellzee exhibited his visual art around the world,
working initially in painting and later focusing on intricate sculpture pieces.512
501
Discogs 2019eee
502
Wookieepedia 2019
503
504
Darby, A 2013
505
Veekhoven, T 2014
506
Darby, A 2013
507
Discogs 2019aa
508
MassiveAttack.ie 2019b
509
Gill, E 2014
510
Ray, J 2018
511
IMDB 2019a
512
Gavin, F 2019
53
In 1983 Rammellzee appeared on the 12” Beat Bop, a hip hop single by Rammellzee and K-
Rob released in 1983 and featured in the documentary Style Wars.513 Notably the cover of
Beat Bop’s initial release was designed by the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, who is also credited
with producing the song,514 and James Lavelle has stated that it is one of his favourite album
record covers.515
After the release of Beat Bop Rammellzee continued to release music, working with Death
Comet Crew in 1985,516 Sly & Robbie in 1987,517 and as part of Gettovetts with Nicky Skopelitis
and Shockdell (Charles Howard) who released the album Missionaries Moving in 1988.518
During the 1990’s Rammellzee became the first artist to collaborate with clothing brand
Supreme519 but was exhibiting less, preferring to spend his time in his studio, the Battle
Station, creating new artworks from scavenged materials.520
In June 1995 Rammellzee recorded vocals for UNKLE’s Rock On, with Rammellzee’s
appearance intended as a homage to Beat Bop.521 Production on Rock On was handled by
Tim Goldsworthy while DJ Shadow was brought in to perform scratches on the song,522 with
John King of The Dust Brothers also brought in to remix the track, creating the Nutcracker Mix
and Nutcracker Dub mixes respectively.523
Rock On is built around a sample from Lovefingers by Silverapples from their 1968 self titled
album.524 The instrumental sections of Lovefingers have then been cut up and layered with
scratches and Rammellzee repeating the phrase “rock on to the break of dawn,” making Rock
On sound more like a remix of Beat Bop or Shockdell’s Gangster Lean which also featured
similar “rock on” vocals from Rammellzee.
Rock On would first see release in 1996 on a compilation called Header #1525 which also
included CD-ROM content featuring a video of James Lavelle explaining that a different
version of Rock On would be appearing on the forthcoming UNKLE album, with the Header
#1 version described as being an outtake.526 The CD-ROM elements also included the ability
to remix songs, described as follows:
Header is an independently produced 'enhanced CD' combining 30 minutes of

standard audio CD with CD-ROM multimedia. The ROM section is twelve tracks
presenting different techniques for de-constructing and re-constructing musical pieces
from dance and reggae artists, plus occasional interviews in Quicktime video clips...On
the Mo Wax piece you can grab the sound track with the mouse and move it like a
513
Ray, J 2018
514
Ray, J 2018 IBID
515
Nagshineh, A 2013
516
Discogs 2019c
517
Discogs 2019hh
518
Discogs 2019q
519
Hsu, H 2018
520
Gotthardt, A 2018
521
James Lavelle Interview 1996
522
DJShadow.com n.d. d
523
Discogs 2019qq
524
WhoSampled 2019i
525
Discogs 2019ggg
526
54
scratch record deck. On the Unkle piece different tracks can be found, iconised, adrift
on a background that slides across the screen at a speed and direction determined by
the location of the cursor. Their level in the mix is determined by the distance of their
icon from the cursor. So as the graphic landscape glides past, the tracks fade in and
out seamlessly. This representation of the source music content is sometimes more
physical and sometimes more abstract than we are used to. As opposed to the
abstraction that turns music into staves in traditional notation, the Header abstractions
— into space and graphic effects — have the potential to create new synaesthetic
effects for the user.527
Header was created by Tui Interactive Media, and was followed in 1998 by Header #2, one
version of which contained Header #1 as a bonus disc with the full original tracklist including
UNKLE’s Rock On. Tui would go on to work with Mo’ Wax again, creating their website in the
early 2000’s,528 and won several awards for their work with Daft Punk, creating the DaftClub
webportal where fans could download exclusive free tracks.529
Back in August 1995 the Mo’ Wax and A&M deal had been finalised, with Mo’ Wax Records
now part of the major label, and Lavelle was granted a budget to fly to LA to record the debut
UNKLE album. On August 14th Frances O’Connor of A&M sent Lavelle a letter explaining,
“The budget will exhaust your total recording budget for Album 1. Any additional funds spent
over and above this budget will be treated as an additional label advance, and deducted from
royalties due to you.”530
The budget has been mythologised over the years, and exact numbers are unknown, though
it was reportedly £30,000 at the time,531 with A&M also putting the group up in a house owned
by Meatloaf which featured a bat-shaped swimming pool. The album was to be recorded over
four weeks, then brought back to England to be completed, with a February 1996 album
release date announced to the press.532
Lavelle spoke to The Face at the time and told them he planned to collaborate with Plaid,
Baby Ford and Photek as part of further recording sessions in London once the LA sessions
had been completed, with the album set to be complete by December 31, 1995.533
In September 1995 Lavelle, Goldsworthy, Kudo, and Money Mark met at producer Mario C’s
home studio to begin recording the UNKLE album, with some recordings also being made at
the Beastie Boys’ G-Son studio nearby.534 Graffiti artist Futura also joined the group and began
creating artwork for the album, a collaboration with DJ Spooky which was announced would
be a comic called Loopz.535 The recordings meanwhile were nicknamed Belmondo after an
article about the sessions appeared in the December 1995 issue of UK Magazine The Face,
527
Jennings, D 2003
528
Ibid.
529
Tui 2001
530
O’Connor, F 1995
531
Bradshaw, P 2014b
532
Burgess, J 1998, p.57
533
McLean, C 1998, p. 65
534
535
McLean, C 1995a, p. 105
55
which explained the album would be released as “UNKLE/Belmondo, the new extended name
for the ensemble project.”536
Belmondo was a name that Tim Goldsworthy had come up with, named after the French actor
Jean-Paul Belmondo who starred in several films which were part of the French New Wave of
the 1960’s. Originally, before releasing songs as UNKLE Lavelle and Goldsworthy wanted to
name their band Belmondo but by then had already produced tracks as UNKLE, and when
UNKLE started to take off Belmondo was forgotten.537 According to Lavelle, "Unkle was
supposed to be the fun stuff and Belmondo the more serious project."538 He later further
explained that UNKLE was intended to be more spontaneous and alternative sounding, while
Belmondo would feature more vocals, and be their “adventure in to singer songwriter” type of
music.539
Mario Caldato Jr., aka Mario C, was at the time primarily known as the producer for the Beastie
Boys, having met them during the recording of 1989’s Paul’s Boutique album, and
subsequently continued working with them through to their Hello Nasty album in 1998.540 He
had a home studio set up at his house in Los Angeles, California and Lavelle had arranged to
record there with Tim Goldsworthy and KUDO co-producing, DJ Shadow producing his own
tracks, and Money Mark appearing as a guest.541 With so many contributors taking part Money
Mark’s manager Max Burgos was brought in to work A&R for the sessions, working as a go
between for Lavelle and Mario C, as he confirmed to me in a telephone conversation in
2019.542
I spoke with Mario C via video chat in late 2017 where we discussed UNKLE’s LA sessions
from 1995:
I do remember the enthusiasm about the project and putting together all these different
musicians, and producers, to create this...y’know...nobody really knew what it was
going to be...beats with instrumentals, with funky sounds and things, so we kind of just
got together and kind of winged it. We recorded at my house. Everyone would show
up and I think Tim was mainly the one in charge of some of the stuff that they had and
running the samplers at the time...and Mark [and] Kudo were just throwing up ideas
and stuff, and I had some instruments around the house. We were just putting two and
two together…We had the MPC60s and the SP1200 and then Tim had the computer,
I believe they were doing stuff off some other programs. At the time it was ...Studio
Vision I believe. So, it was kind of a machine type [of recording]. I don’t think we did
anything to tape, though I did have…a tape machine, but I don’t think we used that.543
DJ Shadow’s contribution included recording tracks with Zoe Bedeaux, who was at the time
an aspiring singer and stylist who worked for The Face and I-D Magazine.544 In 1999 she
536
Ibid.
537
Cooper, D 2013c
538
Burgess, J 1998, p.57
539
UNKLE 1998, 00:09:00
540
Hilleary, M 2017
541
Mario C 2017, video conversation August 23
542
Max Burgos 2019, telephone conversation May 28
543
544
National Portrait Gallery, n.d.
56
would appear under the pseudonym Aurora Borealis singing as part of The Baby Namboos
on Ancoats 2 Zambia,545 a trip hop infused album led by Tricky’s cousin Mark Porter, and also
featuring Claude Williams of The Wild Bunch as a member.546 Tricky signed the group to his
Durban Poison label547 548 and also appears on three tracks.549 Bedeaux’s contributions were
hailed as the shining star of many of the tracks, with press describing her singing as an
“incredibly unique and haunting voice,”550 and “like a cross between Martina and Breakbeat
Era's Lennie Laws. Occasionally, she's slyly enticing, sometimes maternally comforting. Often,
she's the incarnation of female anguish and excruciatingly maintained pride.”551 Bedeaux was
brought in to The Baby Namboos album sessions after the music was already produced,
spending two days improvising and recording lyrics for them after Tricky felt it would be a good
idea to have her contribute.552
Back in 1995, it is unclear how Zoe Bedeaux became involved with UNKLE’s album recording
in LA, but at least two tracks were recorded between her and DJ Shadow. Anything You Like,
and Where Do You Go? are both named in 1995’s The Face article detailing the recording
sessions.553 Anything You Like opens with some sonar blips and a distorted voice before Zoe
Bedeaux’s vocals begin and they are joined by some instrumentation similar to that which
opens Massive Attack’s Paradise Circus from their 2010 Heligoland album. The track then
becomes what Mario C calls “the signature Shadow [sound]…the drum machine just bugs
out.”554 When I spoke with Mario C he didn’t know about a song called Where Do You Go?,
but remembered Anything You Like which he described as an idea that was left unfinished,
he told me, “we literally did one mix, we didn’t go back and refine it…[we] never really finished
it.”555
Keyboardist Mark Ramos Nishita, aka Money Mark, also contributed to some songs, notably
Berry Meditation and Garage Piano. Mark had begun working with the Beastie Boys in 1992
initially as a carpenter, but when the band realised Mark could play keyboards he joined the
Beastie Boys as they recorded their album Check Your Head.556 James Lavelle had signed
Mark to Mo’ Wax and across 1995 he had two singles in the UK Singles Chart,557 followed by
his debut album Mark’s Keyboard Repair which entered the UK Album Charts while UNKLE
were recording in LA,558 peaking at #35 on September 9 and spending two weeks in the Top
100.559 The album featured a sleeve designed by Ben Drury and Will Bankhead, as well as
photography by producer Mario C.560
545
Discogs 2019kk
546
McLeod, K 2000
547
Benson, D 2000
548
Chart Magazine 2000
549
Benson, D 2000
550
Ibid.
551
Goldberg, M 2000
552
Nowinski, A 1999
553
McLean, C 1995a, p. 105
554
555
Ibid.
556
Willmott, B 1996, p. 46
557
Official UK Charts Company 2019g
558
McLean, C 1995a, p. 106
559
Official UK Charts Company 2019g
560
Discogs 2020b
57
UNKLE’s Garage Piano would later be heard in 1996 when it appeared on the Headz 2A
compilation.561 Considered by Alternate Press as a high point of the compilation, they describe
it as a “Woozy, 4 a.m. come-down track enlivened by fat kettle drums, DJ Kudo’s scratches,
theremin and Money Mark’s keyboard.”562 Garage Piano opens with scratching and a big drum
beat before the main samples arrive from Esquivel’s Harlem Nocturne, taken from their Infinity
in Sound album released in 1960.563
Mario C recalled recording Garage Piano:
The beats were mainly programmed based, y’know sample. And then some of them
might have a musical element to it, and then there would be layers y’know, and Mark
would play a keyboard, or somebody would play some vibes. Obviously, The Garage
Piano, that one there actually used, the drum beat was the drums at my house that
were in the garage, and it was super roomy. I think Mark played it, and then Tim just
cut it up and then programmed something. And the piano was my piano as a kid
growing up in my house that was kind of in my garage. It’s an old English piano that I
never imagined would be used, and it’s completely out of tune and dusted. Mark
opened it up and then just played something and they just recorded it and it sounded
crazy. They cut it up and then I mixed it...Garage Piano, that’s it.564
Berry Meditation also saw a release, initially as a test pressing in 1996,565 and then on the
soundtrack from the film SubUrbia in February 1997,566 followed in March by a release as a
12” single by UNKLE which features two different mixes and a remix by Attica Blues.567 Berry
Meditation received its title after Money Mark suggested they name the songs from the
sessions after fruits,568 and the song features vocal samples taken from a meditation record.569
Berry Meditation opens with a sample from Riversong by Tonto’s Expanding Head Band570
and is then taken over by breakbeats and effects, eventually ending after seven minutes.
Another instrumental recorded at the time was titled Cherry Pie. There were three versions of
the track created during the LA sessions, named Cherry Pie Part 1, Cherry Pie Part 2, and
Cherry Pie Part 1 and Part 2 edit, which as the name suggests was an extended version which
joined up parts 1 and 2. Cherry Pie starts with a piano and keyboard jam over a breakbeat
and also features a Theremin, with several breakdowns. According to Mario C the song was
a jam between Kudo and Mark, which he describes as a song that “just goes on and on”571
with the Part 1 and 2 edit extending for 8 minutes.572
561
Discogs 2019hhh
562
Heimlich, A 1998
563
WhoSampled 2019d
564
565
Discogs 2019oo
566
Discogs 2019ppp
567
Discogs 2019pp
568
569
Ibid.
570
WhoSampled 2019bb
571
572
Ibid.
58
Two more instrumentals, Abstract Soul and Soup or Salads, likewise both had multiple
versions recorded in the studio, with dub versions of both tracks created featuring extra effects
on top the track. Abstract Soul was produced by Kudo and featured Goldsworthy, Kudo and
Mark on the track. While Soup or Salads was produced by Goldsworthy, and was a
collaboration between himself and Mark, with engineering from Mario.573 This was a favourite
of Kudo’s from the recording sessions and he continued to praise it, later saying “It is still
wonderful to hear.”574
Soup or Salads begins with a Stylophone-like keyboard playing over a cut-up beat, and apart
from the occasional breakdowns there isn’t much more to it. Abstract Soul meanwhile features
a slow Money Mark Harpsichord-like keyboard over backwards drums, a saxophone, and
various dub effects. It is the more fully realised of the tracks and is more jazz than hip hop
sounding of all of the tracks recorded.
Chico Jam was also recorded at the time and later played publicly for the first time in 2019 by
James Lavelle during his January 23rd Living In My Headphones show on SoHo Radio.575 It
starts off with a double bass and horn accompanied by a drumbeat and various effects which
overall sound similar to what was explored on Abstract Soul. Chico Jam featured Lavelle,
Goldsworthy, and Kudo, with the song’s title apparently a reference to a percussionist working
with the Beastie Boys.576
While Kudo and Goldsworthy are credited with production on these tracks, and Money Mark’s
contributions can easily be heard thanks to his distinctive keyboard sounds, less clear is what
James Lavelle brought to the project. Lavelle’s role is self described as “the creative controller,
the concept person...I envisage what it should be like and everyone else puts it together."577
While Goldsworthy described his contributions as coming up with “the breaks and ideas” but
noted Lavelle “hates the studio.”578 Speaking to Dazed & Confused in 1995 he further
explained what it’s like working with Lavelle:
[It’s] Insane. It can get frustrating at times because he like has 1,000 ideas in his head
and he wants them done immediately. Kudo and I are such perfectionists that there
have been a few pitched battles around the samplers. The most annoying thing James
does is, when you're fucking around with a sample, trying to get it right and it's not
quite there, James will come in and say 'That's good, I like that, keep it'. I try and get
around it diplomatically by saying 'We can't, its got a different time signature' or
something like that which will blind him with science. Generally though, we are very
like-minded. He is the creative director as far as U.N.K.L.E. is concerned and
fortunately we are on the same tip.579
573
Ibid.
574
Takayama, Y 2013
575
Lavelle, J 2019b, 00:44:36
576
Ibid. 01:02:55
577
578
McLean, C 1995a, p. 103
579
59
Outside of those mentioned there were other songs recorded as part of the sessions, with a
reported 15 tracks brought back to London once the LA sessions had completed,580 and plans
for more to be recorded in London, with future collaborations with Deborah Anderson,581 Plaid,
Baby Ford and Photek planned.582 But after arriving back in London, Lavelle listened to
everything that they had recorded in LA and was dismayed, “I was at a point of sort of
disbelief...Nothing sounded the way I was thinking. I was pissed off and not happy with things
at all.”583 Lavelle felt that, apart from Berry Meditation, nothing from the LA sessions
represented how he wanted UNKLE to sound.584
The sessions had been quick, and while Lavelle had spent a month in America, he didn’t
spend all of that time in the studio. There had been a trip to Las Vegas with Goldsworthy and
Futura, while Kudo stayed in the studio, and Shadow later admitted that nothing was done
during the first two weeks.585 Then there had been Meatloaf’s house, which had so many
people staying at it that Shadow slept on the couch while Futura made a bed in the laundry.
At various times the housemates included James Lavelle, Tim Goldsworthy, Money Mark and
his manager Max Burgos, Futura, DJ Spooky, Mario C, DJ Shadow, Kan Takagi, Kudo and
his family, Zoe Bedeuax, Will Bankhead, Donovan Leach and Amanda de Cadenet, and visits
from Lavelle’s girlfriend Janet Fischgrund, with Lavelle later describing the experience as like
a travelling circus.586 One name that is a notable exclusion from the list is Mike D of the Beastie
Boys who Lavelle had wanted to work with on the UNKLE album, either as a producer or guest
artist, but according to Goldsworthy “it all got a bit rushed and we never hooked up.”587
The party atmosphere of the house was a possible contribution to things not getting done, with
Lavelle complaining, “everybody was just having a laugh rather than focussing on the
record.”588 While Shadow gave a similar description of the sessions, explaining, "in the
summer of 1995, James wanted to do an album of remix-type stuff, but really fast, in a
month...He asked me to do two tracks, but it was not a good experience because I felt like
nobody was grabbing the reins." Shadow became frustrated at the time as he felt he could
have been working on his own album since no one was doing any work there.589 He would
elaborate to NME in 1998:
I left after that experience feeling like, ‘I don’t want to be any part of this’...There were
all these people coming in and out and having a laugh and doing this and that, and I
got fucked off with it to the point that eventually I just locked the studio door and
wouldn’t let anyone in. Every now and then I would see the top of someone’s head
peering over looking concerned and I would be like, “No, go away!”. I wasn’t sure who
was supposed to be running the show, so I got on with stuff but I wasn’t really sure
anything would come of it.590
580
McLean, C 1995a, p. 106
581
582
McLean, C 1998, p. 65
583
URB, 1998
584
Ibid.
585
Smith, A 1998
586
587
McLean, C 1995a, p. 104
588
589
Bradshaw, P 2014b
590
Cigarettes, J 1998, p. 14
60
Mario C later recalled the recording sessions as almost over before they started, describing
them to me in 2017:
It was interesting, it was a busy time. Everyone had projects, [they’d say] “let's just try
something together” and we did it. It kind of went quick and then we didn’t get a chance
to elaborate on it…I don’t know if it was one week, or two weeks…We probably did
like an idea a day, or one or two ideas a day.591
But back in London Lavelle decided to shelve the LA sessions,592 later explaining that he
“wasn’t hearing what he wanted to hear through the music. The idea of recording an album in
a month was ridiculous, it was just never going to happen.”593
While Garage Piano and Berry Meditation both saw releases by UNKLE, Shadow abandoned
his tracks with Zoe Bedeaux and they have yet to see release. Kudo for his part didn’t want to
throw out some of the tracks he and Goldsworthy had been working on,594 and both Abstract
Soul and Soup or Salads would appear on the Major Force West compilation 93-97, a
collection of tracks worked on as part of Nakanishi Toshio and Masayuki Kudo’s Major Force
West projects in London. 595 The album was described by The Wire as “bizarre without being
‘trippy’, and pretty cool without trying to hard.”596 While Mo’ Wax released the album in 1999,
it is notable that James Lavelle shares no credits on the album.597
While it is never mentioned explicitly in any press, it appears that Kudo left the UNKLE project
around the time that the LA sessions were abandoned. This was not the end of their
partnership though as Kudo maintained the Major Force West studio in the Mo’ Wax
basement, where he continued contributing to production and remixes for James Lavelle such
as on Hurricane #1’s Only The Strongest Will Survive (James Lavelle Remix) released in
1998.598
With the LA sessions abandoned, Lavelle and Shadow ended 1995 by flying to Australia for a
Mo’ Wax tour along with Money Mark and Charlie Dark. After the tour ended at the beginning
of 1996, Shadow would return home to complete his debut album,599 while Lavelle continued
DJing through the new year, and contributed a mix CD as part of Cream Live Two, part of a 3
CD package which also featured mixes by Paul Oakenfold, and Nick Warren.
Lavelle noted there was controversy at the time over his inclusion, as he was not seen as a
club DJ in the same way Oakenfold was, saying:
A lot of people told me not to do it but then thanked me for putting their records on
it...Cream is so much a part of northern club culture, it’s important for those people to
591
592
Burgess, J 1998, pp. 57-58
593
UNKLE 1998, 00:10:30
594
Takayama, Y 2013
595
Discogs 2019y
596
Shapiro, P 1999, p. 68
597
Discogs 2019y
598
Discogs 2019r
599
Ma, D 2017, p. 78
61
hear those records. I can’t really get into that thing where you’re so hardcore that you
have to keep everything in its shell and nobody will hear what you do. If Shadow could
sell as many copies as M People then great. It’s good music at the end of the day.600
Eyebrows were further raised when it was noted that on the Cream mix The Psychonauts were
credited with performing most of the mix work for Lavelle’s CD. Lavelle for his part
acknowledged that his skills as a DJ were more geared towards track selection and reading a
crowd, as opposed to mixing, so he asked the Psychonauts to help out in that respect.
Speaking about the mix in an interview he said:
I wanted it to be technically the bollocks...I’ve never touted myself as the best DJ in

the world. People will listen to it because of my name so you may as well get the best
people in to work on it and have good cuttin’ up, have it mixed well, edited properly. It
was more like James Lavelle presents... I chose the records.601
The Cream mix would also feature a new UNKLE track, Spinners, which is primarily made of
samples from the Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis, alongside drums sampled from
Bernard Purdie’s 1968 song Soul Drums, as well as dialogue from Bruce Lee’s 1973 movie
Enter The Dragon, and sound effects from the 1991 videogame Street Fighter II.602 Reportedly
created solely for this release,603 the song has not been featured anywhere else and ends
abruptly as it mixes into the next song of the mix. Lavelle considers the Blade Runner
soundtrack to be the greatest soundtrack ever, and an inspiration, telling The Quietus:
It’s one of the most perfect albums ever made. It’s an instrumental piece of music and
one of the greatest electronic records ever made. The film was incredible and the way
it was made for the film was amazing. Just perfection to me.604
The title, Spinners, is a nod to the name of a flying car from the Blade Runner series. The car
was designed by Syd Mead and built by Gene Winfield,605 with the cars becoming fan
favourites and later appearing in the background of other science fiction films such as the Star
Wars prequels and The Fifth Element.606
UNKLE’s Spinners is also notable for being one of the early collaborations between Lavelle
and Pablo Clements, of The Psychonauts. Lavelle had been given a mixtape of The
Psychonauts by Tim Goldsworthy while UNKLE were recording in LA during 1995, where it
was played on repeat. Lavelle loved the tape and quickly signed the group to Mo’ Wax after
arranging a meeting with the group.607 Clements soon became one of the rotating artists who
Lavelle would pull in to apply turntable scratches on various UNKLE songs through the 1990’s,
and would also apply scratches to UNKLE remixes of Pepper by Buthole Surfers, and Palm
600
601
Ibid.
602
WhoSampled 2020c
603
shivo 2018
604
Aubrey, E 2017e
605
Willoughby, G n.d.
606
McLellan, M 2017
607
The List 1996
62
Skin Productions’ The Beast, both in 1994, as well as UNKLE’s remix of Tortoise’s DJed in
1996, before Clements become a full time member of UNKLE during the early 2000’s.
Meanwhile as Lavelle continued to DJ and work on UNKLE project in 1996, DJ Shadow had
been putting the final touches on his debut album which was preparing for a release by Mo’
Wax.608
608
Ma, D 2017, p. 78
63
Endtroducing…..Complete
After touring Australia with James Lavelle, DJ Shadow went back to finishing his debut album,
dedicating January to June 1996 to completing the final touches.609
While the album was mostly completed in June 1995 Shadow had continued to work on it,
telling Rolling Stone:
I usually tweak it right at the end to bring me up to date in terms of what's inspired me
lately...If I’m going to live with something that has my name on it for the rest of my life,
I have to like it six months or a year later. If it still takes me somewhere, then in my
mind I know it's a classic for me.610
During the third week of May 1996 Shadow mastered the album and returned to England so
he would be available for the album’s release.611 Lavelle would later recall the day he received
the DAT of Endtroducing in the post and he kicked everyone out of the Mo’ Wax office so he
and Will Bankhead could listen to the album undisturbed. He explained, “I sat down with Will
Bankhead and we played the album and it was just one of those moments when you thought
“Ok, fuck, this is a masterpiece.””612
Shadow had tried to make his album well rounded, with songs such as Organ Donor meant to
lighten the mood set by the heavier What Does Your Soul Look Like sections as he felt he
needed to mix things up for an album length release. While Shadow had been afraid Organ
Donor was too light and that no one would like it, he was happy to hear Lavelle tell him that
when he and Will Bankhead first heard the song they started jumping around the office.613
Organ Donor would later be extended with the Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul) created at
the request of James Lavelle so he could use it in his DJ sets,614 and later released on the
High Noon single in August 1997.615
Endtroducing was released in September 1996 in England,616 followed by it’s American

release in November of the same year.617 On September 28 Endtroducing entered the UK
Album Charts at #17, spending four weeks in the charts before dropping out of the Top 100,618
making it Mo’ Wax’s highest charting album at the time.619 Endtroducing would go on to be
certified as a Gold Record in the UK during 1998,620 having sold 100,000 copies,621 and would
go on to sell over half a million copies as of 2019.622
609
Ma, D 2017, p. 78
610
Margasak, P 1996
611
Wilder, E 2017, p. 79
612
Bradshaw, P 2014b
613
Wilder, E 2017, p. 74
614
Billboard, 2015
615
DJShadow.com n.d. b
616
Discogs 2019f
617
Discogs 2019g
618
Official UK Charts Company 2019b
619
Cooper, D 2015
620
BPI 2019b
621
BPI 2019a
622
Wustemann, L 2019
64
Endtroducing was also awarded a Guinness World Record for the first album released which
was completely made up of samples,623 though it has been noted there are snippets of live
recordings from Shadow’s friends. Lyrics Born and Gift of Gab appear on songs, as does
Shadow’s girlfriend at the time Lisa Haugen, whom Shadow had recorded talking to herself.624
Shadow had previously named one of his songs Lost And Found (S.F.L.), released in 1994,
with the S.F.L. standing for Song For Lisa.625 On Entroducing Haugen’s monologue about
Darth Vader and Zanadu featured on the track Mutual Slump.626 Whether or not these can be
considered samples is up to the individual, though Shadow himself referred to these bits as
“not samples.”627
One of Lyrics Born’s contributions was to the song Why Hip-Hop Sucks in '96,628 which
Shadow spent several interviews explaining the meaning behind over the next few years.629
630 631
In the song the only lyric serve as an answer to why Shadow felt hip hop sucked in 1996,
“It’s the money”. He would explain that it was meant somewhat tongue in cheek,632 but also
as a criticism of where hip hop was moving. Shadow felt at the time that mainstream rap music
was ruining hip hop, and in particular that as rap became more popular that the more militant
fans of hip hop were beginning to invent rules on how hip hop should be made as a means to
preserve its authenticity. But these were rules Shadow wasn’t interested in following.633
The instrumental sound of the album was heavily praised by the press, with MTV writing,
“Without using any rapping or featured vocals, Shadow unearths the blues that are buried
deep in hip-hop.”634 While NME awarded the album 8/10 commenting “DJ Shadow calls it hip-
hop. We'll settle for groovy.”635 The lack of vocals had initially been a point of worry for some
people who questioned Lavelle about releasing an album of instrumental hip hop, but while
Lavelle wasn’t worried, he couldn’t anticipate the album’s popularity and impact.636 Lavelle
would later call the album “the most important record on Mo’ Wax,”637 and commented that “If
you can put out a record that defines a culture you’re very lucky.”638
Shadow would later comment himself on the sound of this album, and how it built upon his
previous work:
I felt like I was on to something when I was doing "Influx,"…and the What Does Your
Soul Look Like EP. All of that preceded Endtroducing....., and the reason why it's
623
Guinness World Records 2019
624
Doran, J 2010
625
Discogs 2019w
626
Hirway, H 2016, 00:06:08
627
Roeder, M 1999
628
Inoue, T 2002
629
Chang, J 2006
630
Roberts, M 1997
631
Vaziri, A 2006
632
Ma, D 2017, p. 78
633
Stubbs, D 1996, p. 29
634
Bremser, W 1998
635
NME, 1996
636
Kane, D 2014
637
Long Live Vinyl, 2017
638
Ibid.
65
spelled with an "E-N-D" is because it signified the fourth and final chapter in a series
of pieces that I was doing for Mo' Wax with a certain sound, a certain tone, a certain
atmosphere. And I feel like my work really changed after that. It was the summary of
this sound, and [the album] wrapped up the series. I had this vision at the time that
every album I did after that would be completely different, and that's something I've
been trying to be adamant about—maintaining that autonomy from record to record.639
Further explaining the END in the title Shadow told The Telegraph in 1996:
I don't intend to keep making the same sort of records for ever...You have to create
and then destroy - because if you don't destroy what you've done, someone else will,
and then you'll be left saying, 'Now what do I have? I don't have anything!'640
The title was originally Endtroducing....., with five periods for the Mo’ Wax edition, but in the
US this was shortened to three periods. Future releases have alternated between the two.641
No specific explanation for the periods, or the reason some editions have less, seem to be
apparent.
At the same time as he was working with Mo’ Wax, Shadow had continued working with his
Solesides label mates, contributing production to several releases by Blackalicious, Latyrx,
and Lateef. As Shadow’s popularity grew, so did the rest of the Solesides members as people
sought out other work by Shadow. But in 1996 the group decided to close the Solesides label
down. Several members of the label felt they had become known as “DJ Shadow's supporting
cast” and while they had been making a name for themselves, they weren’t actually making
any money on Solesides.642 Shadow later commented:
We collectively sat down there and said, 'Well, this is six years old and it's done more
than we could have imagined, but now we want to try a different thing.'643
For Shadow trying something different included the release of High Noon. The non-album
track was his first release following Endtroducing and was meant as a response to how he felt
pigeonholed by the trip hop tag that had been applied to him.644 Shadow followed the release
by returning to work with James Lavelle on UNKLE645 in late 1996 as Lavelle also sought to
try something different with the project.646
639
Fader, L 2012
640
Llewellyn Smith, C 1996
641
Discogs 2019e
642
Chennault, S 2005
643
MTV News, 1998
644
DJShadow.com n.d. b
645
Wilder, E 2017, p. 90
646
McClean, C 1998, p. 66
66
Lonely Souls
With the LA recordings abandoned Lavelle put the UNKLE project on hold as he considered
the direction he wanted to move in, telling a reporter “...apart from ‘Berry meditation’ there
wasn’t anything that represented how I wanted UNKLE to sound."647
Up until now the UNKLE sound had been that of slow and laid-back hip hop beats, typical of
trip hop which was popular at the time. The sound had earned UNKLE several fans, with the
The Time Has Come EP being one of the few Mo’ Wax releases to enter the UK charts.648 But
Lavelle was becoming uninterested in the sound as the trip hop genre had grown in popularity,
with artists like Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky perfecting the sound.649
For several years Lavelle had held up Massive Attack’s Blue Lines as the blueprint and holy
grail of what he wanted to achieve,650 but it was clear that for Lavelle to achieve his goal he
would need to find a new direction rather than simply emulate his idols. Lavelle commented,
“I was looking around thinking, ‘I can’t make records like this, I’ve got to move on, even if the
ideas are similar and I’m trying to work in a similar area,’”651 later adding, “My frustration was
that I didn’t want to make weird instrumental hip-hop records. We could’ve easily achieved
that but I wanted songs.”652
The previously announced February 1996 release date for UNKLE’s debut soon passed as
Lavelle sought a new direction for the group.653 Lavelle explained he needed to re-evaluate
the project and think about the sound he wanted to pursue. From the abandoned LA sessions
Lavelle went back to the two songs Shadow had recorded with Zoe Bedeaux, which Lavelle
described as “song-led, melodious and contained beats and scratching”,654 and “hardcore, but
it was really emotional.” 655 These became the blueprint for UNKLE post-LA,656 as Shadow
was creating music which Lavelle felt represented the sound he had been looking for,657 and
now that he had decided on the albums sound, Lavelle started to develop some ideas about
possible vocal contributors for the album.
While in LA, Tim Goldsworthy had lent Lavelle a cassette of The Verve’s A Northern Soul
album,658 which had been released earlier in 1995. Lavelle listened to the album repeatedly,
telling The Independent:
I heard this tape of The Verve, which we used to play every day when we left the
studio. Two tracks really inspired me: 'History' and 'Life's an Ocean'... After hearing
647
648
Cooper, D 2015
649
NME, 1998e
650
651
NME, 1998e
652
653
Ibid.
654
655
UNKLE 1998 00:11:00
656
Ibid.
657
658
Higgins, M 1998
67
those songs, I got much more of an idea of what I could do with UNKLE if I could get
together somebody like Richard Ashcroft and DJ Shadow.659
Richard Ashcroft had formed The Verve in 1990, then known simply as Verve, with guitarist
Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury.660 Their debut album,
A Storm in Heaven, was released in 1993 and featured a psychedelic rock influence which
garnered them praise from the press.661 In 1995 they had renamed themselves as The Verve
and released a second album, A Northern Soul, which moved away from their previous
improvised and psychedelic sound662 and incorporated a greater rock influence across the
album.663 Ashcroft’s singing was particularly praised by the press,664 and was what inspired
Lavelle to enquire about a possible collaboration for the UNKLE album, as Lavelle later told
the NME:
When I heard Richard Ashcroft sing it just really hit me in my heart. I wanted to get the
same emotion on the record I was making. I just felt that the guy was speaking to
me.665
Hearing Ashcroft was a revelation to Lavelle during the unsuccessful LA sessions as he

realised what was missing from the sound he was searching for. He would later recall, “I
thought, ‘If I could bring that ilk of singer in with what I was hearing from Shadow I’ll crack
it’."666 Shadow on the other hand was neither here nor there about the idea, as he later
explained, "James felt he had something special and I was like, 'whatever, yeah, OK, get him
in here.' "667
Back in England during the Summer of 1996, Lavelle contacted The Verve’s management to
enquire whether Richard Ashcroft would be interested in appearing on the UNKLE album, but
he was told Ashcroft was unavailable due to the group having just split up.668
While recording A Northern Soul, The Verve had numerous personal issues, from relationship
breakups669 to nervous breakdowns670, and even included Ashcroft disappearing for several
days at one point.671 Following the release of the album the band toured America, an
experience which is said to have only compounded their problems, but upon returning to the
UK they continued to tour, playing T In The Park on August 6 1995.672 The following day
Ashcroft phoned Nick McCabe telling him he was breaking the band up, with the
announcement reaching the press in September.673
659
Ibid.
660
BBC 1998b
661
Abdallah, R 2016
662
Ibid.
663
Folb, M 1995
664
Ibid.
665
NME 1998e
666
667
Kaufman, G 1998
668
669
Ellis, L 1995
670
Simpon, D 1995
671
NME 1995
672
The Face, 1997
673
NME 1995
68
Lavelle wasn’t aware of this when he had first tried to call Ashcroft, but one day in 1996 he
received a call out of the blue from Ashcroft674 telling him “The band's over, I want to do
something different.”675
A meeting was soon arranged between Ashcroft, Lavelle, Tim Goldsworthy676 and The Verve’s
bassist Simon Jones at a pub in Hampstead where they spoke about music.677 678 Ashcroft
discussed his recent interest in New York hip hop, and Lavelle explained what he wanted from
the UNKLE album by referring Ashcroft to Shadow’s recently released album, Endtroducing.
Ashcroft was enthusiastic about the idea and agreed to the collaboration, telling Lavelle “Let’s
make a piece of history!”679
Some weeks later in August, a recording session was arranged at Milo Studios in Hoxton
Square, East London for Lavelle, Shadow and Ashcroft to meet and record a demo. When
Ashcroft arrived he had some lyrics prepared, telling Lavelle and Shadow “I’ve just written this
thing down…‘God knows you lonely soul'”.680 Shadow had created an instrumental beat for
the session and Ashcroft recorded a guide vocal over the top, a rough demo meant to give an
idea of what the final song would sound like with the intention of coming back at a later date
to record a final take. The initial session was over quickly, and at the end of September
Ashcroft returned to Milo Studios to record a new take of the vocal, taking off his shoes and
recording the song in one go.
Both Lavelle and Shadow were very impressed with Ashcroft, and Shadow later fondly
recalled the sessions:
He was very charismatic and very genuine. I started bonding with him when we talked
about music. He wanted to do a Marvin Gaye-type vocal, an ‘answer back’ type thing.
He was there (in the studio) for about an hour-and-a-half. He did it in one take and,
even though he came back twice, it was that guide vocal we ended up using.681
Lavelle was equally impressed, "It was a real spiritual moment for me recording that
song...There was this sense we could go so far with the song which was exciting. There was
this outro that Josh had left on and Richard sang over it so we thought ‘Let’s make this bigger,
more extreme and bring this back out’. It became a benchmark because it was so inspiring.”682
He later added “For someone like myself who hasn’t exactly got a rock history there was
something about it that transcended the music. It was the attitude. Richard had this raw
strength of character and he gave a soul to it that I hadn’t heard for ages in somebody’s
voice.”683
674
675
Higgins, M 1998
676
UNKLE 1998, 00:13:00
677
678
Mclean, C 1998, p. 66
679
Ibid.
680
Ibid.
681
NME 1998e
682
683
NME 1998e
69
A few days after the second session at Milo, Ashcroft and Shadow met at Matrix Studios in
West London to listen to the recordings of Ashcroft’s vocals paired with the instrumental
created by Shadow.684 While they had planned to record a fresh take of the vocals, after
listening it over they decided to stick with the original, only recording a few ‘answer back’ parts
on top. These can be heard where Ashcroft sings “There's no secret to living” and it is followed
by him repeating the lyric at a lower volume, almost speaking it rather than singing. This is
repeated across the song with Ashcroft ‘answering’ different lyrics in the song, acting almost
as his own backup singer.
With the recording sessions complete, Ashcroft played Lavelle some new songs he had written
entitled The Drugs Don't Work and Bitter sweet Symphony.685 At the time Ashcroft had been
planning to release a solo album, but then had became unsure of himself and instead decided
he’d rather release it with The Verve.686 One week after the session at Matrix Studios Ashcroft
would reform The Verve687 and go on to release their most successful album at the time, Urban
Hymns.688
While Lavelle had been aware that The Verve had broken up, it was news to Shadow who
would later recall:
I didn’t even know at that point The Verve had split up, I can’t remember if James had
told me but I was like, ‘Oh, OK. Whatever’. The impact of a lot of people like Ashcroft
and Thom Yorke, fortunately, came later. Not to be rude, but in a way I don’t think we
would have asked Richard after the success of ‘Urban Hymns’, ‘cos it would have seen
(sic) like we were grabbing the biggest name around.689
Lavelle agreed, telling Jockey Slut in 1998, "If I had to record with him now I don’t know
whether I’d be able to do it because I know so much about him on a media level. If I’d read all
about him before meeting him I would’ve got strung out.”690
With the vocals complete for Lonely Soul, Shadow continued working on tracks which would
become Bloodstain (featuring Alice Temple), Unreal, and another that wouldn’t end up on the
album, called Untitled Heavy Beat (Part 1 & 2).691 At the time Tim Goldsworthy was still a
member of UNKLE along with Lavelle and Shadow, with Lavelle bouncing ideas between the
two producers. But by the end of the year Shadow had grown tired of UNKLE again and feeling
like a third wheel he decided he’d had enough and quit the project. Talking about it later he
stated:
While people were playing video games and smoking and hanging out in the other
room I just locked myself in with a sampler, and that’s where the demo for “Lonely
684
Mclean, C 1998, p. 66
685
Adams, C 1998
686
Sturges, F 2003
687
McLean, C 1998, p. 66
688
Abdallah, R 2016
689
NME 1998e
690
691
DJShadow.com n.d. e
70
Soul” was done, the Alice Temple track and “Unreal”. But again, I left thinking, ‘I’m
never going to do that again’. This time for sure.692
Likewise, Tim Goldsworthy had similar feelings. With Shadow seemingly put in charge of
producing the project Goldsworthy decided he would leave as he had lost interest in the more
rock orientated direction the UNKLE album was moving towards with collaborations between
musicians such as Richard Ashcroft. While he had sat in on the Lonely Soul sessions, by
December 1996 he had officially left UNKLE,693 explaining to NME in 1998:
James had a vision for this record, and it soon became clear that I wasn’t a part of it. I
guess the creative friction started when Mo’ Wax took off and I would be working for a
week at a time with Kudo, and then he comes in and says, ‘Hmmm, it’s not quite right…’
There’s a couple of albums of stuff which we scrapped because he decided it wasn’t
what he wanted. I was doing the programming, then he brought Shadow in, who’s a
genius programmer, and I kind of felt redundant. I also didn’t like the idea of depending
on people for whole tunes, just putting down a backing track and bringing people like
Richard Ashcroft or Thom Yorke in for the rest – I think that sucks to be honest...we
went out a couple of times when our relationship was at its worst, and came to a more
amicable conclusion. Which was for me to go, because he explained what he wanted,
and I didn’t want to be part of it.694
Lavelle for his part admitted fault for the fallout telling Jockey Slut, "It had been going on too
long. I was perhaps too overpowering and I wanted to do something different, something
bigger. I think maybe he did as well but I think he thought it was all getting a joke.” 695
With his co-producers DJ Shadow, Tim Goldsworthy and Masayuki Kudo having all left,
UNKLE was reduced to James Lavelle as the sole member, and the album was once again
put on hold.
692
693
Roberts, M 1998
694
695
71
Ape Sounds
Outside of his work with the label Major Force, Fujiwara Hiroshi was also the author of a
column called Last Orgy which he contributed to the Japanese magazine Takarajima, and
where he discussed various topics such as the latest music, clothing brands, and
skateboarders.696 The column, which was co-edited by Hiroshi and his Tiny Panx bandmate
Kan Takagi since 1987,697 was considered a bible for Japanese youth, and this influence led
him to become one of the original members of the International Stüssy Tribe.698 Last Orgy also
spun off in to a TV series which was watched religiously by a young Tomoaki Nagao699 who
soon earned the nickname Nigo, meaning “Number 2” and meant in reference to the fact he
looked up to, as well as looked like, Fujiwara Hiroshi.700 Nigo soon began working for Hiroshi
as well as the Japanese magazine Popeye, where he started his own column called Last Orgy
2.701
Nigo was born December 23 1970 in Japan,702 and while studying fashion in 1990 he met his
future business partner Jun Takahashi.703 In 1993, with help from Fujiwara Hiroshi,704 Nigo
and Takahashi opened a clothing store called Nowhere, located in Urahara near Tokyo’s
Harajuku district.705 Initially selling select boutique items,706 the pair soon began selling t-shirts
under their own brand’s, with Jun creating Undercover and Nigo creating Bape,707 or A Bathing
Ape, a reference to a Japanese saying “a bathing ape in lukewarm water.”708 Nigo explained
the name was intended sarcastically, “It's a reference to the young generation being spoiled,
pampered and too complacent...It wasn't really meant as a social message. It was just
something that I felt was right at the time.”709 The branding made use of imagery inspired by
the Planet of the Apes series of films, with Bape’s logo of an ape head as well as slogans such
as “Ape Shall Never Kill Ape” borrowed from the film series.710
In 1995, Nigo visited London and stopped by the Mo’ Wax offices to pick up some records
from Masayuki Kudo and Nakanishi Toshio who introduced him to James Lavelle.711 Lavelle
explained their meeting:
I originally met Nigo in London through K.U.D.O and Toshio, who I was working with,
from Major Force. Most of the Japanese musicians and designers would come and
see those guys because they were OG and kinda helped set it all up in Japan. It was
696
Trebay, G 2016
697
Tuzio, A 2020
698
Yu, S 2019
699
Li, R 2016
700
Yu, S 2019
701
Li, R 2016
702
Famous Fashion Designers, 2019
703
Li, R 2016
704
Li, R 2019
705
Li, R 2016
706
Ibid.
707
Yu, S 2019
708
Hahn, L 2006
709
Ibid.
710
Edelson, S 2004
711
Nigo 2000, 00:00:30
72
the first time Nigo had come to London and he came to the studio and I was given a t-
shirt. I was then in Japan, a couple of months later, and had a phone number. I was
told to go to a ‘Wendy’s’ burger bar in Harajuku, make a phone call and someone
would come and meet me. I went to their first office and they were just screen-printing
t-shirts in quite a small space and he didn’t really say very much – he just bowed and
gave me some clothes and we built a relationship from there.712
The two bonded over their mutual interests in toy collecting, Star Wars, art and clothes, and
would go out shopping together in London and Tokyo.713
In 1997 Lavelle started Mo’ Wax Japan, a collaboration with the Japanese record label Toy’s
Factory, and also had a residency at a club there, so he was visiting Japan often giving himself
and Nigo a chance to spend more time together.714
Lavelle discussed his friendship with Nigo to The Hype Beast in 2017:
We were just similar age, very into toy collecting, really into Star Wars, really into
contemporary modern art, especially street art and clothes. So we just started to build
a relationship...We just used to go around Tokyo buying records, sneakers and toys.
He’d come to London and we’d hang out, I’d take him poster shopping. I got him all
the original Planet of the Apes posters from all the real poster galleries.715
Lavelle and Nigo’s first collaboration was a double CD compilation entitled James vs. Nigo -
A Bathing Ape Vs Mo'Wax where they each had a CD containing a mix of songs they had
selected for inclusion.716 It would be released in Japan only in October 1997, with artwork by
Futura featuring characters representing both Lavelle and Nigo.717 Lavelle introduced Futura
and Stash to Nigo in 1995, and they too began collaborating, faxing t-shirt designs to Nigo.718
In 1997 Bape released a series of t-shirts designed by Futura entitled Bathing Ape VS Mo’
Wax Japan which featured Futura’s artwork from the James vs. Nigo album. Toys based on
Futura’s designs were also released in 1997, with two figures representing Lavelle and Nigo
each.719 Their collaboration on toys would be taken a step further in 1998 when Nigo partnered
with Japanese toy company Medicom to create 12” action figures of Lavelle and himself, with
the Nigo figure featuring an ape mask, while Lavelle’s contained an UNKLE pointman mask.720
Back in 1997, Nigo had begun visiting London and the Major Force West Studios regularly
and each time he visited he would record a song.721 One of the tracks recorded was March of
The General, a Planet of the Apes inspired track produced by Kudo, and featuring Lavelle,
and Tony Vegas of the Scratch Perverts.722 The track is almost seven minutes long and filled
712
Wilson, R 2014
713
Dike, J 2017
714
Ibid.
715
Dike, J 2017
716
Nigo 2014
717
Discogs 2019s
718
Marx, W 2015 n.p.
719
Curtis, N 2017
720
Beastiemania, 2009
721
The Fashion Post, 2013
722
Discogs 2019tt
73
with Planet of the Apes samples from Jerry Goldsmith’s score of the 1968 film and dialogue
from its sequels, 1970’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes, 1971’s Escape from the Planet of the
Apes, and 1973’s Battle for the Planet of the Apes. The song mixes samples from everything
from Titanic’s Love Is Love to Ramsey Louis’s cover of The Beatles Back in the USSR, and
ends with a loop from Rick James’ Fire it Up over scratches provided by Tony Vegas.723
March of The General was released on the James vs. Nigo album in 1997 and credited to
UNKLE.724 It saw a further release in 1998 when it was released as a single with a series of
remixes, the song was now retitled Ape Shall Never Kill Ape but otherwise remained the
same.725
In 1999 it appeared again as part of Nigo’s debut album Ape Sounds. Produced by Kudo, the
album featured contributions from Money Mark, Toshi, Kan Takagi , Ben Lee, and Shawn Lee.
The Japanese and UK releases of this album are quite different, with the Japanese version
released on the 21st of November 1999 on Toy’s Factory,726 and the Mo’ Wax version released
in the UK on 25th of September 2000.727 Each edition features different artwork as well as
minor tracklist differences, with the most notable being that while UNKLE’s Ape Shall Never
Kill Ape appears on both albums, it was remixed and renamed for Japan’s Toy’s Factory
release, now titled Symphony No. 25910 -Escape From Planet Of The Apes-.728 While the Mo’
Wax version retained the original version as heard on the single, but gave it back the original
title from 1997, March of The General.729
The James vs. Nigo album also saw the release of a second new UNKLE track, Last Orgy 3.
The title refers to the song Last Orgy released in 1988 on Major Force by Tiny Panx, aka
Fujiwara Hiroshi and Kan Takagi,730 as well as the Last Orgy 2 column by Nigo.731 732 Last
Orgy 3 by UNKLE is similar to the original Tiny Panx song, and like the original it features a
rap by Kan Takagi. The UNKLE version was produced by Kudo, and features Tony Vegas
again providing scratches. While an exact date for the Last Orgy session is unknown, the
credits for the release give one hint stating that the vocals were recorded "high in the
Hollywood hills"733 and Takagi was present during the 1995 UNKLE recording sessions in
LA,734 735 while the rest was recorded at the Major Force West studios in England.736
Finally, James vs. Nigo saw the first commercial release of Rock On, the UNKLE collaboration
with Rammellzee that had been recorded back in 1995. Alongside Ape Shall Never Kill Ape,
and Last Orgy 3, Rock On was later released as a single in February 1998 as part of the
Trilogy Remix Series, and then all three singles were combined into one Trilogy Box Set on
723
WhoSampled 2020a
724
Discogs 2019s
725
Discogs 2019tt
726
Discogs 2020c
727
Discogs 2020d
728
Discogs 2020c
729
Discogs 2020d
730
Discogs 2019nn
731
Yu, S 2019
732
Toy’s Factory, 2000a
733
Discogs 2019ss
734
Toy’s Factory, 1999
735
Kan, T 2014
736
Discogs 2019ss
74
both CD and 12” vinyl in March 1998.737 The releases feature artwork designed by Stash and
Art Direction by Nigo,738 and the CD’s feature bonus remixes not available on the 12” releases.
These Japan only releases weren’t widely heard outside of Japan and frustrated many fans
as rumours of their releases circulated the internet with no clear way to purchase them.739
Each of the singles featured a handful of remixes, with Ape Shall Never Kill Ape accompanied
by the Twin Tower Mix by Shinco from Scha Dara Parr, Keigo Oyamada (aka Cornelius), LaB
LiFe, and Natural Calamity.740 Rock On featured the Nutcracker Mix and Nutcracker Dub by
John King of The Dust Brothers, as well as two alternate mixes, the 95 Edit and 99 Dub. Rock
On also featured a remix by DJ Yas, and the CD release also contained the UNKLE Homebass
Mega Mix, a megamix of the Trilogy songs.741 Last Orgy 3 was accompanied by remixes by
Dan The Automator, Sound Hero (aka Kan Takagi and Yamatsuka Eye), and Trugoy of De La
Soul.742
De La Soul had previously worked with Kan Takagi on their third album, 1993’s Buhloone
Mindstate, with Takagi appearing on the track Long Island Wildin alongside fellow Japanese
rappers Scha Dara Parr. Trugoy later discussed recording with Takagi, noting “I could not
understand Kan's lyric at all, but I knew that he was a genuine MC.”743
737
Ibid.
738
Discogs 2019uu
739
Flynn, Sean <sflynn@pobox.com> 1998
740
Discogs 2019tt
741
Discogs 2019qq
742
Discogs 2019uu
743
Toy’s Factory 2000a
75
Recording Psyence Fiction
During March 1997 DJ Shadow had toured North America with Jeru The Damaja, and he also
brought along his MPC loaded with the UNKLE demos to play during his set.744 At the time
Shadow had demos of Lonely Soul, Bloodstain, and Unreal, and mixed them in to his live show
along with his solo songs, new and old.745
Meanwhile, James Lavelle was still trying to organise UNKLE recording sessions.
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke had been on Lavelle’s mind as a potential collaborator almost as
long as Richard Ashcroft, but due to Radiohead’s busy schedule, touring their album The
Bends, then recording and touring their next album OK Computer, Lavelle had struggled to
find time to get Yorke into a studio.746
Lavelle initially deciding on the collaboration after Yorke had listed the Headz compilation as
a favourite of his, and they met up soon after.747 Likewise, Radiohead had gone on record
crediting DJ Shadow as an influence for their songs Airbag748 and Paranoid Android from
1997’s OK Computer album,749 and the band had told reporters they hoped to bring Shadow
on tour with them.750 Lavelle had wanted to work with all of Radiohead, but Thom Yorke
wanted to use their collaboration as a means to step away from the band and try something
different as Radiohead’s popularity was increasing with their latest album being their most well
received yet.751
Another problem for Lavelle was that Shadow had quit UNKLE again at the end of 1996, as
Shadow would later explain, "I was asked to do this album twice - in 1995 and 1996. Both
times I walked away from it. Both times I swore that I would never work on it ever again.”752
But playing the UNKLE demos while touring had made him reconsider, as he explained to
NME:
…by the time May ’97 came around I listened to the tapes and I thought, ‘This is too
good to turn my back on’. And by this time James had decided he wanted me to do the
whole thing, which appealed to me because then I knew I could just get on with it. So
to do justice to those three demos the rest of the record came about.753
With Shadow now agreeing to produce the UNKLE album, A&M decided to grant Lavelle a
new budget, hoping for the same success that had met Shadow’s debut album,
Endtroducing.754
744
Saeed, A 2012
745
Ibid.
746
Burgess, J 1998, pp. 59-60
747
Burgess, J 1996, p 58
748
Dalton, S 1997, pp. 57-58
749
NME, 1997
750
Douridas, C 1998
751
Burgess, J 1998, pp. 59-60
752
Future Music 1998
753
754
Adventures in Psyence Fiction 2019, 00:07:20
76
In June 1997, Shadow met with Thom Yorke and plans were made to record something
together for the UNKLE album. Studio time was arranged for July,755 during a break in
Radiohead’s US tour between their July 27 set at Warfield in San Francisco and their July 31
set at The Rage in Vancouver, Canada.756 Lavelle had previously stated he one day hoped to
record in Skywalker Sound Studios due to the studio being used for the sound recordings of
the Star Wars films,757 and that dream came true somewhat with the recording of what would
become UNKLE’s Rabbit In Your Headlights. While the song was actually recorded across the
road from Skywalker, Lavelle was given a tour of the Skywalker studio and the staff told him
how they admired his work, which Lavelle credits as the reason he was never sued for Mo’
Wax’s uncleared samples from the Star Wars series.758 The Skywalker team would also ask
if Shadow could remix the Star Wars theme for the next film in the series, though this never
materialised.759
Shadow drove Thom Yorke to the studio for their UNKLE recording session, while Yorke wrote
down lyrics for what would become Rabbit In Your Headlights.760 Once in the studio, Yorke
recorded the vocals in one take,761 and then stayed for two days as they had booked the studio
for 48 hours, with Yorke recording some extra bass parts, as well as tuning the pianos in the
studio.762
In September 1997 Radiohead’s tour arrived in the UK, and Shadow joined them as their
support act, opening for their sets in England. Just as he had on the Jeru tour earlier in the
year, Shadow brought his MPC with him and played some unreleased UNKLE demos to the
crowd next to his solo work.763
Shadow had recorded his album Entroducing on the MPC sampler, using an MPC 60 MK II,
but for the UNKLE album he upgraded to the MPC 3000 which had been released in 1994 by
Akai. The upgrade meant larger samples could be recorded as the MPC 3000 was capable of
recording sixty seconds of stereo, while the MPC 60 MK II was only capable of recording
twelve.764 Pro Tools was also used for the recording of the UNKLE album, with Shadow first
gaining experience using the software thanks to Dan The Automator, who had it in his studio
while Entroducing was recorded. He would explain the process to Tape Op:
The only time I use Pro Tools is for the editing and sequencing of the album. For Unkle,
it was just used to de-click some of the really noisy samples. At the very beginning of
making the Unkle record, I was feeling very self-conscious. I was hearing all these
chops on drum and bass records that I couldn't do on the 3000. I played around with
Cubase a little but then I decided that I already had my sound and that I'd stick with it
for a while…Endtroducing was recorded to ADAT because that was all that we could
755
756
Green Plastic Trees n.d. b
757
James, M 1997, p. 145
758
BFI 2018b, 00:09:00
759
Gadelrab, R 2017
760
McLean, C 1998, p. 66
761
Ibid.
762
NME, 1998e
763
DJShadow.com 2009b
764
Ma, D 2017, p. 75
77
afford back then. The Unkle album was multi-tracked to 2" analog. Jim Abbis did the
actual mixing but James and I were there for every minute of it.765
At the end of 1997, engineer Jim Abbiss was brought in by Lavelle to help Shadow with mixing
the various samples used in to one cohesive sound. Initially Abbiss was hired for only two
weeks, but he ended up staying for nine months as he saw the album through to completion.766
Abbiss explained his experience to NME:
Everything is sampled in Josh’s music. He’s got the most unique and brilliant way of
cutting up sounds from some old seven-inches from 1974 or somewhere. But making
that all sound like one record rather than a variety of scratchy vinyl is a bit of a
headache. Then on top of that people were supposed to come in and write their own
lyrics and vocal melodies on top. That caused problems and frustrations for some
writers, ‘cos they’re just not used to working like that.767
Shadow for his part told Remix Magazine,
I didn't think I was up for the challenge and the responsibility of having to mix those
songs with those vocalists...So from the beginning, I said to Jim, ‘Look, having just
mixed Endtroducing, I know that there are some gaps in my knowledge.’ And we just
got along really well. I'd have these really intangible words to describe what I was
feeling and hearing, and he would actually know how to make it happen.768
Abbiss who had worked as an engineer on Björk’s Debut, and Massive Attack’s Protection
albums enjoyed the challenge the UNKLE project brought, telling Mix Online:
I found DJ Shadow inspirational to work with. His attention to detail was incredible. He
did not know any technical terms or how the desk worked, so he would ask for sounds
that gave him a feeling. He'd say things like, “When it comes to the middle section, it
should have the feeling of an airplane coming over and nearly deafening you.” The
way he approached music made me completely rethink the way I did sound.769
In the end there were twelve songs on the album, with some demos not making the cut. Each
one of these has its own story, from the samples used to the guest appearances that scatter
throughout the album. Together they make up the album that became Psyence Fiction.
765
Stenman, E 1998, p. 17
766
Tingen, P 2006
767
768
Swenson, K 2002
769
Tingen, P 2007
78
79
Track By Track - Psyence Fiction
"Intro (Optional)"
A bonus track on the Japanese770 and Australian editions of the album,771 with the subtitle
“Intro by Heroes and Vilains. Please do not violate”,772 the song contains an assortment of
samples collected together featuring small excerpts from songs which represent the
inspirations behind the making of Psyence Fiction.773 The track is a pregap hidden track, only
accessible if you use the rewind function of a CD player and are often undetected by
computers.774
UNKLE’s Intro (Optional) features a slew of uncleared samples, so it’s no wonder that when
he was asked about it at the time of release Lavelle pretended not to know about the track,
saying "What song? That's an accident, it must have ended up on our album when something
went wrong at the pressing plant."775
The following songs are featured:776
• Quannum MCs – "Blue Flames"

• Massive Attack – "Teardrop"
• Air – "All I Need"
• Invisibl Skratch Piklz – "Invisibl Skratch Piklz vs. Da Klamz Uv Deth"
• Timbaland and Magoo – "Clock Strikes" (Remix)
• The Chemical Brothers – "Elektrobank"
• Jurassic 5 – "Jayou"
• Cornelius – "Mic Check"
• Radiohead – "Just"
• Oasis – "Wonderwall"
• Portishead – "Numb"
• The Verve – "History"
• Peshay – "The Nocturnal (Back on the Firm)"
• DJ Krush – "Kemuri"
• Björk – "Human Behaviour"
• Nirvana – "Come as You Are"
• Innerzone Orchestra – "Bug in the Bassbin"
• A Tribe Called Quest (featuring Leaders of the New School) – "Scenario"
• Young Disciples – "Apparently Nothin'"
• Orbital – "Chime"
• Gang Starr – "Just to Get a Rep"
770
Discogs 2019rrr
771
Discogs 2019aaa
772
Discogs 2019rrr
773
Spencer, R 2012, p. 14
774
Smith, E 2017
775
Adams, C 1998
776
Snaporaz100 2010
80
• 808 State – "Pacific State"
• Ice Cube – "Get Off My Dick and Tell Yo Bitch to Come Here (Remix)"
• Main Source – "Looking at the Front Door"
• Massive Attack – "Unfinished Sympathy"
• Soul II Soul – "Keep on Movin'"
• De La Soul – "The Magic Number"
• The Stone Roses – "I Wanna Be Adored"
• Talk Talk – "The Rainbow"
• Ultramagnetic MCs – "Give the Drummer Some"
• M|A|R|R|S – "Pump Up the Volume"
• Public Enemy – "Public Enemy No. 1"
• Major Force West – "Kiss FM Radio Promo"
• Depeche Mode – "Stripped"
• Beastie Boys – "The New Style"
• Metallica – "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"
• Eric B. & Rakim – "Eric B. Is President"
• Frankie Goes to Hollywood – "The Last Voice"
• Newcleus – "Jam on It"
• Jamie Jupitor – "Computer Power"
• UTFO – "Roxanne"
• Art of Noise – "Beat Box"
• Run-DMC – "30 Days"
• New Order – "Blue Monday"
• Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force – "Planet Rock"
• Malcolm McLaren & the World's Famous Supreme Team – "Buffalo Gals"
• Rammelzee and K-Rob – "Beat Bop"
• Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – "The Message"
• Kraftwerk – "It's More Fun to Compute"
• Zapp – "More Bounce to the Ounce"
• Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five –"Superrappin'"
• John Oswald – "Brown"
• Sound taken directly from the opening scene of Contact
• Juice – "Catch a Groove"
• Herbie Hancock – "Chameleon"
• Sun Ra – "Space Is the Place"
• James Brown – "The Payback"
• Incredible Bongo Band – "Apache"
• Silver Apples – "Lovefingers"
• Terry Callier – "Dancing Girl"
• The Doors – "The End"
• Mickey & the Soul Generation - "Get Down Brother"
• The Meters – "Cissy Strut"
• David Axelrod – "Holy Thursday"
• The Beatles – "Tomorrow Never Knows"
• Jimi Hendrix – "Happy Birthday"
• Velvet Underground – "Venus in Furs"
• Nina Simone – "Feeling Good"
• The Elvin Jones/Jimmy Garrison Sextet - "Half and Half"
81
"Guns Blazing (Drums of Death, Pt. 1)" feat. Kool G Rap
The song begins with the sound of static like that from an old TV set, and a bleep which sounds
like R2D2 from Star Wars though it hasn’t been verified. These are followed by a long fade in
of strings and beeps sampled from Alan Hawkshaw’s Countdown, off the 1978 album
Terrestrial Journey.777 A voice then announces, "Somewhere in space, this may all be
happening right now." This voice belongs to the French actor Malachi Throne, and was
sampled from the original Star Wars preview trailer released during Christmas 1976 in
anticipation for the first Star Wars film in 1977 (later renamed Star Wars Episode IV: A New
Hope).778 Malachi Throne incidentally also guest starred on an episode of The Man From
U.N.C.L.E. TV series ("The Four-Steps Affair" from 1965).779
Lavelle explained the idea of the sample:
We were inspired by archetypal narrative structures so we open with his track, ‘Guns’
Blazing’ because, to use Star Wars as a common reference point, it starts out with the
rebel being attacked by the Empire. Star Wars also starts out with ‘A long time ago in
a galaxy far far away’ and we have our little statement ‘Somewhere in space this may
all be happening right now’.780
Once the voiceover ends we hear a sudden flurry of fast drum beats cut up and sampled from
Tullio De Piscopo’s Medium Rock off their 1974 album Suonando La Batteria Moderna,781
while the rest of the track contains drums from Frank Zappa’s Apostrophe from the 1974 album
of the same name,782 and Wizzard’s Buffalo Station/Get On Down To Memphis taken from
1973’s Wizard Brew album.783
Following the beats comes the voice of two characters, one who is named U.N.K.L.E. 77 and
is being attacked by two fighter jets, while the other is Mission Control.784 Though this may
sound like a sample from an obscure movie it was actually scripted,785 and served the purpose
of creating a slight narrative for the album as the characters return briefly later. The
Independent described the U.N.K.L.E. 77 character as “a kind of Major Tom for the Nineties,
whom the album's artwork actually reveals to be a sweet-looking alien with a natty satchel.”786
Following this introduction, the first of the albums many guest artist appears, Kool G Rap
(a.k.a. Nathaniel Wilson),787 sometimes shortened to G Rap, is an American rapper from
Queens. He released his first single in 1986 and was brought in to the Juice Crew by Marley
Marl who then produced Kool G Rap’s debut album with DJ Polo, 1989’s Road To Riches.788
777
WhoSampled 2019p
778
De Lange, S 2015
779
IMDB 2020b
780
781
WhoSampled 2019s
782
WhoSampled 2019q
783
WhoSampled 2019t
784
Maconie, S 1998
785
Lavelle, J 2014
786
Higgins, M 1998
787
Kaufman, G 1998
788
Ekpo, I 2018
82
G Rap is considered one of the original MC’s who introduced gangster and mafiaso themed
rap to East Coast hip hop in America.789 His albums have continued to influence his
contemporaries, including Jay-Z, Nas and Eminem.790 DJ Shadow was also a fan, having
grown up listening to G Rap he considered him a legend791 and had even sampled him for his
album Endtroducing.792
Kool G Rap recorded his vocals in one hour793 in October 1997, after Shadow sent a beat for
him to rap over.794 Shadow likened G Rap as being akin to the Terminator “because he’s so
aggressive compared to everyone else on the record."795 Shadow later discussed featuring G
Rap on the album:
I wanted someone involved who I grew up listening to. He was one of my favorite
lyricists and probably a rapper most people wouldn’t choose. He was given a
breakbreat and the only instruction he was given, which were the same ones we gave
to everybody else, were ‘just be yourself’. The only thing I said he should try and avoid
was the killer hoe type material. But then if you’re gonna ask for Kool G Rap you’re
gonna get Kool G Rap!796
Kool G Rap also described the session, telling MTV, "[DJ Shadow] wanted me to do, like, an
old version of G rap...but not with a lot of curses, just hard-core freestyle stuff where I'm talking
about money and mob stuff."797 On the album track most of the cursing is censored by effects,
but another version titled Guns Blazing (Vocal Street) was made available as a promo with
the swearing intact.798
While the rest of Psyence Fiction’s guest artists were brought in by Lavelle, Kool G Rap was
included at the insistence of Shadow, who explained,
We agreed on who should be on the record...Except I had to put my foot down over
Kool G Rap, because James was saying things like. ‘Mike D represents the hip-hop
side of the record’. and I was like, ‘Well he doesn’t really to me…’ I wanted someone I
grew up on, so I insisted on having Kool G Rap on the record. And I think he’ll admit I
was right”.799
Also appearing alongside Kool G Rap on Guns Blazing were two of Shadow’s Solesides
labelmates Latyrx, aka Lateef The Truth Speaker, and Lyrics Born, who provided additional
vocals.800
789
Birchmeier, J 2019
790
Weingarten, C 2017
791
MTV News, 1998
792
WhoSampled 2019j
793
Egaitsu, H 1998
794
795
Ibid. p. 60
796
Ibid. p. 57
797
Kaufman, G 1998
798
Discogs 2019ddd
799
800
Discogs 2019zz
83
The U.N.K.L.E. 77 character returns throughout the song as their story continues and Guns
Blazing ends with Mission Control announcing they have lost contact with 77 before we hear
77 calling on their radio asking “is anybody out there.” During this sequence there are several
samples from someone Galaxian, a videogame produced by Namco in 1979801 which is similar
to Space Invaders, and went on to spawn the popular sequel Galaga.802
Ahead of its release a white label promo was distributed in the US as Shadow hoped that a
white label would allow America DJs to become intrigued by the track without any
preconceived prejudices they otherwise might have. As Shadow tells it though, “nobody
played it anyway...[It was] Too hardcore for rock dudes, too out there for rap dudes. At the
time, anyway.”803 The promo contained the uncensored street vocal alongside the album
version and an acapella and instrumental.804
A video was also created for Guns Blazing, initially as part of the NME Brats Review program
in 1999, and also toured across the USA and Tokyo as part of the ResFest 1999 film festival.805
806
The film was created by Shynola, a group of artists which included Gideon Baws, Jason
Groves, Chris Harding, and Richard Kenworthy.807 The group had read about UNKLE in a
magazine and wrote to James Lavelle offering to make a video for him which became Guns
Blazing, and was made using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere, combing elements of
Ben Drury and Futura’s UNKLE artwork.808
Lavelle next put the group in charge of another video for Mo’ Wax, Quannum's I Changed my
Mind released in 2000,809 and later in 2001 Shynola created the Eye For An Eye video for
UNKLE.810
801
WhoSampled 2019r
802
Arcade Classics 2019
803
DJShadow.com n.d. f
804
Discogs 2019ddd
805
ResFest 1999b
806
ResFest 1999a
807
ResFest 1999b
808
Ibid.
809
Neil, 2010
810
Onedotzero 2004, p. 161
84
"UNKLE Main Title Theme"
Recorded at DJ Shadow’s home studio in late April 1998,811 the UNKLE Main Title Theme
begins with samples from the end of the previous Guns Blazing (Drums of Death, Pt. 1)’s
“there, there, there,” from the UNKLE 77 character asking “is anybody out there?”
While the track is short, running under four minutes, there are more than fifteen samples
throughout the UNKLE Main Title Theme.812 “Put aside the everyday world, and come with us
into the world of imagination. The middle ground between light and shadow” is the first of many
vocal samples, this one from an advertisement for an episode of The Twilight Zone. The voice
belongs to James Franciscus as Lieutenant Mueller in the 1959 episode Judgment Night from
the The Twilight Zone’s first season.813 This is followed by “ladies and gentlemen tonight,”
sampled from Bass Dominators feat. M.C.C.’s Go Head, Go Head (Yo! Yo!) released in
1986,814 and the Beastie Boys’ Mike D spelling out “U.N.K.L.E.”
Mike D’s vocals are sampled from The Knock (Drums of Death Pt. 2) which appears later on
Psyence Fiction, and they reappear across the UNKLE Main Title Theme cut up and with
various effects over them as well.
Mike D is followed by the voice of Hubert J. Bernhard, sampled from his 1967 album The
Planetarium Lecture Series: No. 3: The UFO's, discussing whether professional astronomers
report the existence of UFO’s.815 After a flurry of quick hip hop samples, the albums second
Star Wars sample is featured, again from the 1976 teaser which was used in Guns Blazing
(Drums of Death, Pt. 1).816 Directly after the "Somewhere in space, this may all be happening
right now" used in Guns Blazing, the trailer announced “20th Century Fox and George Lucas,
the man who brought you American Graffiti, now bring you an adventure unlike anything on
your planet: Star Wars,” and it was the end of that line which is used in UNKLE Main Title
Theme, now referencing the album you are listening to.
Following George Lucas’ Star Wars, Shadow and Lavelle sample Hearts of Darkness: A
Filmmaker's Apocalypse, the 1991 documentary about the makings of Francis Ford Coppola's
1979 war film Apocalypse Now.817 Lavelle had watched the film during the making of Psyence
Fiction and it is said to have resonated with him, as he felt the madness that Coppola was
going through was similar to what he and Shadow were going through with the creation of
their album.818 The sample of Coppola stating “there were too many of us, we had access to,
too many…too much money, and little by little we went insane” was often brought up by the
press,819 with Q Magazine referring to it as a “dark in-joke about ambition.”820
811
McLean, C 1998, p. 69
812
WhoSampled 2019n
813
WhoSampled 2019jj
814
WhoSampled 2019ee
815
WhoSampled 2019gg
816
De Lange, S 2015
817
WhoSampled 2019ff
818
Grundy, G 1998, p. 80
819
820
Wright, R 2017
85
The next vocal sample comes from Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner, where the character
Roy Batty played by Rutger Hauer says “Fiery the angels fell; deep thunder rolled around their
shores; burning with the fires of Orc,”821 while Shadow and Lavelle removed the “deep thunder
rolled around their shores.” The final vocal sample, “a ticket to nothingness” is from the 1997
film Event Horizon, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson.822
The instruments which feature beneath these samples are made up from a handful of
recordings, with the guitar sampled from A Pilgram’s Path by Rage which appeared on their
1988 album Noise.823 This simple loop is repeated throughout UNKLE Main Title Theme
alongside drums from Matthew Cang and Eddie Chin’s Slow Glide, released on 1983’s
Surprise Package, and more drums from Joy Unlimited’s Rudiment off their 1971 album
Schmetterlinge.824 In the last section of UNKLE Main Title Theme during the scratching, a new
guitar sample begins which was taken from The Luv Bandits’ 1967 song Mizzer-Bahd.825
Many reviews of Psyence Fiction enjoyed UNKLE Main Title Theme, and the track was
variously described as “a pileup of turntable scratching and tortured violins,”826 “a blend of
percussive beats, plangent guitar and sci-fi sounds,”827 and “a liquid mix of gauzy guitar,
psychotic violin and Shadow's own furious scratching.”828 The Times were particularly
impressed with how UNKLE Main Title Theme segued from Guns Blazing (Drums of Death,
Pt. 1), and suggested the “implication is that UNKLE are leaving the mundane bluster of
gangsta to forge fresh ground.”829
821
WhoSampled 2020e
822
The Sample Source Wiki 2019
823
WhoSampled 2019hh
824
WhoSampled 2019n
825
WhoSampled 2019ii
826
Gundersen, E 1998
827
Ludovic, H-T 1998
828
Lorraine, A 1998
829
Pattenden, M 1998
86
"Bloodstain" feat Alice Temple
Bloodstain was one of the earliest tracks demoed for Psyence Fiction, and was recorded
around the same time as Lonely Soul in 1996.830 But Bloodstain is also reminiscent of an
earlier unreleased UNKLE demo called Dissatisfied from before DJ Shadow had become a
member of the group, and which was created by Tim Goldsworthy and James Lavelle.831
What makes Dissatisfied similar to Bloodstain is the fact they both contain a very similarly
utilised sample from the song Alone by BeBe K'Roche, with the vocal “I’m alone and
dissatisfied.” This suggests Lavelle had wanted to use it with UNKLE for some time, as
Dissatisfied was likely recorded around 1994 or 1995 if it was one of Lavelle and
Goldsworthy’s earliest tracks832 seeing as The Time Has Come was released in 1994.833
Bloodstain, apart from using the same sample, is otherwise completely different and features
a vocal performance by Alice Temple. Temple recorded her demo in November 1996 at The
Strongroom, East London, before returning in August 1997 to record the final vocals at
Metropolis studios, Chiswick.834
Before she became a singer, Alice Temple was originally a BMX racer and in 1982 at the age
of 15 was already winning competitions,835 becoming the first person to win the Girls Number
1 plate two years in a row in the UK, as well as picking up a Number 3 in Europe.836 With such
a successful career at an early age she would surprise everyone by announcing at the end of
1983 that she was retiring from the sport.837 Speaking to a reporter in BMX Racer + Freestyle
for their September 1984 issue, the 17 year old Temple told the reporter she was retiring from
competing as her mother wanted her to focus on her education.838
In 1985 Temple became part of the Blitz Kid scene839 which would herald the New Romantic
music genre, as Temple became a regular at the Blitz club-night in Covent Garden, London,
spending time with Boy George.840
Temple next moved in to modelling, telling a reporter “it was a good excuse to travel,”841
appearing on the cover on I-D Magazine in May 1986 photographed by Nick Night,842 and that
same year appeared in the Culture Club video for Move Away.843 Temple is believed to be the
830
831
Lavelle, J 2018a, 00:35:35
832
Cooper, D 2018
833
Discogs 2019rr
834
McClean, C 1998, p. 66, 68
835
UKBMXHistory 2017
836
Poole, Gary 1985, p. 60
837
BMX Racer & Freestyle 1984, p. 8
838
Ibid.
839
Teen Machine 1985
840
Berke, C 2018
841
Gaitney, S 1999, p. 21
842
Magazine Canteen 2020
843
Thomas, B 2017
87
subject of Boy George’s 1988 song A Boy Called Alice, where she provides the backing vocals
“My name’s Alice and I’m not a boy.”844
In 1990 Temple furthered her move into music when she teamed with Eg White,845 real name
Francis White,846 previously of British boy band Brother Beyond.847 The pair recorded the
album 24 Years of Hunger in their kitchen,848 and in 1991 it was released under the band
name Eg & Alice. Q Magazine were fans, describing it as one the best albums of the 20th
Century,849 and The Times enjoyed the album’s sound, describing Eg & Alice as “a British
Steely Dan.”850 While the press were on their side, the pair didn’t tour the album851 which
resulted in sales of only 8,000 copies, unfortunately missing the charts,852 and by 1992 Temple
had left the group to pursue other things.853 While she may have left music behind for the time,
she continued to gain recognition for her work, with The New Yorker describing her in 1995
as an “English punk-rock musician.”854
Back in England, 24 Years of Hunger took on a bit of a cult following,855 and when James
Lavelle heard a tape of her singing it impressed him enough to want to bring Temple in to
record with UNKLE.856 He explained:
I just fell in love with her. I wanted to sign her to Mo’ Wax. She represented a lot of
things from the environment I’d grown up in. She was a BMX champion as a kid and
very left of centre. I didn’t know how to fit Alice into the album but then I went round to
the flat Josh was working out of and he played me this track and I was like ‘that’s Alice
Temple’.857
Alice for her part enjoyed the collaboration telling NME in 1998:
I was really nervous going into that studio environment...They’d given me a beat and
a backing track, and I’m not really used to writing songs like that. I thought what I’d
done was so crap. and I didn’t know Josh, so I didn’t know whether it was what they
wanted. But we gritted our teeth and when we eventually got a finished version I was
really dead chuffed with it858
844
Berke, C 2018
845
Eaton, A 2009
846
McKormick, N 2009
847
The Irish Times, 2009
848
Jenkins, L 2013
849
Swihart, S 2019a
850
The Times 1992
851
Swihart, S 2019b
852
853
Ibid.
854
Als, H 1995, p. 37
855
856
UNKLE 1998, 00:18:00
857
858
88
But while she enjoyed Bloodstain, she initially wasn’t impressed with the rest of the album
telling Out Magazine in 1999, “I thought it was all a load of crap at first. But I have to say I’m
very proud to be on it now.”859
Bloodstain contains several samples throughout the song, beginning at around 25 seconds in
when a drumbeat is heard, sampled from Head West’s Attention off the 1970 album Disques
Vogue, accompanied by a guitar sample which remains unknown,860 before Alice Temple's
lyrics follow. Temple recorded her vocals in August 1997861 over a beat provided by
Shadow,862 while her lyrics are reportedly about heroin abuse.863 Lavelle later commented on
the song, “She wasn’t in a good state. There were a lot of drugs going on at the time…You
only need to listen to the song to hear what she was going through.”864
Lavelle also revealed that when they tried to clear the sample from BeBe K'Roche’s Alone,
the record label refused to clear it unless they could prove Alice Temple was a lesbian.865 The
label in question was Olivia Records, a record label which focused on women’s music, and
has now become a successful lesbian cruise ship business.866 Lavelle was able to get the
sample cleared, and it appears at the end of the song.867
Following the “Are you satisfied” vocal sample from BeBe K'Roche’s Alone, Bloodstain then
ends with a guitar solo sampled from The Grodeck Whipperjenny’s 1979 song Evidence for
the Existence of the Unconscious,868 and dialogue from the Star Wars Holiday Special (“You
Are Alone?”), which leads directly in to the next track.
The Star Wars Holiday Special was a TV special produced in 1978 that has become infamous
for how bad it is, with Star Wars creator George Lucas apparently so embarrassed by it that
he tried to find and destroy every copy in existence.869 Regardless of the truth surrounding
that rumour, copies have been made and it is now easy to find online thanks to YouTube and
other video sharing websites.870
The most notable segment is one which featured the first appearance of fan-favourite Boba
Fett, the bounty hunter who would appear in Star Wars sequels The Empire Strikes Back, and
Return of The Jedi. The two samples which appear on Psyence Fiction, “You Are Alone?” on
Bloodstain, and “Maybe I Can Help You” on Unreal, are dialogue spoken by the Boba Fett
character. In the short animated segment, known as "The Faithful Wookiee", Fett meets Luke
Skywalker and offers to help him while actually planning to betray Skywalker and his friends
to their enemy Darth Vader. 871
859
Gaitney, S 1999, p. 21
860
WhoSampled 2019a
861
862
863
Pattenden, M 1998
864
865
Ibid.
866
Riese 2016
867
868
WhoSampled 2019o
869
Warren, RB 2014
870
Ibid.
871
The Star Wars Holiday Special 2018
89
The animation was produced by Nelvana Ltd. in Toronto, Canada, who would go on to produce
the Droids, and Ewoks animated Star Wars series’ in the mid-1980’s. Boba Fett was voiced
by Don Francks in The Holiday Special and reprised the character for Boba Fett’s appearance
in an episode of Droids entitled A Race to the Finish which aired in 1985. Of interest, the actor
also appeared in a 1966 episode of the television series Man From U.N.C.L.E., entitled The
Round Table Affair.872
Outside of its appearance on Psyence Fiction, a one-track promo of Bloodstain was released
in 1998 by London Records873 and in 2015 the song was released in remixed form as Blood
Stain (UNKLE Reconstruction) for the Mo’ Wax Future Past collection.874 The Blood Stain
release was in collaboration with the Japanese Fashion Label Hysteric Glamour, and featured
a 12” record limited to 50 copies, as well as a series of Mo’ Wax x Hysteric Glamour t-shirts875
and jacket.876 The remix was also featured on Lavelle’s Naples mix for Global Underground
released that same year.877
872
IMDB 2020a
873
Discogs 2019xx
874
Cooper, D 2017a
875
Goodhood n.d. c
876
Goodhood n.d. b
877
Discogs 2019t
90
"Unreal"
Opening with the second half of the sample that ends Bloodstain, “Maybe I Can Help You?”,
Unreal then begins with a large string and bell sample from the opening Leroy Vinnegar’s 1974
song Reservation, and drums from The Other Brothers 1968 song No Class, slightly slowed
down.878
The guitar and bell samples that start around the one-minute mark are from The Jules Blattner
Group’s Birth, sampled from their 1971 album Call Me Man!879 The Birth sample featured so
heavily that Jules Blattner is credited as a co-writer of the track in the album credits,880 and
Shadow has commented that Blattner was one of the few artists who has been happy to be
sampled by him.881
The song title Unreal comes from the source of the “How do you feel?” vocal sample that
appears after the four-minute mark. The sample is from The Eclectic Mouse’s Pre-Dawn
Retrospective Chant, taken from their 1969 album Everything I’ve Got,882 and the full vocal
goes “How should you feel when you’ve felt everything you can feel, and you still feel unreal.
Oh, you’re unreal. How do you feel?”
Unreal would later be re-released as the non-album track Be There and feature vocals by Ian
Brown of The Stone Roses, with later editions of the album containing both tracks, and Be
There becoming the final track on the album. Lavelle had sent the track to Brown prior to the
release of Psyence Fiction, but Brown sent it back and told Lavelle “You’re crazy, leave it
alone, it doesn’t need a vocal.”883
878
WhoSampled 2020f
879
WhoSampled 2019ll
880
Discogs 2019zz
881
Raz, G 2012
882
WhoSampled 2019kk
883
Mixmag 2003, p. 39
91
"Lonely Soul" feat Richard Ashcroft
In 1996 after discussing the UNKLE project with Richard Ashcroft, James Lavelle brought him
in to the studio in September to record a demo which would become Lonely Soul,884 with DJ
Shadow telling The Quietus, “James Lavelle and I were huge fans of the Verve album A
Northern Soul, so James really wanted to have Richard Ashcroft come down and sing. He
came down and did a guide vocal and we built a track around it.”885
For Lonely Soul Shadow upgraded from the MPC 60 MK II sampler he had used for his solo
album to the newer MPC 3000 model. He explained the benefits to The Quietus, “It was a very
different way of working and suddenly I had a whole new arsenal, so to speak, and much more
sample time, but it was a lot more complicated to work with. That song represented me getting
my head around the new MPC.”886
Will Malone created the string arrangement for Lonely Soul after Lavelle explained he wanted
something similar to Adagio For Strings,887 an orchestral piece composed by Samuel Barber
in 1936, arranged for a string orchestra and which originated as a movement from his String
Quartet, Op. 11.888
Lavelle had enjoyed Malone’s work on Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy, and played
him the original demo of Lonely Soul shortly after Ashcroft had recorded his vocals, Lavelle
explained “He was into the track so we asked him to do the strings for it, to write an end piece
and also write, as a featured artist, his own piece which is ‘Celestial Annihilation’."889 The
strings for Lonely Soul were recorded in September 1997, one year after Ashcroft had
recorded his vocals over Shadow’s original demo,890 and the recording of Lonely Soul took
almost two years.891 This took its toll on Shadow who described recording the song as a painful
experience, telling CMJ in 1998:
I don't like to get dramatic, but recording 'Lonely Soul' was difficult...There was the
demo, Richard Ashcroft's guide vocal, the strings, filling in the gaps, making it
cohesive. After mixing it for the third day, I went home and went to sleep. When I woke
up I couldn't walk, I couldn't get out of bed. I had slipped a disc in my back due to all
of the stress. That wasn't good. And it changed my life. I think about it everyday. I feel
I am much more in tunes (sic) with my body now.892
The drum beat used on Lonely Soul was sampled from Lionel Morton’s Fearless Fred's
Amazing Animal Band, a novelty record which produced by the BBC in 1972.893 The strange
rocket noises after the four minute mark were sampled from the Apocalypse Now Soundtrack,
884
885
Tuffrey, L 2012
886
Ibid.
887
Harcourt, N 1998, 00:44:00
888
Keller, J 2010
889
890
891
Dummy, 2013
892
Micallef, K 1998, p. 14
893
WhoSampled 2019v
92
namely Do Lung Bridge written by Carmine Coppola and released in 1979.894 The sitar
samples are from Shanti’s 1971 song Innocence,895 with the bass guitar sounds throughout
taken from Renaissance’s Bullet released in 1969.896
In 2012, DJ Shadow released a Greatest Hits compilation entitled Reconstructed, which

featured songs from the various eras of his career, including a shortened edit of Lonely Soul.
In an interview focused around the compilation Shadow discussed the track with The Quietus:
'Lonely Soul' is definitely one of my finest achievements during this twenty-year period
and in the process of going back through a lot of DAT tape during the course of putting
together the greatest hits, I found this radio edit that I had forgotten about and was
never released and I liked the way it felt. I remember when we did it in the studio
thinking "wow, I wonder if this will be the version we end up with on the album?" I really
liked the way it ended and felt like it was a complete vision without being a sort of
butchered version of the album version.897
The song was performed live twice by Richard Ashcroft with members of UNKLE, first in 2000
during a show where Ashcroft was supporting Madonna and he brought out Lavelle and Rich
File (the current UNKLE line-up at the time) to perform. Then in 2003 Ashcroft would join
Shadow on stage for his Live at ICA set to perform Lonely Soul, with both performances
recorded and circulating among fans online.
While UNKLE had planned to use Lonely Soul as a single to promote the album, Mo’ Wax had
to first seek permission from Ashcroft's label who refused to grant it.898 899
Regardless of whether it could be a single or not, Lavelle contacted film director Stanley
Kubrick about making a video for Lonely Soul, and Kubrick’s publicist told him that while
Kubrick was interested in the idea he was currently filming Eyes Wide Shut, and suggested
Lavelle get back in contact after the film was complete.900 Unfortunately, Kubrick died soon
after, prior to the release of Eyes Wide Shut in 1999. The video would later be made as a film
entitled The Corridor for Lavelle’s 2016 exhibition Daydreaming With… Stanley Kubrick, a
collaboration between Lavelle and the Stanley Kubrick estate.901 The film starred Joanna
Lumley and Aiden Gillen and was written and directed by filmmaker Toby Dye. The film, or art
installation as it has been described, features the actors within four simultaneous,
interweaving narratives on a continuous loop.902
894
WhoSampled 2019u
895
WhoSampled 2019x
896
WhoSampled 2019w
897
Tuffrey, L 2012
898
Farsides, T 1998
899
900
BFI 2014, 00:02:00
901
Brewer, J 2016
902
Dye, T 2019
93
"Getting Ahead in the Lucrative Field of Artist Management"
A short interlude, Getting Ahead in the Lucrative Field of Artist Management was a jab at the
management shared by Richard Ashcroft and Badly Drawn Boy. Mo’ Wax had intended on
releasing Lonely Soul and Nursery Rhyme as singles to promote Psyence Fiction, but their
shared management refused to let them. 903
Notably the song is directly in the middle of tracks featuring both artists, and on the Japanese
edition of Psyence Fiction this song is subtitled in the credits with the quote "As the record
industry falls down around our ears, let's raise a glass to the ambulance chasers...",904 with an
ambulance chaser being slang for a lawyer.905 Lavelle explained their frustration:
All these people are trying to get involved, and you’re trying to explain what you’re
trying to do to all these management and record companies. But it reached the point
where me and Josh were saying, ‘Who the fuck are all these people? These artists are
on our record, who the fuck are these idiots? What right have they to say anything
about it, they’re not on the record’.906
The skit is short and allows for a tonal change between the haunting Lonely Soul and the punk
rock-esque Nursery Rhyme which comes next. But it equally serves as reminder to the listener
regarding the mindset of the UNKLE duo whilst recording the album. Lavelle explained, “That
track was a reflection of how bonkers we were getting...There were times when I looked at
Josh and he looked at me and we said ‘Fuck it, I give up… It’s not worth the grief’.”907
The game itself, which was indeed named Ball Busters, is described as an abstract strategy
game and was released in 1975 by Mego, designed by John McNett. Board Game Geek
providing the following further description regarding the gameplay:
Players move around groups of playing pieces set up similarly to checkers. Each piece
consists of a plastic ball mounted on a long springy stem which is mounted on a peg
which fits into holes in the board. Players can attack an opponents piece by pulling
back on one of their own adjacent pieces and releasing it, causing the plastic balls to
collide.908
Mego was famous for its action figure range which included the 1974 Planet of the Apes
figures,909 as well as figures based of the original Star Trek TV series.910 In 1976 Mego refused
the license for a new film entitled Star Wars, with the license eventually going to rival Kenner.
This windfall led to sales at Kenner jumping from $100 million in 1975, to $200 million in 1978,
largely credited to their Star Wars line as the film was a success.911 Meanwhile Mego struggled
903
904
Discogs 2019rrr
905
Cambridge Dictionary 2019
906
907
Ibid.
908
Board Game Geek 2019
909
Scott, S 2009, p. 3
910
Mego Collector 2014
911
Barnhill, J 2009, p. 345
94
to regain market share and by 1981 were reporting losses of over $40 million, leading to the
company filing for bankruptcy in 1982.912
912
The New York Times 1982
95
"Nursery Rhyme / Breather" feat Badly Drawn Boy
In November 1997 Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy, released his first EP, a five track
vinyl only release called EP 1,913 and made his live debut on stage to a small crowd a few
weeks after.914
James Lavelle had wanted a new, undiscovered, “northern voice” on the UNKLE album and
after he heard some of Gough’s work they met up at the Mo’ Wax Christmas lunch, held the
day before Christmas Day in 1997.915 Lavelle would later explain further in 1998:
I was desperate to get a central character and I’d heard his 7" and really liked it. We
met up and presented him with the ideas and at the time thought he’d become involved
in a lot more tracks. Josh was working on a hardcore track for somebody and it felt
right for him. If Damon’s kind of lo-fi in the way he records himself then ‘Nursery
Rhyme’ is the most fucked up sounding so the two work well together.916
The collaboration was first teased in an issue of Melody Maker, reporting it as a rumour in
January 1998,917 with Gough’s vocals recorded the next month in February918 featuring lyrics
written from the point of view of a foetus, Gough would explain:
I'd just been to the Electric Ballroom in Camden to see the Beta Band...I had this idea
of a baby being inside its mother and her dancing and smooching, getting really fresh
with some guy who wasn't its dad. I imagined the baby getting angry, so I thought of
the line, 'It's Electric Ballroom love/It's Electric Ballroom love' and of the baby repeating
the phrase, 'Won't you sing me a nursery rhyme to keep me quiet while you're on fire',
as though it was going to tell the father that she was snogging some other bloke. I liked
the idea of a baby inside the womb rebelling and of these electric impulses being sent
to it through the mother's feelings of false love for this character.919
Gough had only released one EP at the time of recording, with his follow up EP 2 released in
April 1998, so he was understandably apprehensive about taking part in UNKLE’s star studded
album. He explained:
I heard the Thom Yorke track and thought. ‘Fuck me, how do I follow that?’ I really
don’t do ‘mood’ music very well, so I wanted to do something ‘In yer face’. Trouble was
James sent me three instrumental tracks and none of them felt right. But then he sent
“Nursery Rhyme” and I immediately went for it.
I was mega intimidated in the studio because it was such a big project, totally under
the microscope. They initially wanted me for three tracks, and ‘Nursery Rhyme’ as a
913
Bainbridge, L 2015
914
Scanlon, A 2000
915
UNKLE 1998, 00:19:00
916
917
Naylor, T 1998
918
919
Scanlon, A 2000
96
single. But the other two ended up as instrumentals. I’m dead proud to be on the record
in general, though. James had the vision to get an unknown like me on it, and it was
worth the trouble because I think it’s an album that people will still listen to in 30 years’
time.920
The instrumental for Nursery Rhyme was created from multiple different samples but with the
intention of sounding like a live band had recorded the song, as Shadow explained in 1998:
As rock bands try to sound more sampled, I’ve wanted to make songs that are 100%
sampled and feel live...I had to go through about 30 records to find the stick clicks. It
could have been worse if I hadn’t known to look for them in punk records. That was a
fun song. It was a milestone for me on the record. It came together faster than anything
else.921
He further discussed his satisfaction with Spine Magazine:
...even though I know what I did, it still feels like a live band - like a 'live punk band'
kind of thing. That's what I'm always trying to achieve. Not always, but it's really nice
when you can do that. And there's just little touches like if a drummer is going to be
doing a two-handed roll, he couldn't possibly be playing the hi-hat (at the same time),
so you've got to take that out. Just paying attention to little details like that makes things
feel more live, like not having the same snare played over. If you're gonna take a snare,
why not take five snares and play them in different orders all the time?922
Gough would later comment on the song, telling Dazed & Confused “I'm very proud of it, mainly
just because it's so different from everything else I've ever done.”923
The song ends with a second section called Breather. The interlude takes its name from the
fact the breathing sound is reportedly of James Lavelle after Shadow had him run around the
studio and then recorded him breathing heavily into a microphone.924 Breather earned Lavelle
his only performance credit on the album, and the song ends with a short sample from L.A.
Dream Team’s Calling on the Dream Team which also features some breathing, this time
sampled from Kraftwerk’s Tour De France.925
Samples in Nursery Rhyme include a section of The New Dave Pike Set’s Ritmos Do Bahia
from their 1973 album Salomão, but while it’s acknowledged the entire song is made from
samples926 none of the others have been found and reported as yet.927 Shadow spoke about
the samples with Tape Op where he acknowledges it is always a possibility the samples used
across his work will one day be discovered. He explained:
920
921
922
Spine Magazine n.d. b
923
Gough, D 2000, p. 46
924
Werde, B 2002 p. 37
925
WhoSampled 2019b
926
Future Music 1998
927
WhoSampled 2019g
97
I grew up on sample-based music. Breakbeats are the foundation of what I do. I like
the fact that, even though it doesn't always sound the greatest, someone could go out
and find the beats. They are out there. Everything I use can be found somewhere else
if you look hard enough. I think that makes it very interesting. I love finding other
people's samples. It's great to not only find the sample but then to also see how it was
used. It's great when people aren't lazy and take the sample as a whole. I like it when
people chop up stuff and flip it around.928
928
98
"Celestial Annihilation"
Celestial Annihilation was originally intended as a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 single
Dreams, from their album Rumours.929
Two singers were considered for the song, with the first being Lavelle’s friend Richard File
(better known as Rich File). I was able to interview Rich File in 2018 and he explained his
early involvement in these sessions.930 At the time File had released some music on Mo’ Wax
with Will Bankhead as Forme, with one of their tracks appearing on the Headz 2A compilation
album in 1996,931 but he was not a singer. He had previously auditioned for UNKLE at
Shadow’s home studio, but he told me “nothing great came out of it.” Lavelle believed in him
though and invited him to audition again at Metropolis Studio in Chisic, this time on the cover
of Dreams. Rich File explained:
The instrumental [Celestial Annihilation] which you may or may not be aware, it has
the chords for Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, and I sung, or attempted to sing Dreams
by Fleetwood Mac on top of that song which would have been great, well it could
have been, but it’s completely in the wrong key. So it was way too low for me and I
was trying to sing notes that I couldn’t sing ‘cause they were really way too low so I
didn’t stand a chance and it was before the days of now in Pro Tools you can just
take a song up as many semitones as you like and it generally sounds just as good
as it originally did but that was way before those days and everything that Shadow
made was on the MPC and just didn’t have those capabilities and even if you did,
and it was never suggested.
I just remember coming out of there so deflated, just sitting outside thinking ‘Fuck.
What a nightmare. This is not happening and I am gutted!’ But I realised, I looked on
the brightside, thankfully the brightside appeared of ‘this has been an experience’,
two weeks ago, or three months ago or whatever it was I hadn’t even considered that
I could sing on top of making records. Suddenly it’s like ‘there’s this other area, this
other potentially that I want to explore’ and it didn’t finish me. It was super
disappointing I wasn’t going to be on Psyence Fiction but those experiences had
made me hungry, and made me excited to write songs and learn to play instruments
so I could write songs. And have a guitar, so that’s what I did. That experience led
me to wanting to do this at some point. It wasn’t happening this time but it gave me
enough, it made it utterly clear that singing and songwriting was something I wanted
to do.932
While Rich File’s take on Dreams didn’t work out, Lavelle and Shadow tried one more time to
record the cover, this time with Badly Drawn Boy’s Damon Gough invited to contribute
vocals.933 But the night before he was due to fly from England to the studio in California where
929
Aubrey, E 2017c
930
Rich File 2018, personal conversation November 6
931
Discogs 2020i
932
933
Aubrey, E 2017c
99
Shadow and Lavelle were recording, Gough won his local pub quiz and stayed out celebrating
leading to him missing his flight.934 Lavelle had originally hoped to feature Gough across four
tracks on the album so Psyence Fiction would have a central voice, or character. But after the
missed flight Gough’s sole contribution was Nursery Rhyme,935 and the Dreams cover became
the instrumental Celestial Annihilation instead.
Lavelle later discussed his appreciation for Fleetwood Mac to The Quietus in 2017, revealing
that part of Psyence Fiction was recorded in the same studio as Rumours. He explained
further:
I didn't engage with rock and pop as a kid: I was very much about hip-hop, electro
house, and everything being very modern. Then I discovered a lot of these records. It
wasn’t that I hadn't heard these records because everybody did – you just heard them,
because they were such monumental records. But I didn't engage with them in the way
that I did now until later. I'm talking about when I was an early teenager and you start
discovering the power of songs, what songs mean, the history of things, and I think
there was a lot of stuff with that record and the process of how it was made that I kind
of found intriguing. It was one of those records that I just fell in love with. We were
going to do a cover version from it actually…but we didn't do it in the end sadly.
Celestial Annihilation begins with a drum sample from Byron Davis and the Fresh Krew’s 1988
song Now Dance,936 combined with samples of Will Malone’s Concerto for Strings and
Beats,937 a song especially created for UNKLE.938 The bass and drums with synths that are
heard next come from Newcleus’ Lets Jam off their 1985 album Space Is The Place939 and
then we are introduced to several vocal samples.
The high-pitched “We Came Here To Rock” vocal is from Toddy Tee feat. Mix Master Spade’s
1988 song Do You Wanna Go to the Liquor Store, the “Annihilating” vocal sample is from the
Grace Jones 1985 song Operattack while the “B-Boy B-Girl” vocal is from RunDMC’s 1985
song Rock The House, and “321 Fire” is from Began Began’s 1982 song Computer Wars.940
The song was another stand out for many reviewers who were looking for instrumentals, with
Select called it “a lovely instrumental hybrid of strings and electro,”941 and The New York Times
were impressed by how “a full string orchestra squares off beautifully against a rush of
electronic percussion and sound effects.”942 While most were positive, Rob Young writing for
The Wire was not a fan. In his overall negative review of Psyence Fiction he stated, “giving a
piece of limp-dick Electro a title like “Celestial Annihilation” makes about as much sense as
pointing a flintlock at the Doomsday asteroid.”943
934
Scanlon, A 2000
935
Mixmag 2003, pp. 38-39
936
WhoSampled 2019cc
937
Wu'Matt 2008
938
939
WhoSampled 2019dd
940
WhoSampled 2019k
941
Grundy, G 1998, p. 80
942
Hermes, W 1998
943
Young, R 1998, p. 69
100
"The Knock (Drums of Death, Pt. 2)" feat Mike D
James Lavelle had been a fan of the Beastie Boys for a long time, DJing on their 1994 tour of
England and pushing a collaboration between his record label and Mike D’s Grand Royal
Records.944
Lavelle and Mike D, aka Michael Diamond, had bonded when Lavelle initially tried to sign
Lucious Jackson who were signed to Grand Royal,945 and the pair also shared an admiration
for keyboardist Money Mark, with Grand Royal issuing his debut album in the US while Mo’
Wax released it in the UK.946 Mike D had also originally been planned as a collaborator during
the 1995 recording sessions in LA, but schedules at the time didn’t align.947
Likewise, during the recording of Psyence Fiction the Beastie Boys were in the middle of
completing their next album Hello Nasty, which released in June 1998, and Mike D’s vocals
weren’t recorded until March 1998,948 making it one of the last song completed for the
album.949 950 Shadow and Lavelle had sent Mike D a beat for him to record to at his home,
telling him the track would be called Drums of Death as a homage to the 1990 hip hop song
Drums of Death by K-Solo.951 These were the only vocals recorded for Psyence Fiction without
Shadow in the studio as they arrived on a DAT via post,952 953 with Mike D sending them over
with a note attached apologising for the delay.954
Regarding the collaboration Lavelle said, "He’s a friend of mine who’s always really supported
Mo’ Wax. He really influenced me as a kid so it was like working with a childhood hero but I’ve
never had that strange relationship with him where I’ve been made to feel like that. For
somebody in his position he was one of the easiest people to deal with."955 He later continued,
explaining his excitement at the collaboration, “It was unreal to get that support from Mike D
on Psyence Fiction. It was unheard of at the time to get the Beasties on another record; they
were killing it at the time, and they were at the top of their game. To have that support when I
was so young was amazing.”956
While Kool G Rap on Guns Blazing (Drums of Death Part 1) had represented Shadow’s idea
of hip hop, on The Knock (Drums of Death Part 2), Mike D represented American hip hop for
Lavelle.957 In fact both Drums of Death parts had been intended as one large track, with both
944
Aubrey, E 2017a
945
Ibid.
946
Discogs 2020b
947
McLean, C 1995a, p.104
948
949
950
Mclean, C 1998, p. 69
951
Ibid.
952
Bradshaw, P 2014b
953
Mclean, C 1998, p. 69
954
Lavelle, J 2014
955
956
Aubrey, E 2017a
957
Ibid.
101
Kool G Rap and Mike D together on the same track. But this didn’t work out and instead they
were split and placed at apposing ends of the album.958
Another collaborator for the track was Jason Newstead from Metallica, who contributed bass
guitar and Theremin, recording in February 1998959 after Shadow had spent six months
struggling to find a bass sample that fit the beat and guitar he had put together for the song.
960
Lavelle explained the idea behind Newstead’s involvement, showing his ability to get things
done:
Shadow needed a bass player to play on the Mike D track because he couldn’t find a
bass-line to sample that was right. We were in the Bay Area of San Francisco and we
said, "We need to find a bass player’. I said, ‘Why don’t we get Metallica,’ and Shadow
said, ‘Yeah, that’d be great’. It was a really fun session. Jason really wanted to meet
Shadow because he was really into what he’d done with Metallica loops on
Endtroducing. I wanted to include some of Shadow’s history in an alternative sense so
that’s why it seemed like the right thing to do.961
The samples used on The Knock (Drums of Death Part 2) are similar to those found on Guns
Blazing (Drums of Death Part 1), with Frank Zappa’s Apostrophe, and Buffalo Station/Get on
Down to Memphis by Wizzard featuring on both versions of Drums of Death.962 963 While Part
2 also features Billy Squier's The Big Beat, from 1980's The Tale of the Tape, Troy the
Wonderboy & Electric 1000 featuring Boo Boo B’s 1985 song Boo Boo’s Break, and Modus
Operandi by the British band Nirvana from their 1971 album Local Anaesthetic providing the
opening drum beat.964 While the “Whew! that was hot, now dig this” is Michael Holman on the
Graffiti Rock TV show.965 The bass at the end is often misattributed to Manfred Mann’s
Snakeskin Garter,966 but this is played by Jason Newstead from Metallica.
While many reviews for Psyence Fiction weren’t enthused by The Knock,967 968 969 970 The
Guardian were fans, exclaiming “Mike D's wonderful The Knock trumps even the best of the
Beasties' recent output.”971
958
Adventures in Psyence Fiction 2019, 00:15:30
959
960
961
962
WhoSampled 2019m
963
WhoSampled 2019e
964
WhoSampled 2019m
965
Wu'Matt 2008
966
Genius 2019b
967
Bresnark, R 1998, p. 37
968
Casimir, J 1998
969
Lewis, S 1998, p. 83
970
Higgins, M 1998
971
Bennun, D 1998
102
"Chaos" feat Atlantique Khan
Chaos is primarily a solo song written by singer Atlantique Khan, with DJ Shadow only
receiving a co-producer credit. This is one of the only songs on the album not to include
sampled instruments, though it does still contain a collection of samples. The song opens with
short sound bites from unknown sources talking about order and chaos in society, while later
at around the three minute mark there are a series of street sounds heard, and an ambulance
drives by playing UNKLE’s Lonely Soul.972 At one point Shadow and James Lavelle added
several beats to the track, but removed them again as they realised it didn’t work, instead
preferring to leave the song with a more atmospheric feel to it.973
When Atlantique Khan originally showed the song Chaos to Shadow and Lavelle they liked it
as they felt the theme of chaos fit their idea for the UNKLE album.974 975 Part of that chaos was
also the act of recording which was not only spread across several years, but between studios
in England and America, as Shadow told NME, “We were constantly in different time zones,
we recorded in a million different studios. So it was like every day was a new adventure and
every day had a different cast.”976
Khanh recorded her vocals in August 1997,977 but Lavelle had met her much earlier having
worked with her previously on some UNKLE demos such as the unreleased Dissatisfied during
the groups early period,978 with Lavelle explaining, "Her’s were the first demos me and Tim
ever worked on.”979 Lavelle and Khanh became good friends afterwards and he invited her
back for Psyence Fiction explaining, “I asked her to write in English and she wrote ‘Chaos’. I
wasn’t comfortable with her singing French.”980 For her part, Khanh had spent two years
learning to write songs in English, telling the NME “Since I learnt to sing and write in English...I
like it much better than French, so I will sing in English from now on.”981 This became the first
song Khanh released in English as for her previously released music she had sung exclusively
in her native language, French.982
Khanh, who now goes by Atlantique Ascoli after marrying Source Records boss Philippe
Ascoli,983 released her first single in 1987, Je N'Aime Personne, and after two more singles
she released her debut album, 1991’s Trampolino which was followed by 1994’s self titled
Atlantique.984 Her husband Philippe Ascoli and James Lavelle were also old friends, with
Source Records being the sole distributer of Mo’ Wax in France,985 and Mo’ Wax releasing
972
McLean, C 1998, p. 67
973
974
975
Micallef, K 1998, p. 14
976
NME, 1998e
977
978
Lavelle, J 2018a, 00:35:35
979
980
Ibid.
981
982
983
VOGUE Paris 2017, p. 178
984
Discogs 2020a
985
Philster 1997
103
Source Records group Air’s first single in England.986 The two labels also partnered on the
Source Lab Vs. Mo' Wax compilation promo in 1995.987
During the Psyence Fiction sessions, Lavelle brought another collaborator in for Chaos
alongside Atlantique Khan, Mark Hollis of the band Talk Talk.988 Talk Talk were formed in 1981
by Mark Hollis, Lee Harris, Simon Brenner, and Paul Webb.989 Their first album, The Party's
Over, was released in 1982 and was followed by four more albums until the group disbanded
following the release of 1991’s Laughing Stock. Their second-last album, 1988’s Spirit of
Eden, had seen a shift in the band’s sound to a more experimental influence which relied on
long improvised instrumental pieces being edited down into songs. While the album was well
received by the press, it did not chart as well as its predecessors likely due to the band
deciding not to tour it.990
While the experimental nature of Talk Talk’s last two albums didn’t appeal to everyone, James
Lavelle was a fan and he had been trying to release something by Hollis on Mo’ Wax.991 But
although Hollis was recording a solo album in 1997 it was tied up in a contract signed to
Polydor Records. Originally Talk Talk had signed an agreement to release two albums with
Polydor after leaving their previous label EMI, but when Talk Talk disbanded they had only
given Polydor one of these albums so Hollis’ solo album fulfilled the contract instead.992
Lavelle discussed his admiration for Hollis when speaking with Jockey Slut in 1998:
Spirit of Eden was one record I really got into because I don’t like conventionally
structured records. I like records that create soundscapes as well as being emotional,
that journey through sound. He was uneasy with the idea of contributing vocals but
was keen to collaborate. All the music on his last album was recorded live so he didn’t
want to do anything too programmed. Originally we thought he was going to play guitar
but he came back and said he loved the track and wanted to play piano.993
Mark Hollis completed his work on UNKLE’s Chaos, recording his piano contribution in
September 1997994 but he would cause some drama afterwards initially requesting his name
be taken off the album, before going back and forth until Lavelle persuaded him to allow them
to re-record the track without his contribution, before Hollis finally agreed to allow Lavelle to
leave him on the album.995
986
Discogs 2019a
987
Discogs 2019lll
988
NME 1998f
989
Ankeny, J 2020
990
Feemster, S 2020
991
992
in’t Veld, H & Weber, H 1998
993
Ibid.
994
995
104
"Rabbit in Your Headlights" feat Thom Yorke
UNKLE and Radiohead first crossed paths in 1995, when UNKLE were invited to contribute a
remix of Planet Telex from The Bends, Radiohead’s second album which had released in
March of that year. The remix, Planet Telex (Karma Sunra Mix), was released in August 1995
on the single for Just,996 and was created by Masayuki Kudo and Tim Goldsworthy.997 Prior to
this, James Lavelle hadn’t followed Radiohead’s career outside of knowing their debut single
Creep, but after completing the Planet Telex remix Lavelle listened to The Bends and soon
met with Thom Yorke and the rest of the band in Oxford.998
DJ Shadow had also met with Thom Yorke in 1996 at the Tibetan Freedom Festival in New
York held in May,999 and again in London on October 9, when Lavelle and Shadow both DJed
at Nokia Dazed Live, a concert held by Dazed & Confused Magazine which featured a
performance by Yorke with Radiohead bandmate Johnny Greenwood.1000 Radiohead had
heard Shadow’s album Endtroducing and took inspiration while recording their next album,
specifically on the drumming for tracks Airbag1001 and Paranoid Android, both of which
appeared on 1997’s OK Computer.1002
In June 1997, while promoting OK Computer in America, Yorke told radio station KCRW that
he had met with Shadow and they had discussed plans to work with one another, explaining
that the collaboration would likely be through Lavelle’s UNKLE project.1003 He explained the
idea further to Vox:
I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, there’s absolutely no plan. We’re gonna
turn up on the day and sit in a very large room in this cinematic studio with big screens
behind us. He’s going to set up his decks and his mixer and sampler and I’m going to
set up a microphone in the middle of this huge empty room, heh heh! We’re just gonna
sit around and confuse each other.1004
Finding time to record became a problem as Radiohead began a world tour in May 1997 which
would continue through until April 1998. Their album OK Computer had blown up, reaching
the #1 spot in the UK Album Charts,1005 and peaked at #21 in America1006 where it eventually
sold over two and half million copies,1007 almost one million more than in the UK.1008
996
Discogs 2019gg
997
UNKLE 1998, 00:16:00
998
Ibid.
999
NME 1998e
1000
Dazed & Confused 1996
1001
Sutherland, M 1997
1002
NME 1997
1003
Douridas, C 1998
1004
Dalton, S 1997, p. 60
1005
Official UK Charts Company 2020
1006
Billboard 2020
1007
RIAA 2020
1008
BPI 2020
105
Shadow recalled the difficulty of finding time to record the track, "You had to catch people
when they were around...That was the nature of this record: 'OK, stop that track, cos Thom
Yorke's got a two-day window in San Francisco, and we gotta make sure that demo's
ready.'”1009
On July 27 1997, Radiohead were performing at The Warfield Theater in San Francisco, with
their next gig planned for July 31 in Vancouver, Canada.1010 This short period between dates
allowed Thom Yorke to meet with Shadow and Lavelle to record what would become Rabbit
In Your Headlights.1011
Shadow drove Yorke to the studio, The Site, located in San Rafael, Marin County, California,
outside of San Francisco.1012 As they drove Shadow described the local flora and fauna to
Yorke, as detailed in a feature article published by The Face:
“What’s that really sweet smell?” asks Yorke.

“Oh that’s Baby’s Breath,” replies Shadow. “It’s a flower with little white puffs.”
Up at the studio, Yorke sings of being “a rabbit in your headlights” and “sweet baby’s
breath…”. 1013
While the baby’s breath lyric ended up being removed by Yorke, the final lyrics still feature a
chorus around a rabbit in your headlights.
Shadow constructed the music from a wide range of samples, with the piano originating from
Supersister’s Pudding en Gisteren - Music for Ballet,1014 a 1972 song which took up the whole
second side of their Pudding en Gisteren album, and was reportedly originally written for use
in a ballet.1015 Of note, Shadow had previously sampled from the album for the extended
version of Organ Donor.1016
The first drums which appear in Rabbit In Your Headlights are provided by Talk Talk’s New
Grass from their 1991 album Laughing Stock, while the heavier ones which enter near the end
are from Essa Menina Tá Ficando Moça off Dom & Ravel’s 1971 album Terra Boa. This Dom
& Ravel sample was often thought to be from David Axelrod’s Holy Thursday until recently.1017
The vocal sample “If you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing
your life away. But...if you've made your peace then the devils are really angels freeing you
from the earth,” is Danny Aiello as Louis Denardo in the 1990 film Jacob’s Ladder directed by
Adrian Lyne.1018 Rabbit In Your Headlights ends with whooshing sounds which close the track
1009
Higgins, M 1998
1010
Green Plastic Trees n.d.a
1011
Higgins, M 1998
1012
Discogs 2019ll
1013
McLean, C 1998, p. 69
1014
WhoSampled 2019h
1015
Lemmens, P n.d.
1016
WhoSampled 2020b
1017
WhoSampled 2019aa
1018
WhoSampled 2019z
106
and are taken from the 1997 film Contact starring Jodie Foster and directed by Robert
Zemeckis.1019
Lavelle explained the origins of the collaboration between Thom Yorke:
This was discussed before Richard because I’d been inspired by their music a lot
longer than the Verve’s. I really liked the drums on The Bends and the emotions in the
songs and sounds. I told Josh to check their stuff out. Originally I was going to
collaborate with the band as a whole but I think he wanted to step away from what he
was doing, it was an opportunity for him to do something completely different. It took
him longer to get on board because they were always touring or recording. Thom had
got acceptance through OK Computer, that massive reaction from press and fans, so
he then was able to slightly dissociate himself from what he needed to attain with
Radiohead. We developed a far stronger relationship over a long period of time and
he really wanted to work with Josh so finally last year we managed to hook up for two
days.1020
With Yorke completing his vocal in one take, he spent the rest of the time jamming with DJ
Shadow,1021 tuning pianos, and recording extra bass parts for the song, making full use of the
two days they had booked in the studio.1022 Shadow referred to the track as the most rewarding
of the album, and described the last minute of the song as feeling like “your hair is being blown
back...It's really emotional and it was really special working with him. There's no histrionics,
it's just right."1023
Rabbit In Your Headlights was chosen as the last song on the album as it was thought they’d
never have anything more intense,1024 with Shadow explaining that anything placed after it
would seem “flaccid”.1025
In October 1998, Rabbit In Your Headlights was released as a single featuring remixes by
Massive Attack’s 3D1026 and David Axelrod.1027 Back in 1997 when Lavelle and Shadow had
been given a tour of the Skywalker studios, Lavelle met a staff member who had previously
worked at Capital Records in the 1960’s and was still friends with David Axelrod. She set up
a meeting between Lavelle and Axelrod and they became friends which led to further
collaborations between the pair.1028
1019
WhoSampled 2019y
1020
1021
1022
NME, 1998e
1023
Kaufman, G 1998
1024
Roberts, M 1998
1025
Kaufman, G 1998
1026
Prasad, A 1998
1027
Thompson, B 2001
1028
Benstead, B 2014, 01:38:00
107
Radio One in the UK refused to play Rabbit In Your Headlights citing it as too alternative,1029
and the song became further enveloped in controversy when the video directed by Jonathan
Glazer was released and initially banned.1030
Originally Lavelle had hoped to make more than one video for the album, with a trilogy planned
which would have included Nursery Rhyme, Lonely Soul, and Rabbit In Your Headlights, with
all three of the videos linked, all containing the same character. Unfortunately, Badly Drawn
Boy and Richard Ashcroft’s shared management refused to allow their songs to be released
as singles, so the idea was scrapped.1031 Lavelle explained the idea further:
So ‘Rabbit In Your Headlights’ was one part of a journey that this guy was going
through. There was that, then when he woke up a car explodes, and he wakes up in
the council estate with monkeys running around. It’s like Stanley Kubrick for ‘Lonely
Soul,’ and then he opens a door and walks in to a club and the people have no eyes,
no ears, like precursors to the whole Alexander McQueen look that he did. It was this
amazing film.1032
Once it was decided that Rabbit In Your Headlights would receive a video, Lavelle and
Jonathon Glazer began discussing ideas, with an initial concept being of a man being hit by
several objects that would remain unseen by the viewer and instead the camera would focus
on the man’s reactions. One of the objects was to be a car and this idea evolved into the final
video which is of a man walking down a road inside a tunnel as cars drive by and hit him.
Glazer then digitally removed all of the cars so the man was being hit by nothing, but Lavelle
felt it looked strange and took away from the emotion so they were placed back in to the video
again.1033
Because of the violence featured in the Rabbit In Your Headlights video MTV initially banned
it as they felt it was too realistic and they were worried it conveyed a negative image.1034 They
would later show it after 9PM, and an edited version was also created, though apparently
never shown.1035 1036 Lavelle commented on the video:
When you see something that’s so realistic people really freak out, so I suppose in
many ways maybe that’s why they banned it…[On] MTV you can have your kind of
glitzy fantasy type environments, whether they’re moralistically right or not it’s kind of
OK because it’s fantasy, it doesn’t really happen. But because this is something that
could happen people are like ‘No, no, no, you don’t want to show that. You don’t want
to show the reality of life.”1037
Glazer explained his take on the video:
1029
Harcourt, N 1998, 00:28:00
1030
Bradshaw, P 2014b
1031
Ibid.
1032
Bradshaw, P 2014b
1033
1034
Ibid.
1035
Bradshaw, P 2014b
1036
Roeder, M 1998
1037
108
I think what’s interesting is that when he gets hit by cars there’s something kind of odd
going on in it. When he first gets knocked down and you look at him lying there he
looks like he could be dead, which would normally be the case. But then he takes a
breath and gets up. Each time he gets hit, it almost gets easier for him to get up. So
it’s working opposite to what would happen because normally, every time you’d get hit,
it would take more minutes to get up. When the ending comes, it’s inevitable, but you
didn’t guess it. Then the last time he gets up he becomes superhuman.1038
The video features a cameo from James Lavelle as the passenger in a car that slows down to
try and talk to the man, and future UNKLE collaborator Rich File is seen in the back seat, with
actor Craig Kelly driving, and French actor Denis Lavant appearing as the man walking on the
road.1039
Jonathon Glazer had met Lavant when he cast him for a Stella Artois commercial and during
the filming Glazer asked Lavant if he would be interested in working on the Rabbit In Your
Headlights video, which he agreed to. During the filming of the Rabbit In Your Headlights video
Lavant couldn’t speak English so he was given a Walkman to wear underneath his parker
which played English words and phrases for Lavant to quote and repeat through the video.1040
The Rabbit In Your Headlights’ video would go on to be nominated for the Breakthrough Video
category in 1999 MTV Video Music Awards,1041 and won MVPA’s International Video of The
Year in 1999.1042
1038
Epstein, DR 2005
1039
IMDB 2019b
1040
Denis Lavant Interview 2005
1041
Hay, C 1999a, p. 73
1042
Hay, C 1999b, p. 76
109
"Outro (Mandatory)"
Outro opens with a vocal sample of Whitley Strieber,1043 an author who wrote about being
visited by “non-humans.”1044 Strieber occasionally appeared as a guest on Art Bell’s Coast to
Coast AM, a late-night radio talk show which focuses on topics related to the paranormal or
conspiracy theories. At one point Strieber hosted the weekend edition of another of Art Bell’s
programmes called Dreamland1045 and so the sample used by UNKLE is often associated to
“Whitley Strieber, the host of the weekend edition of Art Bell’s Coast to Coast nightly radio talk
show.”1046 In the sample he appears to be describing his personal experience with the
paranormal and says,
Uh, I feel that this has given me the most incredible and wonderful thing that I have
ever been given, and also, the worst. It's a mixed bag. Uh, I have been taken to the,
absolutely, to the depths of extreme terror by this. I've had my whole soul undermined
by it, on the one hand. On the other hand, uh, in one sense, my experience has been
about finding joy.
The word joy is then repeated over and over, getting faster and faster until the song suddenly
ends. Meanwhile beneath the voice of Whitley Strieber there has been a slow fade in of strings
and beeps, repeating the sample of Alan Hawkshaw’s Countdown which was also used at the
beginning of Guns Blazing (Drums of Death Pt. 1).1047 The sample of Countdown was also
used in an episode of Blake’s 7 titled Duel1048 from 1978, and fans initially thought that was
the source of the music.1049
For fans who had purchased the Australian or Japanese editions of Psyence Fiction in 1998
they would have an extra minute of silence before being greeted with two bonus instrumental
tracks, Guns Blazing (Instrumental), and The Knock (Drums Of Death Pt. 2) (Instrumental).
1050 1051
1043
Genius 2019a
1044
Speigel, L 2011
1045
Wikipedia 2019
1046
Genius 2019a
1047
WhoSampled 2019c
1048
Blakes 7 2014, 00:03:30
1049
shivo 2004
1050
Discogs 2019rrr
1051
Discogs 2019aaa
110
“Be There” feat. Ian Brown
While not originally part of the album sequence, Be There has appeared on some subsequent
editions of Psyence Fiction1052 and was released as a single itself in February 1999.1053
Ian Brown is primarily known as a member of the Stone Roses, a band of which he is lead
singer. The group released their debut self-titled album in 1989 and followed it with Second
Coming in 1994 before splitting in 1996. Brown released his debut solo album, Unfinished
Monkey Business, in February 1998, and that same month made headlines when Brown was
accused of harassing an airline stewardess and captain on a flight from Paris.1054
James Lavelle had met Brown through their girlfriends who were good friends,1055 and Lavelle
asked Brown to appear on the UNKLE album, but in July 1997 he called Lavelle to say no.1056
Brown later changed his mind though and in 1998 Lavelle sent him a DAT with the instrumental
track Unreal from the album, and in October 1998 Brown recorded vocals by himself in his
home studio.1057
Brown sent them back to Lavelle before he was sentenced to prison for four months after
being found guilty of harassing airline staff in February.1058 Brown was later bailed after four
days1059 before returning to jail again due to having his appeal denied,1060 but was officially
released December 24 1998.1061 Brown’s jail time forced him to cancel a solo tour which was
scheduled for November 1998, and was initially rescheduled for February 1999 until it became
clear no one had asked Brown if he was actually available, leading to the rescheduled tour to
be cancelled as well.1062
At the time DJ Shadow was out of the country but he gave his blessing for Lavelle to work on
the track with someone else,1063 and so Rich File stepped in, marking the first time he would
appear on an UNKLE release. For Be There File took on a co-production role sharing duties
with Lavelle. File discussed his involvement on Be There with me in 2018:
The vocals had been recorded, I wasn’t involved with that. [Be There] was my first
involvement in the studio, it was kind of some additional production really, Shadow and
James had made the music for the original, for Unreal, and then Ian had sung on
Unreal. And in the session I was involved in, we added the mellotron [and] we found a
couple of samples to put in the middle eight.
1052
Discogs 2020f
1053
Discogs 2020g
1054
NME 1998b
1055
McLean, C 1998, p. 69
1056
Ibid. p. 67
1057
NME 1998a
1058
BBC 1998a
1059
BBC 1998c
1060
NME, 1998d
1061
MTV News 1999
1062
NME, 1998c
1063
Bradshaw, P 2014b
111
We were basically just finishing it. It was just some additional production. And then the
mix with Spike Stent, it was Mike Stent, but I do think he goes under the name Spike
Stent. So, my involvement was just in the additional production of keyboards and
samples and then just, the mix which, to be honest was all mostly all down to Spike
anyway as that’s his thing. We were there just to go “fucking hell sounds awesome.”
Turn up when all the works done, because that’s how Spike generally works “leave it
with me, and I’ll give you a shout when I want you to come in and have some feedback”
and generally [we’d later] go in and go “sounds amazing, should we go up the pub?”1064
Be There was released as a single in February 1999 with remixes by Underdog, and KZA &
Kent.1065 When Lavelle was asked if he wished Be There would have been on the album
instead of Unreal he said, “No, I think on the album there was a need for instrumental tracks
and I like the fact it's different and it makes it unique and takes the project into another
area.”1066
Outside of Ian Brown’s vocals and the new mellotron the song also features one extra sample
which didn’t appear on Unreal, Terry Callier’s Dancing Girl from the 1972 album What Color
Is Love. The vocal sample “here am I, and there you are” from Dancing Girl is used in the
middle of Be There as a break before Brown’s vocals return.1067 Dancing Girl also made an
appearance on Intro (Optional), as one of the collection of samples which play on this secret
bonus track.1068
Be There ends with another sample, though this one is yet to be identified. In the sample a
voice narrates the following “Corrupt, a plea for free will. An irresponsible horrorshow. It has
been suggested that this contradictory…” and at that point the song ends.
A music video was released for Be There starring Emma Griffiths Malin walking around the
Mornington Crescent tube station,1069 with a short cameo from James Lavelle and Rich File at
the beginning. The video was directed by Jake Scott, son of Alien and Blade Runner director
Ridley Scott,1070 and features Malin sitting on a train alone, falling asleep and being
approached by a dark figure. At the end of the video, presumably set the following morning, a
cleaner wakes up the sleeping girl only for it to be revealed that she has turned in to an old
lady. The video ends abruptly and no explanation is given.
1064
1065
Discogs 2020g
1066
Beeb 1999
1067
WhoSampled 2020d
1068
Snaporaz100 2010
1069
Mubi 2019
1070
Ibid.
112
Unreleased and Unrecorded
Prior to Tim Goldsworthy and Masayuki Kudo leaving UNKLE, Lavelle also spoke about the
album including Deborah Anderson but this never eventuated. Likewise, Terry Callier was
meant to be on the album but was busy.1071 At the time he was releasing music on Giles
Paterson’s Talking Loud label and working with Beth Orton.1072 Finally, Massive Attack’s 3D
was also intended as a guest artist but nothing ever came of it.1073
While the cover version of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams featuring Badly Drawn Boy or Rich File
never happened, there are at least two songs that were recorded during the Psyence Fiction
sessions which received a later release in some form or another.
Untitled Heavy Beat (Part 1 & 2)
Originally recorded in 1996, this was part of the original demo sessions that also featured
Lonely Soul, Unreal and Bloodstain. When compiling a shortlist of tracks to use for Psyence
Fiction, this song didn’t make the list, though Lavelle remained a fan of it. When the soundtrack
producer working on Wim Wenders The End Of Violence requested an exclusive track from
DJ Shadow this song was available, with the soundtrack releasing September 1997.1074
Untitled Heavy Beat (Part 1 & 2) starts with a double bass sample before a guitar stab and
drumbeats come in, occasionally fading or abruptly cutting out and back in again. Soon a
keyboard fills out the song with some flutes and other sound snippets building the track up
until it abruptly ends.
War Is Hell
Another unused UNKLE track that later appeared on Shadow’s Diminishing Returns release
in 2003, and the Vexille Soundtrack in 2007. It is unclear when it was recorded.1075
War Is Hell begins with a slow acoustic guitar sample looping beneath a choir before a beat
stutters in and the track is soon filled with synthy sounds which build up to a heavy electric
guitar taking over. Once the song is built up it stops and starts again, this time with similar but
different sounding samples, and near the end the original choir and acoustic guitar return for
the ending.
Rich File Demos
Rich File, who almost appeared on Psyence Fiction as part of Celestial Annihilation, and would
provide additional production for Be There, was also part of some other early recordings which
remained unreleased. Rich File spoke about these sessions when I interviewed him in 2018:
1071
Lavelle, J 2018b, 00:54:00
1072
Discogs 2019jj
1073
Manning, T 2003, p. 34
1074
DJShadow.com n.d. e
1075
DJShadow.com n.d. g
113
I auditioned for Psyence Fiction. What led up to that was James and I went out one
night, cause we used to go partying together, and we were in a cab and I was singing
to Oasis in the cab on the way back, just because I was drunk and singing along, and
he goes ‘You should sing. You can sing!’ and I think I sobered up at that moment and
was like ‘Really? Um Ok’ I was up for anything and I used to sing when I was a kid
and I’ve always loved signing but never thought I could sing professionally, for lack of
a better word. The next thing I was in San Francisco, in Davis where Shadow lived,
at Shadow’s house. He put a couple of beats together, but I was so green. I was
literally... sobered up out of this cab singing to Oasis, the next thing I’m in Josh’s
bedroom and it’s just like...It was an amazing experience to be there, totally surreal,
but nothing great came out of it on that particular occasion.
Josh only gave me a beat, there was no music attached to it and I couldn’t play an
instrument yet, so I was trying to sing melodies over no music, over just a beat and
you won’t be surprised to hear nothing of any substance came out of it. But that was
the first writing session. Back in the UK a few months later I auditioned again.
Audition is probably the wrong word, I did a session again on a track...and I sung or
attempted to sing Dreams by Fleetwood Mac.
Oh, there was another part. I forgot. I was songwriting with Kudo as well downstairs
when Mo’ Wax was in Caledonia Road, so I did some demos with Kudo as well. I
think that was…after the Davis session if you can call it that. In the basement of Mo’
Wax, where Kudo had a studio, I did some demos with him and there was one of
those I really liked actually but that didn’t happen.
Then there was also another recording session with James and I and Johnny Dollar,
who produced Blue Lines, and that was amazing. Johnny, James and I wrote a song
on top of a Shadow beat and a sample which I can’t remember. Johnny heard the
song, he heard a melody, he sung the melody to us, and we liked it and then we
wrote the lyrics together and I sung it and it was fucking awesome! We all really
loved it. It didn’t make it on to the album, but it was awesome. And it was the first
time I’d sung a finished vocal with a producer. It was the first finished song that I’d
ever sung on. We finished it on that day. It was done on a day, and it was really
exciting. It never made it on to the album, but it does exist still, and I spoke to James
recently and he’s heard it recently and he really loves it, and he’s really excited to
have rediscovered it and I’d love to think that it would be released one day...I’d be
proud of it if it got released today.1076
In July 2016 James Lavelle announced on his Facebook page that he had found the song
recorded with Johnny Dollar and Rich File and suggested it would be released as part of the
Psyence Fiction Director’s Cut.1077
1076
1077
Lavelle, J 2016
114
Finalising Psyence
While working on Psyence Fiction DJ Shadow was spending twenty hours a day in the studio,
and during the completion of Lonely Soul he slipped a disc, telling Filter “It was the first time
in my life where I realized I better slow down a little bit, that I’m not invincible.”1078 For Shadow
the album had begun in August 1996 with the initial Lonely Soul demos,1079 and after a slight
pause, had begun in earnest once more in May 1997, continuing in to 1998.1080 Shadow
explained his frustrations with the drawn out process in 1998:
You have relationships you need to maintain. You can’t be living in hotels all the time.
Then there were all these problems. We didn’t have the Mike D vocal in, time was
ticking and I was getting sick of it. There was a crunch point where I thought, ‘I have
nothing left to give’. Even at the end of ’96 I didn’t want anything more to do with it.
But, as in every case, you listen to the music and you think, ‘I’m gonna regret it forever
if I don’t see this through’.1081
In March 1998 Shadow told Lavelle he’d had enough, “I finally had to sit James down and say,
‘It’s time for this to end.’ I mean I had to turn everything down for a year and a half. So now,
there’s a ton of things I need to get out of my system. I’m very happy with the record we made
and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Absolutely. But it was draining.”1082
On June 2nd the pair began sequencing the album, a process of choosing the final tracklist
and running order, featuring everything they had recorded between August 1996 - March
1998. While both Lavelle and Shadow agreed it was time to release the album, they also would
each later discuss some regrets on what the album could have been,1083 with Shadow in
particular discussing this at length in 2006:
I'm so hard on myself in the studio because I don't want to confront failure. Although I
have had to deal with it, like on the UNKLE album ... When we were mastering it, I
knew in my heart that it was missing a song or two. I was really conflicted about the
nominal segues between the songs because I thought they were just a waste and not
helping the album. But you never know that until you get to sequencing. That's the day
of reckoning. With Endtroducing…, sequencing was really effortless. With the UNKLE
record, I think there are great songs there, some among my best work. But as an
album, it doesn't really hold together.1084
These feelings aside, the album was handed in as complete and promotion began shortly
afterwards in June 1998 with photoshoots in Japan, and Lonely Soul receiving its radio
debut.1085 The album’s title and release date were revealed on the NME website on June 16th
1078
Friedman, K 2013
1079
Mclean, C 1998, p. 66
1080
1081
NME 1998e
1082
URB 1998
1083
Graphotism 2000
1084
Sterling, S 2006
1085
Mclean, C 1998, pp. 67-69
115
1998, announcing to the world that Psyence Fiction would be released August 24th of that
year.1086
Regarding the album’s title, Psyence Fiction, Lavelle explained that it represented his and
Shadow’s common reference point of science fiction films, such as Stanley Kubrick’s 2001.
But Lavelle didn’t want to spell the album title as Science Fiction, afraid that it would be taken
too literally and that he would be mocked. Instead Lavelle felt that Psyence Fiction was a
better fit, as he saw the album as being a very psychological record, with the Psy in Psyence
referring to psychology.1087
Further, Lavelle felt that films such as 2001 used psychology to look forward and imagine
something new yet familiar, and he wanted to achieve the same thing with UNKLE’s music.1088
He explained, “This album is not trying to be Independence Day, it's trying to be 2001. It's not
a big flashy spaceship-type adventure, it's a psychological look at what can be done when you
combine the past, the present and the future.”1089
Adding to the futuristic sci-fi look of the album, was the album artwork. While the Futura and
DJ Spooky’s UNKLE comic that was begun during the LA sessions in 1995 never saw the light
of day, Futura was still involved with UNKLE for Psyence Fiction. Lavelle explained his
ongoing appreciation with Futura and his work in 1998:
I’ve been into him since I was a kid, he’s always inspired me. He’s a living legend,
almost a mythical character. I really wanted him to create an image that would not
involve our faces. He’s just created that UNKLE world. We wanted a universe of
characters that I want people to see and instantly think of UNKLE. He’s also based the
toys on these characters.1090
The ‘pointmen’, as the UNKLE characters became known, had represented Lavelle’s UNKLE
project since 1994’s The Time Has Come EP, and the band helped popularise the characters,
with Futura telling an interviewer, “Without the UNKLE experience, I don’t think anyone would
have ever heard of the Pointman.”1091 But the characters themselves had existed prior to
UNKLE, with Lavelle initially seeing them in some artwork during a visit to Futura’s studio
before using them on The Time Has Come EP.1092 They had originally been inspired by H.R.
Giger’s work for Ridley Scott’s Alien film that had released in 1979, with Futura explaining he
“started scribbling them a few years later.”1093 He has also noted that the name pointmen, or
pointman, was not a name he had given the characters, and was something created by “those
in the public space”, presumably Mo’ Wax.1094
1086
NME 1998b
1087
UNKLE 1998, 00:21:00
1088
Ibid.
1089
Adams, C 1998
1090
1091
Adesanya, J 2018
1092
Donners, B 2018
1093
futuradosmil 2018
1094
Ibid.
116
The pointmen themselves have a larger story outside of the UNKLE project that tells of how
the characters are part of “the Robotronic regime from the planet Extron,”1095 but within UNKLE
they are used purely as representing the groups members.1096 Lavelle explained their
intentions in a 2000 interview with Graphotism:
We wanted to utilise characters and that was always going to be the identity of the
band. So when he came over we just did loads and loads of stuff with characters...we
kind of had a bit of a pact where the characters were going to be kept much more for
Mo’ Wax and the identity for UNKLE, and he’s kind of always respected that. The good
thing with Futura is he understands that relationship that is key to an artist. That is, if
you have a definitive style – which he does – and its spread thinly over different
peoples work, then it will lose its appeal. And he’s kept to that. The only people he’s
been working with is me and Japan, really. It’s been good because as soon as I did
this stuff with him, everyone came out of the woodwork and wanted to do loads of
things but he’s been very honourable on that level, which I’m really happy about
because it’s allowed us to retain an identity.1097
Lavelle had always been hands on when it came to the direction and concepts of the cover
art for Mo’ Wax’s releases, and Psyence Fiction was no different.1098 The design of the cover
of Psyence Fiction was completed by Ben Drury, adapting Futura’s artwork, while Will
Bankhead took the photographs of most of the artists which are featured within the sleeve.1099
For the Japanese release Nigo1100 and Sk8thing1101 created new artwork which featured a
unique design, different from Drury’s version.1102 A striking cover has always been part of Mo’
Wax, and as Lavelle said in 1998, “You don't remember the day a record was released, all
you remember is what you've got in your hand. If it looks special then you will value it for
more."1103
The initial vinyl release of Psyence Fiction featured a foldout gatefold cover, with the album
cover split so that it opened from the middle to reveal two booklets of photographs of the guest
artists.1104 This design idea had previously been attempted by Mo’ Wax that same year for a
promo of Money Mark’s Push The Button album.1105 But while the gatefold design didn’t make
it to the final edition of Push The Button, it was featured on initial copies of Psyence Fiction on
CD1106 and vinyl pressed by Mo’ Wax in England,1107 and the initial CD pressing in Japan.1108
Other editions such as the US vinyl pressing featured a more standard gatefold design, with
the gatefold opening at the edge rather than from the middle of the cover.1109
1095
Spence, S 2001
1096
Higgins, M 1998
1097
Graphotism 2000
1098
Butler, A 2014
1099
Discogs 2019zz
1100
Toy’s Factory 2000b
1101
Lavelle, J 2014
1102
Discogs 2019rrr
1103
Sturges, F 1998, p. 15
1104
Discogs 2019bbb
1105
Discogs 2019cc
1106
Discogs 2019yy
1107
Discogs 2019bbb
1108
Discogs 2019rrr
1109
Discogs 2019ccc
117
Looking back in 2000, Lavelle noted that the cover wasn’t quite what he wanted at the time,
talking about the album and commenting “I wish it had been… more. In retrospect, the sleeve
isn’t how I really want it to be but it was such an intense period of time, and there are a lot of
times I look back and want to change things.”1110
1110
Graphotism 2000
118
Release
Promotion for Psyence Fiction begun in June 1998, with Lonely Souls premiering on BBC
Radio 1 June 22nd,1111 marking the first time any of the new UNKLE songs had been played
publicly outside of James Lavelle and DJ Shadow’s DJ sets. While Lavelle and Shadow sat
listening to the premiere they realised that the song had been edited to make it shorter, with
Lavelle especially annoyed and announcing that he would write a letter to the BBC to
complain. 1112
June also saw Shadow and Lavelle take part in interviews and promotional photoshoots in
Japan, with the photoshoots reportedly taking over eight hours in themselves. The
photoshoots also caused a few disagreements, with a photographer requesting Shadow use
some guns as props, which Shadow refused alongside requests for him to wear certain
clothing, with Shadow preferring to wear his own clothes.1113 This was repeated at another
photoshoot in America where UNKE’s American record label London announced they had
secured a four page spread in a major music magazine, which would have a stylist and lots of
“cool clothes”.1114 Shadow explained he preferred to wear his own clothes and believed they
had understood him, but then London drove him to the photoshoot and tried to guilt him in to
taking part. Shadow refused and later explained the consequences were that Psyence Fiction
“got moved from the lead review to the back of the magazine, with a star and a half taken
off.”1115
In July 1998 early promo copies of the album began being sent out,1116 and the album was
played in its entirety at listening parties in New York1117 and Los Angeles.1118 The album was
first released in Japan on August 21st,1119 with the official album release parties for Japan
scheduled for later in September.1120
For the launch in England, Shadow and Lavelle spent the night of the August 23rd at HMV on
Oxford Street, London with hundreds of fans who lined up to buy the album.1121 Both Shadow
and Lavelle DJed until midnight when the album was officially made for sale at 12am August
24th. The pair were accompanied by Futura who created a live painting during the event,1122
while Lavelle and Shadow stayed a further 3 hours after the launch signing copies of the
album.1123
1111
McLean, C 1998, p. 65
1112
Ibid. p. 69
1113
Ibid.
1114
Werde, B 2002, p. 37
1115
Ibid.
1116
Endersby, R <rob@idlemedia.co.uk> 1998
1117
Banez, C <cbanez@hotmail.com> 1998
1118
Bennun, D 1998
1119
Discogs 2019rrr
1120
Discogs 2019sss
1121
Freeman, M 1998
1122
Fiona 1998
1123
Freeman, M 1998
119
Shadow and Lavelle next returned to Japan for a series of three release parties in September
in Osaka, Sapporo, and Tokyo.1124 The party in Tokyo was billed as “Hearts of Darkness” and
James Lavelle played a DJ set which featured Kan Takagi giving a live performance of Last
Orgy 3, while Shadow performed a live reconstruction of Psyence Fiction.1125
As part of the American launch, Shadow and Lavelle took part in a five-stop promotional tour
across the USA, featuring a screening of the Rabbit In Your Headlights music video, a DJ
Shadow DJ set, a Q&A session with Lavelle, and finally both Shadow and Lavelle signing
copies of the album. The first date was held at Virgin Records in Los Angeles on September
28, the day before the albums American launch, with Shadow’s DJ set being particularly well
received by fans as he would throw the records he was playing in to the crowd once he was
finished with them.1126
The tour then went on to San Francisco on the 29th for the official American release date of
Psyence Fiction. They then travelled to Chicago and New York City, before completing the
tour with a show in Austin, Texas.1127 The two last shows, in New York and Austin, were
recorded and later released by Shadow as The UNKLE In Stores.1128
While there were rumours at the time surrounding the possibility of a special show featuring
all of the guest artists performing their parts, at Albert Hall in England1129 or somewhere in
New York City,1130 these never materialised.
Meanwhile the album began to enter the charts in England with sales starting at almost
35,000,1131 allowing the album to enter the charts on the 5th of September 1998 at #4 where
it peaked and spent a total of 14 weeks in the Top 100 Albums Chart, dropping in and out
across the new year until finally exiting in March 1999.1132 In America it didn’t fare as well,
spending only two weeks in the Billboard Top 200 and peaking at #107 on October 17 1998.1133
According to London Records, UNKLE’s American label at the time, this was to be expected,
with Guy Higgins their international marketing manager telling MTV, "It will be hard to break
in America, but it's always a challenge to get Americans excited for something slightly
unconventional."1134 Even Lavelle admitted he wasn’t expecting the album to break any
records, speaking at the American launch he said, “I don’t expect it to be a huge commercial
record...I don’t think it’s going to be a big record like the Beastie Boys’. But then I think it’s a
lot more dangerous than the Beastie Boys record, to be honest.”1135
1124
Ele-king 1998, p. 2
1125
Toy’s Factory 1998
1126
Reid, T <t-bird@salata.com> 1999
1127
BAO <tunde@arches.uga.edu> 1998
1128
Discogs 2019j
1129
1130
Jazzbo, 1998
1131
Music Week 1998c
1132
Official UK Charts Company 2019j
1133
Billboard, 2019
1134
Kaufman, G 1998
1135
120
While at the time Lavelle and the label didn’t openly discuss their disappointment surrounding
the albums lack of sales in America, Shadow for one was unimpressed. Following the short
tour of America, Shadow took two weeks off and was surprised to hear how poorly the album
was selling in America. He explained his disappointment to CMJ:
I was on a ferry from Galveston, Texas...just sitting and feeling the wind. The record
had been out for three days and I was totally away, didn't have a cell phone, nothing.
I was thinking, I did everything I could do.' I didn't shirk on promoting or anything. And
I had these fantasies-'I wonder if things were just going crazy right now?' I broke my
own rule, and four days before the end of the trip. I called this woman at London and
she says, 'Oh yeah, things are great! You're number one on [Billboard chart]
Heatseekers.' And I go, 'What does that mean?' She says, That's when you're not in
the top 100, but you're almost there.' I just thought to myself. This album didn't even
crack the top 100?' I think I had a small little breakdown at that point. I mean, hey,
many people do records that don't break the top 100. But I just thought, of anything I'll
ever do, this would be it.1136
While Shadow was initially frustrated at how Psyence Fiction was being received,1137 he
decided to get back to work and began recording songs for the Quannum Spectrum album,1138
a compilation featuring Shadow along with Latryx, Lyrics Born, Blackalicious, and Jurassic 5
released in 1999 on Mo’ Wax and Quannum Projects,1139 the new record label started by
Shadow and his friends after their Solesides label closed.1140
Meanwhile, reviews for Psyence Fiction were mixed, with many focusing on Lavelle having
likened the album to Hearts of Darkness, the documentary detailing the makings of the movie
Apocalypse Now. The press took this analogy as a reference to how overblown and bloated
the album was, yet Lavelle explained he had meant it more in the sense that the album had
been a struggle to complete, and that during the recording of Psyence Fiction Lavelle had
watched Hearts of Darkness and it had resonated with him.1141 He explained to NME:
It’s not that we’ve made the musical equivalent of Apocalypse Now – that’s like saying
you’re trying to write Lord Of The Fucking Rings – it’s just that it felt like the making of
that film. The logisitics of it all, the relationship splitting up, and the abuse, going from
being into drugs and then going into some other fucking lifestyle, you know, then made
times with girlfriends coming and going and having kids, moving around the world,
record companies falling apart and managers getting involved and bands blowing up,
and the stress of trying to see your vision through to reality when the whole world
seemed to be conspiring against you.1142
1136
Werde, B 2002 p. 37
1137
Ibid.
1138
Carroll, J 1999
1139
Discogs 2019kkk
1140
Roeder, M 1999
1141
Grundy, G 1998, p. 80
1142
121
In England the album received 2/5 stars from Muzik, who praised some of the production but
accused it of being “too obviously cool to actually be cool.”1143 Likewise NME gave the album
6/10, describing it as a “grandiose, bloated, egotistical folly,”1144 and Lavelle has continually
referred to the original NME review by John Mulvey as particularly horrific1145 as it focused
most of its antagonism at Lavelle, with Mulvey stating:
If 'Psyence Fiction' is a failure, one suspects that fault lies squarely with Lavelle rather
than the patently gifted men and women employed to flesh out his nebulous concepts,
that full-on creativity has been stifled by the adolescent-dream-come-true of forming a
supergroup.1146
Lavelle had spoken out against the NME on an episode of Jo Wiley’s self titled chat show on
Channel 4 in early September 1998,1147 where he expressed his opinion that music journalism
was suffering due to publications such as NME putting pop stars on their covers which boosted
their sales, but led to a change in focus for the publications as they now had to maintain the
sales they’d gained from featuring people like Robbie Williams on their cover. Lavelle felt that
his comments led to the poor review in the NME for Psyence Fiction,1148 though they would
later list Psyence Fiction at #38 on NME’s Top 100 Albums of 1998 calling it “breathlessly
eclectic.”1149
America meanwhile was far kinder, Spin awarded the album 8/10,1150 Rolling Stone 3.5/5,1151
and Time Magazine described it as like seeing the film Pulp Fiction for the first time and
concluded, “The album also surveys the sounds of trip-hop, hip-hop and indie rock. Despite
its disparate parts, a sustained mood is achieved.”1152
Fans at the time took to the internet to share their own reviews, with a consensus that if you
were able to look past the hype you might actually enjoy the album.1153 One fan commented
at the time:
I agree, there was too much hype and I did get sucked into it but it is overall a very
good CD. I could do without the first track but the tracks that have that "classic" UNKLE
sound (soundtracks, weird sound effects, heavy scratching) are dope. I don't like the
Verve but Richard Ashcroft sounds great on "Lonely Soul".1154
Ex-UNKLE member Tim Goldsworthy was also asked his thoughts on the album when it
launched, and he wasn’t impressed, telling NME:
1143
Bonner, M 1998, p. 65
1144
Mulvey, J 1998
1145
Pollard, A 2018
1146
Mulvey, J 1998
1147
Jordon, R 1998, p. 20
1148
Pollard, A 2018
1149
NME 1999a
1150
Walters, B 1998, p. 135
1151
Lorraine, A 1998
1152
Farley, C J 1998
1153
Gaderlund, E <erikg@macconnect.com> 1998
1154
L R <lr68@hotmail.com> 1998
122
It doesn’t sound like there’s much excitement going on. It’s a bit too clinical for me. A
bit of a chin-scratcher, and a bit of a boys’ bedroom record. I prefer something to get
pissed and throw yourself around the room to. It’s well put together, but I don’t think
it’s as complete and flowing as ‘Endtroducing...’. I think it sounds a bit too much like a
compilation.1155
The album was considered a flop by many, and the fact that Psyence Fiction featured Thom
Yorke and Richard Ashcroft, who had recently had their biggest hits with their respective
bands, was seen as a cash grab by many reviewers who either weren’t aware the songs had
been recorded years earlier, or didn’t care. Lavelle commented on the blessing and curse of
this coincidence:
When we started working with Richard and Thom, Urban Hymns and OK Computer
hadn’t come out yet, so they weren’t these uber stars that they became. Right in the
moment that we’re trying to get them into a studio, lo and behold, the Verve sells
whatever ridiculous amount of records it was, and OK Computer comes out to become
what many think is the best British record ever made. So suddenly we went from these
quite relaxed conversations about being in the studio with people to dealing with
managers. And from beginning to end that was a two-year process.1156
Equally polarising to many reviewers was how the album mixed electronica, hip hop, and rock
together, which at the time was rarely done, and had never been done on such a scale.1157
Albums which featured various genres and multiple guests from across those genres were
also uncommon at the time, though several would pop up over the coming years, with Dan
The Automator and Prince Paul releasing their Handsome Boy Modelling School project in
1999, an album which featured DJ Shadow, Mike D, Money Mark, and Del Tha Funkee
Homosapien. Automator and Del then teamed up with Blur’s Damon Albarn to release Clint
Eastwood from the Gorillaz’s self titled album in 2001, with Gorillaz now seen as one of the
most successful groups to blend multiple genres and guest artists,1158 and which bandleader
Albarn once described to Lavelle in jest as “the ultimate Unkle rip off.”1159
Shadow later recalled many of the tracks from Psyence Fiction with fondness, commenting:
When I listen back to my favorite tracks off that record, like "Lonely Soul" or "Rabbit In
Your Headlights," what I like about them is that they seem really audacious—there
were no rules or restrictions. We weren't trying to make pop music. We combined
elements of the rock world and the electronic/hip-hop world, and that really wasn't done
at that time. Since then, of course, it's become almost a cliché, but back then, they
were completely different universes. James and I thought it was fun and
groundbreaking at the time, to mix up those waters.1160
1155
1156
Bradshaw, P 2014b
1157
Ibid.
1158
Mitchum, R 2011
1159
Wright, R 2017
1160
Fader, L 2012
123
While the music had its fans, one other piece of contention raised in reviews was the question
of what did James Lavelle actually do on the album?
Lavelle has never made it a secret that he didn’t play instruments or make any of the music
from the early UNKLE releases,1161 and that his contributions were with ideas.1162 Initially he
had Tim Goldsworthy, and then Masayuki Kudo, to help him realise his ideas, and when
Shadow took over production of the UNKLE album Lavelle continued collaborating in this
nature, with Lavelle discussing and describing ideas and bringing in records to sample,
collecting ideas for himself and Shadow to work on between studios in America and England
throughout.1163 Lavelle described these early sessions, and the collaborative process between
Shadow and himself, when he spoke to Westworld about the album in 1998:
It was quite naive in the beginning...I came up with the vision for everything, and then
me and Shadow would have these huge conversations about music, film and all kinds
of reference points--just the emotions we were trying to portray, the reactions for and
against music at the time--past, present and trying to look into the future a bit. And
then Shadow would try to make audio sense of these conversations. Like, 'Let's go do
a hardcore track. Yeah-yeah-yeah.' Or 'We want this to sound organic. Yeah-yeah-
yeah.' A lot of it stemmed from technical talk between the two of us; we'd talk about
gating this or adding that, and then something would come out of it. It was conceptual
in that way.1164
Lavelle explained further in an interview in the NME from 1998:
I wanted to make a record where I was personally involved, lived through it, came up
with the idea and developed the whole thing from scratch. Sure, I didn’t write the
record. I brought in Shadow, because it was my concept, my thing and I wanted it to
be the best it could be, because in five years’ time people aren’t going to remember
the review or the day it came out, they’ll remember the music. People are going to say,
‘Oh he’s so egotistical because he’s done nothing’, but in a way I’ve shattered any ego
thing by letting everyone have their creative freedom in it…I have a very definite feeling
of how things should be but I’ll never be, ‘It’s my way or the highway’. You’ve got to
have that confidence in people to let go and trust their way sometimes or there’s no
point. I’ve surrounded myself with people who are great at what they do, and
sometimes they need challenging or channelling but you can’t take over because that’s
why they come to you – to have their freedom. I don’t want a bunch of fucking Yes
men around me, I want them to give me as much as I give them.1165
But while he may have contributed, at the end of the day the album credits don’t feature J.
Lavelle, instead most writing credits feature J. Davis, aka DJ Shadow. Lavelle explained,
“There are millions of samples in the record that I put in there, just not the main musical
progression. And when it came down to defining who wrote it and who didn’t, it felt a bit
1161
Cole, B 1998, p.154
1162
Adams, C 1998
1163
Harris, L 2011
1164
Roberts, M 1998
1165
Cigarettes, J 1998, pp. 14-15
124
awkward saying I wrote it.”1166 This awkwardness was further frustrated as Lavelle initially
believed he was going to receive writing credits split between Shadow and Lavelle, but
Shadow insisted “you’re not touching my writer credits,” not realising the issue would become
controversial.1167 Lavelle was obviously frustrated as he felt he had contributed through
bringing in ideas and samples, but he backed down, describing it as “a very strange scenario
to be in.”1168
Shadow explained further in 1998:
It's a conceptual collaboration...At one point, we were arguing and I was like, 'Look
James, this isn't a musical collaboration.' James has always been a delegator. He can't
make a beat, so he gets Kudo. He can't sing, so he gets Richard Ashcroft. The music
was my domain, the same way the artwork was [graffiti artist] Futura's domain...for
whatever reason, I'm able to translate his chaotic thinking. He'll say something like,
'For this song, you know that sense of loneliness in 2001 or The Abyss?' And I'll be
like, 'James, don't say any more. I'll play it for you when it's ready.'1169
Lavelle has held up Massive Attack and their Blue Lines debut as the benchmark of what he
wanted to achieve with UNKLE’s album,1170 and it is an apt comparison as during the early
Massive Attack sessions the group would also be questioned about what they actually had
done1171 as they reportedly didn’t play instruments.1172 Instead, while recording Blue Lines and
Protection Massive Attack would put together their albums from collections of samples they
had which would be sent out to other producers to embellish.1173
Both Lavelle and Shadow had different ideas of their role, and Lavelle at times wanted to be
more hands on, admitting to the NME that there were screaming fits when he wanted to hear
tracks Shadow hadn’t completed. He explained that “eventually I’d agree to waiting to a certain
point in its creation, and through that we’d learn to discuss things without having a fight…”1174
There were also problems outside of the Shadow/Lavelle collaboration, either from outsiders
or guest’s managers as referenced in the Ball Busters sampling Getting Ahead in the Lucrative
Field of Artist Management skit. Lavelle, in explaining the frustration admitted it sometimes
worked out:
There were some tracks that were very hard to do. Sometimes the problem was that
the music wasn't going the way we wanted it to, and sometimes it was other people's
faults, because they needed to find themselves or they were going through their own
problems. But in retrospect, those problems can give a song a buzz. It can be very
painful, but if you win, it's a fucking great feeling.1175
1166
Braddock, K 1998, p. 42
1167
1168
Slow 1999
1169
Jazzbo 1998
1170
NME 1998e
1171
Johnson, P 1997, p. 102
1172
Ibid. p. 97
1173
Ibid.
1174
1175
Roberts, M 1998
125
Lavelle has repeatedly described his role on Psyence Fiction as like that of a film director,1176
and one that fits in with director Stanley Kubrick’s description of what he considered the
director's role, “A director is a kind of idea and taste machine; a movie is a series of creative
and technical decisions, and it's the director's job to make the right decisions as frequently as
possible.”1177 But it has been an argument Lavelle has had to have repeatedly, with Ben Drury
describing the problem:
It’s his vision…I think some people are uncomfortable with that. That they’re servicing
the vision of this other dude. People think ‘why are we doing this for this guy, when we
could be doing it for ourselves?’ And they underestimate what he brings. The fact that
some people can’t see it has been quite damaging for him.1178
In 1998 Lavelle seemed to be tired of arguing though, telling an interviewer at the time, “I put
the whole thing together, it wouldn’t exist without me. It wasn’t Josh’s idea, and he wouldn’t
have made this record.”1179 Which Shadow agreed with somewhat, explaining: “The record
couldn’t have been done without James...James was a very hands-on A&R role and a very
hands-on executive producer role. I know what I did musically and he knows what he didn’t
do. He didn’t do the music. There has never been a battle.”1180
While their opinions of their collaboration and each other tend to change depending on the
tone of the interview, Lavelle and Shadow did work on the album together, and while Lavelle
continued working as UNKLE, Shadow’s work with the group ended with Psyence Fiction’s
release in 1998 and he moved on to other projects.
1176
1177
Gelmis, J 1969
1178
Williams, E 2017
1179
1180
Ibid.
126
Touring with the NME / Be There
With the American promo tour over, Shadow elected to stay in America and work with his
Quannum crew,1181 while Lavelle went back to the UK to return to work at Mo’ Wax and plan
for the next year.1182
In November of 1998 Lavelle met with the Scratch Perverts DJ team to discuss an UNKLE
tour that would feature both Lavelle and the Scratch Perverts together on stage performing
the album as a DJ set.1183 The idea was picked up by NME who invited Lavelle to tour as part
of their NME National Tour,1184 with dates arranged to begin in January 1999 across the UK.
The Scratch Perverts at the time were made up of Prime Cuts and Tony Vegas, a turntable
duo who were World DMC team champions in both 1999 and 2001. Tony Vegas had
previously worked with Lavelle, providing scratches on UNKLE’s Last Orgy 3 and Ape Shall
Never Kill Ape, as well as Lavelle’s 1997 remix of The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony.1185
In Japan Nigo was preparing his Worldwide Bape Tour 1998, and Lavelle asked if he could
join the tour with the Scratch Perverts as a means to warm up before the UK shows.1186 Nigo
agreed on the condition that Kan Takagi would appear with them,1187 which Lavelle agreed to
leading to the only known recorded live performance of UNKLE’s Last Orgy 3. For their
Worldwide Bape Tour performance the stage featured two separate sets of turntables on
either side of the stage with the Scratch Perverts together on one side and Lavelle alone on
the other. Their set was recorded and was screened in Japan as part of a Worldwide Bape
Tour 1998 TV special which featured interviews with Nigo and the many groups who appeared
on the tour.1188 Lavelle looks quite lost during the performance, no doubt regretting the
decision to be placed so far away from the Scratch Perverts, and by the time of the NME Tour
all three of them would appear standing next to each other sharing six Turntables.1189
Speaking to Straight No Chaser, Prime Cuts explained the concept of performing Psyence
Fiction live, “We broke the whole thing down into parts, much like a band. I might have a
bassline record or a drum loop record, Tony could have the accapella and James could have
some backing record. We'd splice the whole thing together on three sets of decks with James
usually playing the backing track and laying sound effects over the top. We must have had 25
records pressed up of each part of each song in the live show.”1190
Starting January 10 in Glasgow, Scotland, UNKLE were joined on the tour by Llama Farmers,
Delakota, and Idlewild, with UNKLE serving as the headliners.1191 The tour travelled across
1181
Werde, J 2002, pp. 37-39
1182
Harcourt, N 1998, 00:43:34
1183
Fuller, J 1998
1184
Slow 1999
1185
Discogs 2020e
1186
Worldwide BAPE Heads Show 1998, 00:08:09
1187
Ibid. 00:08:55
1188
Worldwide BAPE Heads Show 1998
1189
Horan, T 1999
1190
Rayner, A 1999, p. 24
1191
Music Week 1998a
127
England and Scotland and was made up of twelve dates which ended on January 24 at The
Astoria in London.
Reviews for the shows were positive, with only a few disappointed that DJ Shadow wasn’t
there.1192 1193 The Independent called their Glasgow show “Damn funky”,1194 while Muzik
referred to the Oxford show as “a brilliantly executed, inventive and possibly revolutionary
performance”.1195 Their Liverpool show was described by NME as “amazing”,1196 with Lavelle
throwing his records in to the crowd at the end of their set where they were eagerly snatched
up by fans.1197 The NME summarised the event by writing, “It's hard to account for the awe
that's inspired tonight by grown men destroying vinyl.”1198
The live show featured visuals projected behind the performance which were provided by The
Light Surgeons who described their work as “a multi screen visual production using video,
slide and 16mm film projection.”1199 The video work featured elements of Shynola’s Guns
Blazing video1200 intercut with film clips, slogans, and a live feed showing close ups of
scratching and other turntable tricks picked up by mini cameras placed nearby.1201
Their final show at The Astoria also featured Ian Brown in his first live performance since being
released from jail at the end of 1998. He performed Be There which was soon after released
as a single by UNKLE, and on February 20th, 1999 entered the UK Singles Charts at #8 where
it peaked. It would spend six weeks in the Top 100 before exiting again.1202 During this period
Psyence Fiction re-entered the UK Album Top 100, after disappearing at the end of January.
After returning in the first week of February, Psyence Fiction remained in the Top 100 for five
weeks, or fourteen in total since its release in August 1998.1203
The BBC’s Jo Tyler witnessed Ian Brown’s performance at The Astoria, later commenting, "He
sang surprisingly sweetly for just the one song, and left suddenly without saying anything.”1204
While the NME describe Brown’s appearance as “a great rock and roll moment, the equivalent
of a fireworks display.”1205
The Scratch Perverts again teamed with Lavelle as a trio for a session on the BBC Radio 1’s
The Breezeblock on the 1st of February 1999, billed as UNKLE vs. Scratch Perverts.1206 The
group would then perform in Ireland on February 4th as part of a Mo’ Wax night at the fifth
1192
Horan, T 1999
1193
1194
James, M 1999
1195
1196
Empire, K 1999
1197
Ibid.
1198
Ibid.
1199
The Light Surgeons 2019
1200
Ibid.
1201
Horan, T 1999
1202
Official UK Charts Company 2019m
1203
Official UK Charts Company 2019j
1204
NME 1999b
1205
Ibid.
1206
MixesDB 2019
128
Heineken Weekender in Galway,1207 and DJ Shadow was also present and made a quick
cameo appearance during the set.1208
On the 19th of February, DJ Shadow returned to England to reunite with Lavelle and perform
Be There with Ian Brown on BBC’s Top Of The Pops. Other guests on the show were Whitney
Houston, Cher, Boyzone, the Corrs, Blur, and Next of Kin. UNKLE performed live and featured
Lavelle on the Mellotron playing the introduction to the track before sitting back and watching
the performance as Shadow scratched records and Ian Brown sang. Lavelle would later
describe the performance as degrading as he had wanted to DJ alongside Shadow, but
Shadow refused.1209
1207
The Sun 1998
1208
Beeb 1999
1209
129
Downfall of Mo’ Wax / Never Never Land
While Psyence Fiction was being prepared for release James Lavelle’s other project Mo’ Wax
Records, the record label he started at 18 in 1992, was in trouble.
In the August 8th 1998 issue of Music Week it was revealed that Mo’ Wax and A&M’s three
year deal was set to expire soon.1210 While Lavelle had enjoyed a good relationship with A&M
and became good friends with Osman Eralp, the Managing Director of A&M in the UK, things
changed when in May 1998 Eralp announced he was leaving the company.1211 At the time
A&M had been considering restructuring themselves due to worries over the increasing cost
of doing business in the UK, but Eralp’s leaving “precipitated” these plans.1212
Many of the problems Lavelle had regarding Psyence Fiction were linked with Eralp’s
departure, as he had always been supportive of Mo’ Wax and Lavelle’s vision. But in the week
that Psyence Fiction was handed in to A&M Eralp announced he was leaving, and Lavelle’s
grand plan for a three-part UNKLE music video series directed by Jonathan Glazer were
instantly cancelled.1213
In June 1998 it was announced that A&M would be closing down due to the imminent merger
of A&M’s owner PolyGram with Universal Music Group.1214 A&M announced their current
artists would be moving to one of their other labels Polydor, Mercury or Island Records.
UNKLE were one of the affected acts with Psyence Fiction released by Island Records as
negotiations over Mo’ Wax continued.1215
By the end of 1998 fans on the internet began reporting that Mo’ Wax was closing down,1216
1217
and even Lavelle’s own staff seemed to have already lost faith in the label as early as
1997, as when Lavelle tried to sign the band Air to Mo’ Wax they were warned off by Lavelle’s
assistant who told them Mo’ Wax was bankrupt and they shouldn’t sign with the label.1218 The
band listened and signed to Virgin Records who released Air’s album Moon Safari in the UK
in January 1998 where it would reach number 6 in the charts and remain in the Top 100 for
110 weeks.1219
While Mo’ Wax wasn’t churning out chart-topping hits, and very few of their releases made
money outside of DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing album,1220 there was still interest in the label,
with many releases gaining good press. In 1998 Lavelle described Mo’ Wax as “the label with
the fattest concepts…It’s the vibe rather than the sales."1221
1210
Farsides, T 1998
1211
Music Week 1998b
1212
Snell, T 1998c
1213
Bradshaw, P 2014b
1214
Snell, T 1998c
1215
Farsides, T 1998
1216
KidCaL <calvin@hklink.net> 1998
1217
Keefe, M < MARKEEFE@aol.com > 1998
1218
Wines, B 2016
1219
Official UK Charts Company 2019a
1220
Penn, A 2014
1221
Raygun, 1998,
130
The closing of A&M was seen by the British Press as a sign of the death of the UK music
industry, but John Kennedy, PolyGram’s UK Chairman/CEO at the time, was not someone
who shared the view, "The industry's going through a tough time. It may be that we didn't
address some of the problems early on and had our head in the sand...But the industry is not
dying."1222
In December 1998 Seagrams, then owner of Universal Music Group, acquired PolyGram for
$10.4 billion, and A&M was merged into Universal Music Group with Mo' Wax artists such as
DJ Shadow transitioned to Universal.1223
With their contract now expired Mo’ Wax were free to move elsewhere, with Virgin Records
reported as interested, and Polygram/A&M were more than aware of it. John Kennedy at the
time commented "James Lavelle was close to Osman and ever since he left they have been
considering what they're going to do in the future."1224
Problematic for Lavelle was the realisation that his deal with A&M meant that while he owned
the name Mo’ Wax, A&M owned all of the artists he had signed including UNKLE.1225
Undeterred, in 1999 Lavelle signed a deal with the record label XL, part of Beggars Banquet,
which gave Mo’ Wax a new home, and without any of the artists from A&M he had no option
but to start again.1226 He appeared optimistic at the time, explaining to the BBC:
We are now working with Beggars Banquet, which is really exciting for me because
we are independent and it allows me to have the full creative control I couldn't have
when working with Polygram. I am trying to find a way of working with the old artists
and also building a new rosta (sic) of future talent. My dream is to make my Mo'Wax
the company I always wanted it to be and I think with this new label it's quite
possible.1227
Lavelle’s old artists who had signed to Mo’ Wax now found themselves signed to Polygram
and Universal1228 and were understandably upset. It was reported in Muzik that some of the
artists had begun to rebel, with rumours DJ Shadow and Money Mark might refuse to release
anything as a sign of allegiance with Lavelle.1229 Shadow would comment in 2002, “I could
have held my breath for ten years and not done a record (for Universal), but that's not for
me…I realized, 'Okay, this is the situation; let's make the best of it,”1230 as he explained further
to Zane Lowe, Shadow didn’t want to be “one of those artists who doesn't record for ten years
just to spite their label.”1231 He would go on to release The Private Press in 2002 with some
editions featuring the Mo’ Wax logo.1232
1222
Snell, T 1998b
1223
Pfenninger, L 2019
1224
Snell, T 1998c
1225
Williams, E 2017
1226
Snell, T 1998a
1227
Beeb 1999
1228
Snell, T 1998a
1229
Muzik 1999, p. 10
1230
Hermes, W 2002, p. 97
1231
Lowe, Z 2002
1232
Discogs 2019i
131
Initial Mo’ Wax releases after the XL deal featured albums from Nigo, Blackalicious, Malcom
Catto, South, David Axelrod, skateboarder Tommy Guerrero, and Quannum. But by 2002
Lavelle realised he needed a break, later explaining to The Independent in 2014:
When you're young, you're caught up in the energy and the madness of it. There's the
money and the drugs and the massive ego that comes with that. Mo'Wax felt like a
band in which I was the lead singer. But there's a point where you have to go 'OK,
we're done'. The whole thing had lost its momentum and I was pretty burnt out...My
life had crashed. My relationship was over and I had a young child. It was quite a
strange time for me. Luckily, I was young when Mo'Wax started and pretty young when
it finished so I was able to start a whole other chapter. I toured with UNKLE and the
DJing just took off. I would take my daughter to school on a Monday morning and the
other parents would be talking about their weekends picnicking on Primrose Hill.
They'd ask what I'd been up to and I'd say 'Playing records on a beach in the Black
Sea'.1233
In 2019 he would express regret at closing the label, “I wish somebody had said, “Take six
months off.” But it’s hard to take six months off when you’re 27, 28, and you’re DJing every
club in the world and you have a seven-year-old child and you’re trying to deal and you don’t
really have the knowledge. The snowball goes out of control. There was nobody there just to
say, “Stop. Let’s just stop for six months. It will be OK.” It was literally like, “It’s over.
Goodbye.””1234
With Mo’ Wax no more, other projects fell apart such as Headz 3,1235 the planned follow up to
1996’s Headz 2 compilation that would have featured a broader range of musical styles than
before.1236 Artists such as The Neptunes were planned as contributors1237 and Mo’ Wax
contacted their label, requesting some instrumental music for the compilation.1238 Headz 3 was
first teased in 1997,1239 and in late 2000 was still being advertised as coming soon in the
August issue of Jockey Slut.1240 Other planned releases which never eventuated were a Sun
Ra remix album, a re-release of the Wild Style soundtrack, and the Grand Royal VS Mo’ Wax
mixtape which was intended as a collaboration between Lavelle and the Beastie Boys’ Mike
D.1241 This mix had been mentioned for most of Mo’ Wax’s life and even had a release date of
August 1998 at one point appearing on Grand Royal’s website,1242 but it never eventuated.
Artist Futura also spoke about releasing an album on Mo’ Wax which never released,1243 as
1233
Sturges, F 2014
1234
Sherburne, P 2019
1235
Mo'Wax Bulletin Board 2000
1236
AVdeck 2000?
1237
Cooper, D 2013c
1238
The Fashion Post, 2013
1239
Mo’ Wax Discography 2011e
1240
dusted 2012
1241
Lavelle, J 2014
1242
Bodnarchuk, B 1998
1243
Meadley, P 1996
132
did The Dust Brothers.1244 While the long promised debut album from The Psychonauts1245
eventually was released in 2003, but not on Mo’ Wax.1246
Other plans for the label had included a magazine, a range of clothing, a Mo’ Wax Museum,1247
and collaborations with brands such as Vans and Lego.1248 Ambitious ideas like these are why
many see Mo’ Wax’s partnership with XL as having proved financially disastrous, as during
this period Lavelle set up Mo’ Wax Arts,1249 which produced toys, clothing, and books, many
of which didn’t sell, though they have since become collector items.1250 For XL there was at
least one positive financial gain to their time with Mo’ Wax as Lavelle had hired Nick Huggett,
who moved to XL in 2002 and signed Adele, MIA and Dizzee Rascal.1251 While Lavelle
“officially walked away” from Mo’ Wax in 2002,1252 there were still a small handful of releases
which came out through 2003 including albums by Parsley Sound and Tommy Guerrero.1253
One of Mo’ Wax’s final releases was UNKLE’s follow up to Psyence Fiction, 2003’s Never
Never Land. In 2001 Lavelle announced to NME that he was working on the next UNKLE
album, and that it wouldn’t feature DJ Shadow.1254 UNKLE at the time were now James Lavelle
and Rich File, who had previously produced Be There, and the new album was produced by
UNKLE and Antony Genn, aka Ant, an ex-member of the British band Pulp. After his
experience on Psyence Fiction Lavelle hoped to try something different and go back to what
had made UNKLE fun originally. He explained in 2001:
The difficult thing with UNKLE was that there was such a jump from when it was this
mad little group of people making fucked-up records to this massive kind of DJ
Shadow, James Lavelle, Richard Ashcroft… you ran before walking, you know? I’d like
to learn how to walk again.1255
Prior to Never Never Land, Lavelle’s partnership with XL had come to an end so the album
was released by Island, the label owned by Polygram/Universal and the label DJ Shadow had
ended up on after Mo’ Wax moved to XL. The two final Mo’ Wax releases of this period were
Never Never Land and DJ Shadow’s second album The Private Press1256 which Lavelle
worked on as A&R and received a thank you in the credits.1257
Psyence Fiction for its part has continued to be a large part of both James Lavelle’s and DJ
Shadow’s legacies, featuring within their live shows as both artists are obviously still
admirers of their work as much as their own fans are today.
1244
Smart, CK 1996
1245
Raygun 1998
1246
Burgess, J 2004
1247
Darby, A 2013
1248
Wilson, R 2014
1249
Williams, E 2017
1250
Wilson, R 2014
1251
Music Business Worldwide 2018
1252
Mo'Wax Official 2020
1253
Discogs 2019dd
1254
NME 2001
1255
Ibid.
1256
Bradshaw, P 2014b
1257
Discogs 2019i
133
In 2020 as UNKLE release their latest album, fans are eagerly awaiting the release of
Psyence Fiction Director’s Cut, a promised expanded edition of the album which Lavelle
described in 2019:
I always envisaged this album as a cinematic experience, so in keeping with

legendary director's cuts from the past, this has been a chance for me to re-visit the
material and create the record I always had in mind. There was plenty of material left
on the cutting room floor, and it has been really amazing re-discovering a lot of work
that I thought had been lost forever, which has taken me four years of endless
searching to find and compile.1258
While fans are eager to hear more of the LA sessions from 1995 and to imagine what could
have been had Tim Goldsworthy and Masayuki Kudo remained in UNKLE, Lavelle himself
discussed his reasoning for moving away from his early “trip hop” sound in 1998, telling I-D,
“If I'd made a record with Tim and Kudo, I think that would have been very much a record
everyone would have expected. A trip hop record. And that wasn't something I was prepared
to do."1259
As we near the release of the Director’s Cut we can be assured that this story is not over
yet, and there will be more to learn as Lavelle reveals further details found in his extensive
archives.
1258
Lavelle cited in Timo Fett 2019
1259
Cole, B 1998.
134
Where Are They Now
Alice Temple
Following the release of Psyence Fiction, Alice Temple reteamed with her Eg & Alice
collaborator Eg White to record an album entitled Hang Over, which was released as a promo
only in 1999. Temple would again work with UNKLE when she appeared on Mistress, a bonus
track from UNKLE’s 2007 album War Stories. She has continued to work as an artist and
model, and in 2018 released her debut solo album The End.
Atlantique Khan
Following Psyence Fiction Atlantique hasn’t released any music, though is credited with Art
Direction on Carla Bruni’s 2007 album No Promises. In 2013 she opened her eponymous
fashion line under her married name Atlantique Ascoli. The clothing has been praised for its
effortless minimalism.
Badly Drawn Boy

Damon Gough released his third EP, EP 3, at the end of 1998 on XL Recordings which was
followed by his debut album The Hour of Bewilderbeast released in 2000. The album was well
received by critics and Gough won the 2000 Mercury Music Prize and would go on to score
the Hugh Grant film About A Boy, based on the Nick Hornby novel of the same name. His
most recent album was Being Flynn, released in 2012 by Lakeshore Records.
Ben Drury
Following the closure of Mo’ Wax, Ben Drury became a freelance artist but continued
working with James Lavelle as part of Lavelle’s Surrender clothing label which Lavelle
founded with Earn Chen in 2003. Drury has created designs for labels such as Source, XL,
and ATP Recordings, and he has worked with artists such as Dizzee Rascal, Elliott Power,
and Roots Manuva. Drury last worked with UNKLE on their Only The Lonely EP in 2011, but
also created the Urban Archaeology logo for James Lavelle’s Mo’ Wax 21st Anniversary
book printed by Rizzoli in 2014.
DJ Shadow
Following his work on UNKLE’s Psyence Fiction, Shadow contributed to the Quannum
Spectrum album, and released his next solo album The Private Press in 2002. Since 2006’s
The Outsider each album by DJ Shadow has seen him experimenting with and embracing
new sounds. Shadow has continued to release chart topping albums as well as DJ widely,
and has released several highly successful mix albums with fellow DJ Cut Chemist following
their 1999 Brainfreeze mix. His most recent album was 2019’s Our Pathetic Age, his first in
three years.
Futura 2000
Futura has continued to be involved in Mo’ Wax and UNKLE related releases through James
Lavelle’s use of his pointman characters and associated designs. Futura himself has
collaborated with everyone from Nike, Converse, Bape, Uniqlo, and Medicom Toys, and in
2015 Futura designed artwork for The Rammellzee’s How's My Girlfriends?, a posthumous
135
musical release by musician and artist Rammellzee. Futura continues to exhibit his artwork
worldwide and in 2019 relaunched his clothing brand Futura Laboratories.
Ian Brown
Following the release of Be There in 1999, Brown released his second solo album, Golden
Greats, and has continued to release new albums regularly. In 2002 UNKLE remixed
Brown’s song F.E.A.R. for his remix album Remixes Of The Spheres, and in 2003 Brown
appeared on Reign from UNKLE’s Never, Never, Land album. All of UNKLE and Ian Brown’s
collaborations were later featured on the 2CD edition of the compilation The Greatest, a
2005 release career retrospective by Ian Brown. In 2019 Brown released his latest album
Ripples.
James Lavelle
Outside of UNKLE James Lavelle has collaborated with several brands such as Bape, Nike,
and Medicom, to create Mo’ Wax and UNKLE related merchandise. These have included t-
shirts, shoes, toys and even a fragrance created in partnership with Azzi Glasser. Following
the closure of Mo’ Wax, Lavelle set up Surrender All, which released all UNKLE albums from
2006-2014. This was followed by Songs For The Def which has been UNKLE’s label since
Surrender All’s closure. Lavelle was the subject of 2014’s Meltdown Festival held at the
Southbank Centre in England. The festival included a curated Mo’ Wax exhibition as well as
live performances from acts handpicked by Lavelle. This included a set by DJ Shadow, and
saw Lavelle and Shadow together for the first time since their performance on Top of The
Pops in 1999. In 2018 Lavelle featured in The Man From Mo’ Wax, a documentary on Lavelle
which charted his career from Mo’ Wax to Meltdown.
Jason Newstead
The Knock (Drums of Death, Part 2) is the only time Jason Newstead has worked with either
James Lavelle or DJ Shadow, and he is best known as the bassist for the group Metallica,
which he joined in 1986 and worked with until 2001 when Newstead left. Following his
departure Newstead worked with Ozzy Ozbourne, the supergroup WhoCares, and in 2016
he announced his new group Jason Newstead and the Chophouse Band. Outside of music
Jason Newstead also paints, and he began exhibiting his work in 2010.
Jim Abbiss
Abbiss continued his work with James Lavelle after mixing Psyence Fiction, with Abbiss
working as engineer for the James Lavelle remix of The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony in
1997, and UNKLE’s 2003 single Eye For An Eye. Abbiss also worked alongside Lavelle on
South’s From Here On In album, and provided additional production Money Mark’s All The
People. DJ Shadow also continued to work with Abbiss after Psyence Fiction, with Abbiss
providing mixing or engineering for Shadow’s next three albums, The Private Press, The
Outsider, and The Less You Know, The Better. Jim Abbiss continues to work in production,
most recently contributing to releases by Ladytron, Placebo, and Stereophonics.
Jonathan Glazer
Following his work with UNKLE for the Rabbit In Your Headlights video, Jonathan Glazer
next created a video for Richard Ashcroft’s solo single A Song for the Lovers in 2000. Also in
2000, Glazer released his debut feature film Sexy Beast which featured a soundtrack
compiled by James Lavelle. This was followed by Birth in 2003, and Under The Skin in 2013,
136
though he continued to create commercials in between films, and has worked with
companies such as Stella Artois, Sony, and Nike. Glazer is currently working on his fourth
feature film which is in pre-production as on 2019.
Kan Takagi
Following his work with UNKLE on Last Orgy 3, Kan Takagi continued working with Mo’ Wax
collaborators Masayuki Kudo and Money Mark for his 1999 solo album Hello and has since
appeared on several albums released by Nigo. In 2004 Kan Takagi and Kudo produced a
remix of UNKLE’s Panic Attack entitled Panic Attack (Ape Sounds Mix), and in 2006 Takagi
and Kudo again teamed up for the Projection album, released under their J.O.Y. alias on
Ape Sounds. Most recently Kan Takagi appeared on 2018’s Major Force Productions’ Top
Secret Man 12” which featured Nakanishi Toshio and Hajime Tachibana, and a remix by
Kan Takagi and Kudo.
Kool G Rap
After working with UNKLE in 1998, Kool G Rap released his second solo album Roots of Evil.
His most recent solo release was 2017’s Return Of The Don, which was followed in 2018 with
the album Son Of G Rap recorded with his son 38 Spesh.
Latryx
Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lyrics Born, aka Lateef Daumont and Tsutomu "Tom"
Shimura, both appeared on UNKLE’s Guns Blazing alongside Kool G Rap, while Lateef also
appeared on DJ Shadow’s The Private Press, The Outsider, and Our Pathetic Age albums.
Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lyrics Born continued to work together as Latryx releasing
The Album in 1997 on both Solesides and Mo’ Wax, which was followed by 2013’s The
Second Album. Lateef The Truth Speaker’s most recent solo album was 2011’s Firewire,
while Lyrics Born has continued to release solo albums with the most recent being 2018’s
Quite A Life.
Light Surgeons
Since creating visuals for UNKLE’s 1999 tour, The Light Surgeons have continued to work
across multiple platforms, from installation, album artwork, typeface creation, and live
cinema shows. They have also continued creating tour visuals for artists, working with
groups as varied as U2, Rolling Stones, and Cornershop.
Mario Caldato Jr.

Following the UNKLE sessions in 1995, Mario C continued producing the Beastie Boys work
until Start!, from 1999’s Alive single. He continued working with Money Mark, and remixed
Nigo’s Dream Unit in 2001 for Ape Sounds Remix. Blackalicious recorded their 2002 album
Blazing Arrow at Mario C’s studio, with the album also featuring contributions from DJ Shadow
and Money Mark.
Masayuki Kudo
Following 1995’s UNKLE sessions in LA Kudo appears to have left the group and focused on
projects such as Major Force West which released the 93-97 compilation, and Nigo’s Ape
Sounds album. Both Tim Goldsworthy and Kudo are credited with production for The Verve’s
Bitter Sweet Symphony (James Lavelle Remix) which released in 1997, and this appears to
be the final time the three original members of UNKLE are credited together. Following the
137
closure of Mo’ Wax, Kudo has contributed to albums and EP’s by Fujiwara Hiroshi, Tycoon
To$h, and Money Mark. In 2018 Major Force celebrated their 30th anniversary and Kudo,
Takagi Tsuyoshi, Yashiki Yashikata, Fujiwara Hiroshi, and more teamed up for a live
performances and DJ sets.
Massive Attack
In April 1998 Massive Attack released their third album Mezzanine, featuring the singles
Angel, and Teardrop. The album was an incredible success but was the last featuring
original members 3D, Daddy G, and Mushroom together, with Mushroom leaving the group
soon after the album’s release. Their most recent album was Heligoland released in 2009,
though they have continued to release EP’s. 3D has continued collaborating with UNKLE,
contributing artwork and vocals across several albums, while UNKLE have also remixed
Massive Attack with their most recent contribution being 2006’s False Flags (UNKLE
Surrender Sounds Session #2).
Max Burgos
Money Mark’s manager, and occasional Beastie Boys collaborator, left his position of A&R at
London / Polygram Records to become VP of Breaking Records, the record label run by Hootie
and the Blowfish. Following this he joined The Collective as a talent manager for their comedy
acts and is now currently co-head of the Comedy department of Agency For The Performing
Arts (APA).
Mike D
Mike D contributed his vocals for Psyence Fiction while completing the Beastie Boys’ Hello
Nasty album which released in 1998. Following Hello Nasty and the release of 1999’s
Anthology compilation the Beastie Boys released three more albums until the untimely passing
of member Adam Yauch, aka MCA. Outside of the Beastie Boys Mike D has contributed to
vocal duties to projects by Handsome Boy Modelling School, De La Soul, and Cassius, as well
as remixes for Moby, Fatboy Slim, Lykke Li, Wapaint and Yoko Ono. Since 2016 Mike D has
been presenting the radio show The Echo Chamber on Beats 1.
Money Mark
Following his work with UNKLE in 1995, Money Mark continued collaborating with the Beastie
Boys, as well as releasing his own albums. In 1999 he appeared on Nigo’s Ape Sounds album,
as well as Kan Takagi’s Hello album, with both albums also featuring Kudo. Mark’s most recent
solo album was 2001’s Songs From Studio D, and more recently he has been working with
the group Mangchi who released their Nega Mola album in 2015.
Mo’ Wax
While Mo’ Wax officially closed in 2003 after the release of UNKLE’s Never Never Land, the
label was revived somewhat in 2006 for Mo Wax Classics, a series of re-releases which was
cancelled prior to going on sale, with only a few copies pressed and later found by fans. In
2016 Lavelle revived Mo’ Wax again for Elliott Power’s Once Smitten album in partnership
with Marathon Artists, and in 2018 the soundtrack for The Man From Mo’ Wax documentary
film was also released on Mo’ Wax and Island, with the tracklisting made up of Mo’ Wax related
tracks.
Nakanishi Toshio
138
Following his work with UNKLE, Toshi worked with Masayuki Kudo, Howie B, and Mat
Ducasse on two Skylab albums, and continued to work with Kudo on albums such as 2000’s
Year Of Dragon 2000 under the Tycoon To$h & Terminator Troops alias. Toshi was very
prolific, working with his early bands Plastics and Melon, as well as spin-off groups
Plasticsex and Water Melon, new projects such as 2003’s Blair Witch And Bush Of Ghost
Project, and the Children Of The Radiation EP released in 2017 under his Tycoon To$h
monica. This was one of his final releases as Toshi died in 2017.
Nigo
Following the release of 1999’s Ape Sounds album, Nigo continued releasing music and
collaborated with Biz Markie, Rakim, and GZA on 2000’s Shadow Of The Ape Sounds. During
the early 2000’s he contributed Nigo’s General Seminar to Relax magazine and continued
with his successful clothing brand Bape until selling the company in 2011. He has continued
to work in fashion through his position at Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo, as well as music as
part of the group Teriyaki Boyz, who released their 2005 album Beef or Chicken in 2005 which
featured collaborations with DJ Shadow, Adrock, and Dan The Automator.
Rammellzee
Following his work with UNKLE on Rock On in 1995, Rammellzee continued to create visual
art and music, releasing his debut album This Is What You Made Me in 2003. In 2010
Rammellzee died at the age of 49, leaving behind an album of music entitled Cosmic Flush
which was later released in 2017, after singles from the album were released across 2015.
These releases were accompanied by an exhibition featuring artwork from the singles by
Futura 2000 and others. In 2014 Mo’ Wax released a 12” record of an interview recorded in
1995 while Rammellzee was in London for the Rock On recording sessions. A transcript of
the interview was also provided in the Mo’ Wax 21 book, though the interview is incomplete
as part of the recording was lost.
Richard Ashcroft
Prior to the release of Psyence Fiction, Ashcroft reformed his band The Verve and released
the album Urban Hymns in 1997 before breaking up and reforming to release their fourth
album, Fourth, in 2008 before breaking up again. In between albums by The Verve Ashcroft
has released several solo albums as well as contributing vocals on The Test from The
Chemical Brothers 2002 album Come With Us. In 2002 Ashcroft told reporters he planned to
have DJ Shadow contribute to his next album, though the collaboration never eventuated as
Shadow was said to be too busy at the time.
Richard File
Following the release of Psyence Fiction, File began working with UNKLE on the single Be
There, and continued as a member for several years, touring with James Lavelle as UNKLE
Sounds, and releasing the UNKLE Sounds mixes Do Androids Dream Of Essential Beats and
Edit Music For A Film. File left UNKLE during the recording of 2007’s War Stories and
partnered with Wendy Rae Fowler to release 2009’s We Fell To Earth album. He has
continued to produce music both for himself and others, and in 2018 released his latest solo
album titled Rich File.
Scratch Perverts
139
Prime Cuts and Tony Vegas (aka The Scratch Perverts) followed the UNKLE tour with James
Lavelle in 1999 with a residency alongside Lavelle at Fabric in London. The pair were joined
by DJ’s Mr Thing and First Rate when they won the DMC World Championships in 1999 and
were later joined by DJ’s Craze and Infamous in 2001 when they again won as the Perverted
Allies. They later added fellow DJ Plus One as a member and contributed to the DJ Hero
videogame series starting in 2009. Prime Cuts and Tony Vegas are the current sole members
of the group and continue to tour worldwide.
Shynola
Shynola have continued creating award winning music videos for artists such as Blur,
Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, and Beck. They have also created visuals for films
such as The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, and television programs such as The IT
Crowd. In 2013 Shynola created the short film Dr. Easy for Warp Films and are currently
developing their first feature length film.
South
South were a rock band featuring members Brett Shaw, Jamie McDonald, and Joel
Cadbury. The debut album, From Here On In, was released by Mo’ Wax in 2000 and
featured production from James Lavelle. UNKLE remixed several of their tracks, and the two
groups collaborated on the soundtrack for Sexy Beast, which featured UNKLE versions of
many of South’s songs. All of South’s members contributed to UNKLE remixes for various
artists over the next few years, and the band continued to release albums until 2008’s You
Are Here. South are mostly remembered now for when their single Paint The Silence
featured on an episode of the television program The O.C. and included on its soundtrack in
2004.
Swifty
Following his departure from Mo’ Wax Swifty continued working with Straight No Chaser
magazine and began working with the record label Far Out Recordings. In 2017 GAMMA
released a career spanning book dedicated to Swifty with highlights from his work with That’s
How It Is, Mo’ Wax, and Straight No Chaser. In 2019 Swifty released a new book of work and
he continues to design flyers for Gilles Peterson’s and Patrick Forge’s Dingwalls sessions.
Thom Yorke
Following the release of Radiohead’s 1997 album OK Computer the band experimented more
with an electronic sound on 2000’s Kid A. Yorke explored these sounds and themes further
on his debut solo album The Eraser, and in collaborations with Modeselektor, Flying Lotus,
and Björk. In 2012 he debuted his new group Atoms For Peace who released their album
Amok the following year. The band was made up of Joey Waronker, Mauro Refosco, Michael
Balzary, Nigel Godrich, and Yorke. Meanwhile Radiohead have continued to release albums
with 2016’s A Moon Shaped Pool being their most recent, while Yorke has also continued to
release solo work, and in 2018 he scored the soundtrack to the film Suspiria.
Tim Goldsworthy
After leaving Mo’ Wax and UNKLE, Tim Goldsworthy partnered initially with David Holmes
before moving to New York City and setting up DFA with James Murphy in 2001. Since then
he has contributed to albums by Goldfrapp, Massive Attack, Cut Copy and Hot Chip. In 1999
Domino Records signed Goldsworthy and Kudo as Flacco, but outside of some remixes
140
nothing else was released. Similarly, in 2016 the record label Island Of The Gods announced
an album from Tim Goldsworthy was forthcoming, but it too never eventuated.
UNKLE
UNKLE continue to release albums, with their most recent The Road Part II: Lost Highway
released in 2019. Following DJ Shadow’s departure on completing Psyence Fiction, Rich File
joined the band until 2008 when he was replaced fulltime by The Psychonauts’ Pablo
Clements, who in turn left in 2014. Each UNKLE album has explored different sounds from
electronica to rock, and their albums have continued to feature contributions from various
guest artists such as Brian Eno, Josh Homme, 3D, Ian Astbury, Gavin Clark, Carl Craig, Dhani
Harrison, Elliott Power, Will Malone, and Lavelle’s childhood friend Matthew Puffet.
Wil Malone
Wil Malone contributed strings to The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony after first working with
the group on their 1995 song History, and continued working with Richard Ashcroft on several
of Ashcroft’s solo albums. His collaboration with James Lavelle and UNKLE also continued
post Psyence Fiction, and includes 2003’s Reign, 2017’s The Road: Part I and 2019’s The
Road Part II. In 1998 Malone contributed string arrangements for Andrea Parker’s Kiss My
Arp which was released by Mo’ Wax.
Will Bankhead
After Mo’ Wax closed, Will Bankhead continued working in design for labels such as Honest
Jon’s Records (a record label set up by the record store Honest Jon’s in partnership with
Damon Albarn), Source, Swamp 81, and his own label The Trilogy Tapes which began as a
blog in 2008. Bankhead also DJ’s regularly and more recently in 2019 he DJed as support
for UNKLE at their UNKLE:AI show celebrating Fabric’s 20th Birthday.
Zoe Bedeaux
Following her unreleased contribution to the abandoned UNKLE sessions in 1995, Bedeaux
worked with the group The Baby Namboos who released only one album in 1999. Since
then Bedeaux has worked as a model, visual artist, stylist for Grace Jones, and recently
curated the Gossamer show for the Carl Freedman Gallery in 2019.
141
Select UNKLE Discography
Albums
1998 – Psyence Fiction
2003 – Never, Never Land
2007 – War Stories
2010 – Where Did The Night Fall
2017 – The Road Part I
2019 – The Road Part II – Lost Highway
EPs & Singles (1994 – 2003)

1994 – The Time Has Come
1996 – Berry Meditation
1997 – Rock On
1997 – Ape Shall Never Kill Ape
1998 – Last Orgy 3 Remixes
1998 – Rabbit In Your Headlights
1998 – Guns Blazing (promo)
1998 – Celestial Anhiliation (promo)
2002 – Eye For An Eye
2003 – In A State
Notable Appearences (1994 – 2003)

1994 – Headz
1995 – 110 Below :: Trip To The cHIP sHOP Vol. 2
1996 – Headz 2A
1996 – Header #1
1997 – A Bathing Ape Vs Mo'Wax
2001 – Sexy Beast (Original Soundtrack)
Remixes (1992 – 2003)
No Date - Ronnie Jordan - Get to Grips (unreleased)

1992 - Men From U.N.K.L.E. Featuring Marden Hill Come On (2010 Version)
1992 - United Future Origanization - Moondance (Moon Chant: Hip Sensibility Mutates...)
1993- Mondo Grosso - Vibe P.M. (Stranger Things Have Happened - Brazil On A Jimmy Hill
Mix)
1995 - Karmacoma (U.N.K.L.E. Situation) (as U.N.K.L.E.)
1995 - John Spencer Blues Explosion - Bellbottoms (Old Rascal Mix)
1995 - Geisha Girls - Shounen (U.N.K.L.E.'s Remix)
1995 - Radiohead - Planet Telex (Karma Sunra Mix
1996 - Tortoise - Djed (Bruise Blood Mix)
1996 - Folk Implosion – Natural One
1996 - Butthole Surfers - Pepper (Short Shot Remix)
1996 - Beck - Where It's At (Remix By U.N.K.L.E.)
1997 - Agent Provocateur – Agent Dan (UNKLE remix)
142
1997 - Buffalo Daughter - Li303ve (Suzuki Dekard San)
1997 - Can - Vitamin C (U.N.K.L.E. Mix)
1997 - Liquid Liquid - New Walk (U.N.K.L.E. Remix)
1997 - The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony (James Lavelle Remix)
1998 - Stina Nordenstam – People Are Strange (UNKLE remix)
1998 - Cornelius - Free Fall (U.N.K.L.E. Remix)
1998 - Placebo - Without You I'm Nothing (UNKLE Remix)
1999 - Garbage - The World Is Not Enough (U.N.K.L.E. Remix)
1999 - Blur - Battle (UNKLE Remix)
1999 - Breakbeat Era – Bullitproof (UNKLE Remix)
1999 - Ian Brown – Dolphins Were Monkeys (UNKLE Remix)
1999 - Furslide - Over My Head (UNKLE Mix)
1999 - Emperors New Clothes Leaders And Believers (U.N.K.L.E. Remix)
2000 - South - Overused (UNKLE Remix)
2000 – South – Paint The Silence (U.N.K.L.E. Variation)
2000 - Mr.Children - Nishi-E-Higashi-E West (Remixed By UNKLE)
2001 – Howie B. - Hey Jack (UNKLE Metamorphosis Mix)
2001 – Slam - Narco Tourists (Unkle Mix)
2001 – Sunna - I'm Not Trading (UNKLE - In Utero)
2002 - Queens Of The Stone Age - No One Knows (UNKLE Reconstruction)
2002 - Ian Brown – Fear (U.N.K.L.E. Mix)
2002 – DJ Shadow - GDMFSOB (Unkle Uncensored)
2003 – South - Colours In Waves (Unkle Reconstruction)
2003 – Metallica - Frantic (U.N.K.L.E. Remix)
143
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175
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WhoSampled 2019gg, UNKLE’s ‘Unkle (Main Title Theme)’ sample of Hubert J. Bernhard’s
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179
Appendix: Timeline 1973-2003
1973
January 1 1973 - Josh Davis born, Hayward California, USA.
1974
February 22 1974 - James Lavelle born Oxford, England.
1982
James Lavelle first hears Hip Hop played in his school hall accompanied by a breakdance
performance.
1983
James Lavelle buys his first hip hop cassettes, Slick Rick and Grandmaster Flash.
1984
James Lavelle meets and befriends Tim Goldsworthy who is 12 years old, two years older
than Lavelle.
1986
James Lavelle’s parents separate, and he starts skipping school.
James Lavelle watches Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey for the first time.
1987
James Lavelle watches the documentary Bombin on Channel 4.
1988
James Lavelle’s grandmother Dorothy enrols him at the Oxford Cello School for a one-week
course, as she wanted some help with his teaching.
Lavelle starts DJing as part of a sound system in Oxford called The Underground
Movement.
Lavelle begins work experience with Bluebird Records for one week, this extends for two
years working on weekends until their shops closed down.
180
Lavelle goes to see Soul II Soul versus Shock Sound System, a gig he later described as
“the most important gig I went to see…when I was 14.”
1989
January - Swifty starts working as Art Director at Straight No Chaser Magazine.
James Lavelle Starts calling himself Holygoof after reading Jack Kerouac’s The Road.
1990
Bluebird Records closes down.
James Lavelle begins Business Studies at the Oxford College of Further Education.
Lavelle begins work experience at Honest Jon's Records.
Lavelle leaves college and gets full time work at Honest Jon's Records.
Lavelle first hears DJ Shadow’s remix of Zimbabwe Legit.
1991
James Lavelle contributes Jazz Charts to Echoes for Honest Johns.
Lavelle begins writing for Straight No Chaser and contributes to I-D Magazine.
Lavelle starts the Mo’ Wax Please nights at The Venue, Oxford and reconnects with Tim
Goldsworthy on the clubs opening night.
DJ Shadow releases Lesson Four.
May - Shadow has a letter regarding racial politics in hip hop music published in Source
Magazine.
May 23 - Galliano plays at Mo’ Wax Please.
June - Shadow appears in Source Magazine’s Unsigned Hype section after he sends them a
mixtape.
November 19 - Mo’ Wax Please Presents The Talking Loud Sessions, featuring Patrick
Forge, James Lavelle, and Mathew Kershaw.
1992
James Lavelle borrows £1000 and Mo’ Wax Records is founded, with the first three releases
coming out in 1992.
181
Tycoon Tosh aka Nakanishi Toshio moves to England with Masayuki Kudo, and they meet
Lavelle at Honest Jon’s.
First Men From UNKLE remix released.
DJ Shadow meets Dan the Automator.
February - James Lavelle turns 18 years old.
May - Solesides Records formed with DJ Shadow and friends.
May 26 - Shadow buys his first sampler, the MPC 60 mk II.
June 19 - James Lavelle plays The Groove Academy, New York.
August 22 - Lavelle DJs at Talkin’ Summer at The Fridge.
October - The first Mo’ Wax release by Repercussions comes out.
November - Lavelle calls DJ Shadow and they talk about music and movies.
1993
That’s How It Is! club night started by Gilles Peterson and James Lavelle at Bar Rumba,
London.
Mo’ Wax has sixteen releases across 1993.
James Lavelle flies to LA and meets DJ Shadow in person for the first time. Shadow plays
him a cassette of David Axelrod.
London Records offers Lavelle £25,000 for a licensing deal with Mo’ Wax. Lavelle declines.
February – DJ Shadow releases Entropy on his Solesides label, credited to DJ Shadow &
The Groove Robbers.
August 27 - Lavelle plays Mo’ Wax night in Berlin.
August 27-29 - Futura takes part in the 1st Cycle Messenger Championship Berlin. He also
takes part in a graffiti demonstration with Stash, and meets James Lavelle.
October – Lavelle features in Issue 3 of Phat Magazine, with the article ‘Career Guide To
Losers’. Lavelle meets Ben Drury because of this article.
November 15 – DJ Shadow’s In/Flux released on Mo’ Wax.
November - Shadow and Lavelle tour Germany. Shadow is studying communications at the
time and has to fax his homework back to America.
182
November 22 - DJ Shadow guests at That’s How It Is.
December - Lavelle Goes to Japan as part of Straight No Chaser’s "Skoolin' Da Jaz" Tour
and meets members of Major Force and DJ Krush.
1994
Mo’ Wax address: 73-75 Mortimer Street, London W1N 7TB.
Mo’ Wax release 45 items this yea.
Mo’ Wax makes its first profit on Federation's album Flower to the Sun.
James Lavelle meets Richard File in Brighton.
James Lavelle features on a cassette promoting nightclub That’s How It Is with Giles
Peterson.
Lavelle stops using the name Holygoof.
May 12 - Lavelle DJs at ‘The Shape of Things To Come - Chapter 2”, also features DJ
Shadow, and DJ Krush who has signed to Mo’ Wax.
May 28 - Melody Maker announces Lavelle has set up a new label called Smoke Filled
Thoughts with London Records.
June - DJ Shadow’s What Does Your Soul Look Like EP released.
June 20 - The Time Has Come released as Major Force EMS Orchestra VS UNKLE. It
reaches #1 on the British Indie Charts.
June 22 - James Lavelle DJs at Beastie Boys gig at The Astoria, London.
October 1 - LOST AND FOUND (S.F.L.)/KEMURI by DJ Shadow/DJ Krush will enter the UK
Singles Charts at #84, before dropping back out again.
October 31 - Headz released.
November 20-25 - Lavelle set to DJ for Beastie Boys but show is cancelled due to injury of
Eric Bobo, the Beastie Boys percussionist. Rescheduled for 3rd and 4th of March 1995
November 23 - Lavelle DJs at LFO gig, with Autechre and Nightmares on Wax at the Leisure
Lounge.
November 25 - “Independants Day” article in New Statesman & Society says that Lavelle
has signed a deal with Virgin that will allow him to start new labels for them, both major and
independent.
183
November 26 - Headz enters the UK Compilation Charts at #36 before dropping out again.
1995
Mo’ Wax address: 167 Caledonian Road, London, N1.
MW releases around 50 items this year.
Futura visits London to work on paintings for Mo’ Wax.
Lavelle introduces Nigo to Futura and Stash.
Lavelle starts Dusted club night.
January 21 - The Time Has Come EP is the first Mo’ Wax release to enter the Album Charts,
spending one week at #73 before dropping out again.
January 31 - Mike D sends Lavelle a fax regarding a Mo’ Wax Vs Grand Royal album.
March 3-4 - Lavelle DJ’s at the rescheduled Beastie Boys gigs.
March 16 - Dewback released on 110 Below, Volume 2: Trip to the cHIP sHOP.
March 20 - Massive Attack - Karmacoma (UNKLE remix) released. Credited by Goldsworthy,

Kudo and Lavelle, and featuring scratches by DJ shadow.
March 25 - DJ Shadow’s What Does Your Soul Look Like enters the Singles Top 100 at #59,
before dropping to #97 in its second week, and then out of the charts.
April - Mo’ Wax move in to new offices, includes three studios for Major Force West, Tim
Goldsworthy, and Howie B. Plans for recording an Unkle album in LA begin.
April / May - DJ Shadow, DJ Krush and James Lavelle start their BATTLE ROYAL tour of
Japan.
June - The July issue of Muzik features an advertisement for the UNKLE album.
June - Rammellzee is flown to UK to record UNKLE’s Rock On.
June 28 - Rammellzee is interviewed at Mo’ Wax offices.
August - Paperwork was signed for Steve Finan to take 50% ownership of MoWax Headz
Limited.
August 14 - A&M approve budget for UNKLE sessions in LA.
184
September - UNKLE sessions begin in LA. Tim Goldsworthy brings a tape by The
Psychonauts to LA and Lavelle decides to sign them to Mo’ Wax. Goldsworthy also plays
The Verve’s History and Lavelle decides he wants to work with Richard Ashcroft.
September - Lavelle models t-shirts in September issue of I-D alongside his brother Henry.
September 23 - Lavelle hosts DJ Krush’s Meiso album launch party at his Dusted club night.
October - Lavelle approaches Richard Ashcroft about collaborating.
December - Lavelle appears in ‘A Year In The Life’ in Muzik Jan 1996, says “It was great to
hear there’s a new Star Wars film on the way.”
December - DJ Shadow DJ’s at Australian Summersault Tour alongside the Mo’ Wax Headz
Tour featuring Money Mark, Shadow and Lavelle.
1996
Mo’ Wax Arts started early 1996 as an unofficial arm of Mo’ Wax.
Mo’ Wax release a merchandise catalogue including t-shirts, and a record bag.
Mo’ Wax places an advertisement in Grand Royal Magazine #3 (page 8) announcing Mo’
Wax Vs Grand Royal is coming soon.
Lavelle models in a fashion show for Yoshi Yamamoto in Paris.
Mo’ Wax puts out over 100 releases, including CD’s, Cassette’s, Records and promos.
January - Australian Summersault Tour & Mo’ Wax Headz Tour continues. Featuring DJ
Shadow, James Lavelle, Charlie from Atticus Blue, and Money Mark.
January - After Australian tour Shadow goes back to finishing Endtroducing..…
April - In the May issue of Muzik (released in April) Lavelle announces he is closing his
Excursions subsidiary label after it’s 10th release. He also announced they will license the
Dr Octagon album and have recently signed drum and bass artist Preshay.
April 21 - BBC Radio 1 airs “The Mo’Wax Story”.
April 29 - The Dust Brothers announce their intention to sign with Mo’ Wax due to the
attraction of the “total freedom” Lavelle gives his artists, but no album ever eventuates.
May 20 - The Time Has Come EP is reissued on LP and CD by Mo’ Wax as part of a
Reissue Series.
June - DJ Shadow finishes Endtroducing..…
185
June 7 - Shadow and Lavelle play the opening of Lavelle’s new club night Basiks. The night
runs the first Friday of every month at Gossips Nightclub.
June 24 - Cream Live II released.
July 13 - Lavelle starts Dusted 2 ‘The Bounty Hunter Sessions’ at The Blue Note on
Saturdays.
August - Lavelle asks DJ Shadow to produce the UNKLE album.
August 13 - Endtroducing..… test pressing pressed.
August 20 - Headz 2A (featuring UNKLE’s Garage Piano) test pressing pressed.
September - Lavelle features on the cover of Jockey Slut Magazine.
September - Lonely Soul first vocal recorded at Olympic Studios. Untitled Heavy Beat also
recorded at these sessions.
September 16 - Endtroducing..… released in UK
September 28 - Endtroducing enters UK Album Charts.
September - Lavelle is mocked in the October issue of Muzik for sporting a red mohawk
hairstyle.
October 4 - Lavelle DJs at Voyager for Tribal Gathering 96 CD Launch.
November - Alice Temple records Bloodstain demo at The Strongroom, East London.
November - Interviews with Lavelle appear on Mushroom Jazz CD-ROM.
November 9 - NME reports Noel Gallagher has been asked by DJ Shadow to remix one of
his songs.
November 14 - Test Pressing of Berry Meditation pressed.
November 19 - Endtroducing… released in US.
December - Tim Goldsworthy leaves UNKLE.
December 12 - Nature Boy (KUDO & Tim From U・N・K・L・E Remix) released on
Kodama & Gota’s Something Remix album.
1997
Mo’ Wax address: 96/98 Baker Street, London, W1M 1LA.
186
In early 1997 James Lavelle plays a “Best of 96” set on GLR 94.9FM, the predecessor to
BBC London Radio.
In mid 97 Mo’ Wax send an 8 page newsletter promotional booklet out to fans. It contains
announcements for future releases such as Luke Vibert, Attica Blues, Dj Shadow, Deborah
Anderson, and hints of a Grand Royal vs Mo’ Wax release, as well as Headz 3.
Grand Royal Magazine #5 page 58, features article by DJ Shadow on Miami Bass.
Lavelle becomes a father to Llyla-Blue with partner Janet Fischgrund.
Nigo starts recording his solo album in the Major Force West studio, recording one track
each time he visits London.
January - Mo’ Wax takes part in a Video Game tournament in Muzik Magazine’s February
issue. Their team is called ‘MoWax Bounty Hunters’. Others competing include Massive
Attack’s 3D, Carl Cox, Liam Howlett of The Prodigy, Metalheadz, and Dave Clark.
January 9 - Test Pressing for UNKLE’s Rock On pressed.
February - Lavelle celebrates his 24th birthday at London’s Met Bar with Noel Gallagher,
Richard Ashcroft, Ian Brown, Carl Craig, Alexander McQueen, and “an Everest of cocaine.”
February - Berry Meditation released.
March - Lavelle announces in April’s issue of Muzik that he wants to record at Skywalker
Sound Studios.
March 8 - Endtroducing enters the Billboard Heatseekers Top 50 at #50.
March 15 - Berry Meditation peaks at #77 and spends one week in UK Singles Charts.
March 15 - Endtroducing rises to #46 in the Billboard Heatseekers Top 50.
March 22 - Endtroducing falls to #47 in the Billboard Heatseekers Top 50.
March 30 - DJ Shadow tours USA. He plays unreleased UNKLE work. The tour is shared
with Jeru The Damaja, and later De La Soul in April.
April 5 - Endtroducing rises to #43 to re-enter to Billboard Heatseekers Top 50.
April 12 - Endtroducing drops to #44 in the Billboard Heatseekers Top 50.
April 19 - Endtroducing rises to #43 in the Billboard Heatseekers Top 50.
187
April 21 - DJ Shadow appears at a record store in NYC for a set and invites fans to bring in
records that will be difficult for him to mix. Before the set MTV set up a meeting between
Shadow and Grandmaster Flash.
April 26 - Endtroducing rises to #37 in the Billboard Heatseekers Top 50. This is its highest
position and the last time it charts.
May 20 - UNKLE’s Can remix of Vitamin C released on remix album Sacrelige.
June - For the July issue of Muzik Lavelle reviews two Star Wars games on PlayStation.
June 8 - Thom Yorke meets with DJ Shadow.
July - Ian Brown calls Lavelle to say he won’t appear on the UNKLE album.
July - Thom Yorke records vocals for Rabbit In Your Headlights between Radiohead’s tour
dates.
August - Bloodstain and Chaos vocals recorded at Metropolis Studios, Chiswick.
August 7 - Mo' Wax and Japanese label Toy’s Factory hold a Mo’ Wax Japan party featuring
DJ sets by James Lavelle with Kan Takagi, Nigo, and DJ Shadow with Lyrics Born and Latif.
September - Will Malone arranges strings for Lonely Soul which are recorded at CTS North-
West London with the London Session Orchestra.
September - The piano on Chaos is recorded.
September 29 - DJ Shadow’s High Noon is released as a single in the UK.
October - Guns Blazing (Drums of Death Part 1) vocals recorded with Kool G Rap in San
Francisco.
October 1 - James vs. Nigo – A Bathing Ape Vs Mo'Wax released in Japan.
November 17 - Lavelle and Shadow open for Radiohead. Shadow plays UNKLE demos in
his set.
December 8 - DJ Shadow and QBert’s Camel Bobsled Race is released in the UK.
1998
January - DJ Shadows’s Solesides label closes, reborn as Quannum.
January - Shadow rumoured to be involved in a Prince Paul album entitled The Good The
Bad and The Ugly, with Dan The Automator and Mike Simpson from the Dust Brothers. Also
rumoured to include RZA, Beck, De La Soul and Björk. The album ends up being shelved.
188
January 13 - Pre-emptive Strike released in US.
January 31 - Preemptive Strike enters the Billboard Heatseekers Top 50 at #1.
February - Badly Drawn Boy records vocals for Nursery Rhyme at Brilliant, San Francisco.
February - Jason Newstead records bass and Theremin for The Kock at The Plant, San
Francisco.
February 7 - Preemptive Strike drops to #4 in the Billboard Heatseekers Top 50.
February 9 - Shadow is nominated for "Best International Male” at the Brit Awards. Running
against Jon Bon Jovi, Coolio, LL Cool J, and DJ Sash.
February 14 - Preemptive Strike drops to #11 in the Billboard Heatseekers Top 50.
February 18 - Shadow receives a fax from his manager about working on a solo album for
Zach De La Rocha. The sessions eventually happen in 2003.
February 21 - Lavelle and The Psychonauts host a Mo’ Wax Night at Nitsa Club in
Barcelona.
February 21 - Rock On, Ape Shall Never Kill Ape, Last Orgy 3 CDs released in Japan.
February 21 - Preemptive Strike drops to #14 in the Billboard Heatseekers Top 50. This is its
final appearance in the charts.
March - Mike D’s The Knock (Drums of Death Part 2) vocals arrive from New York.
March - Shadow tells Lavelle they need to finish the album now as he has other things he
wants to work on.
March - Ian Brown mentions in Mojo Magazine that he intends to work with UNKLE.
March 20 - Billboard reports that Shadow has started a new label called Quannum, after
shutting Solesides.
March 21 - Trilogy Box Set released in Japan, containing Rock On, Ape Shall Never Kill
Ape, Last Orgy 3.
March 27 - MTV Europe host a two-hour program dedicated to Mo’ Wax, featuring interviews
with Shadow and Lavelle.
April - Money Mark figure releases as promo for Marks’ Push The Button album releasing
May 4.
April - The May issue of Spin names Shadow as #26 in the Top 40 DJs, up from #29 in
1997.
189
April - Celestial Annihilation and UNKLE Main Title Theme recorded at DJ Shadows home
studio near San Francisco.
May 9 - Music Week reports that Osman Eralp has left A&M. His resigning causes a domino
effect that ends with Mo’ Wax falling apart.
May 24 - Shadow and Lavelle support The Verve as DJs at Wigan England Haigh Hall.
June 2 - Psyence Fiction is being sequenced. Lavelle and Shadow then fly to Japan to
promote Psyence Fiction and take part in a photoshoot.
June - Lavelle DJs at a Beastie Boys UK tour aftershow and plays Guns Blazing. After the
set, Lavelle hands out a finished copy of the album to a reporter from Jockey Slut who has
been interviewing him for a feature on the album.
June 16 - Psyence Fiction’s release date of August 24th announced by NME.
June 22 - BBC debut Lonely Soul on the radio.
June 29 - Psyence Fiction Survival Kit promo 12" released with Rabbit in the Headlights,
Guns Blazing, Unreal, and a 5" vinyl included in the pop-up format with Nursery Rhyme.
July - Psyence Fiction album is played in public for the first time at the Viper Room club in
LA. Promos of the album start to be received by press.
July - Straight No Chaser’s Great Day in Hoxton photo taken one Sunday.
July 23 - Lavelle and Shadow appear at the New York release/listening party for Psyence
Fiction at Lot 61.
July 23 - Pre-emptive Strike released in Japan.
August - Grand Royal Vs Mo’ Wax release was scheduled for August 1998, but never
happened.
August 5 - Lavelle and Shadow co-present The Evening Session on BBC Radio 1.
August 21 - Psyence Fiction released in Japan.
August 23 - Psyence Fiction UK launch party at HMV. Album played in full at 10pm, Lavelle
and Shadow performing solo DJ sets from 11pm. Futura2000 creates a live painting during
the night, and at midnight the album is available to buy. Lavelle and Shadow stay till 3am to
sign copies.
August 24 - Psyence Fiction released in UK.
190
August 25 - Rabbit In Your Headlights single released in UK. The 12” UK version came with
an UNKLE dot to dot activity sheet, labelled as #1 of 3.
September - UNKLE American Tour Announced.
September - Psyence Fiction is nominated for Best Album by readers of Muzik Magazine.
Going up against Air, Massive Attack, and Beastie Boys.
September 1 - Lavelle DJ’s at Viper Room alongside Mario C, and The Psychonauts.
September 2 - Latryx releases Lady Don’t Tek No, produced by DJ Shadow.
September 5 - Psyence Fiction enters UK Album Charts, peaks at #4 and spends 14 weeks
in UK Top 100 charts.
September 8 - James Lavelle appears on The Breezeblock program on BBC Radio 1.
September 9 - MTV2 in UK show a documentary entitled The UNKLE Probe.
September 12 - Psyence Fiction #12 on UK Top 100 charts.
September 13 - The Knock is featured in the Saporro Beer Tokio Hot 100 at #16.
September 22 - Mo' Wax Night in Tokyo. Lavelle brings out Kan Takagi to perform Last Orgy
3 and Shadow plays a reconstructed version of Psyence Fiction using the tour vinyl.
September 25 - MTV.com post an interview with Lavelle and Shadow from their MTV News
program.
September 28 - Psyence Fiction American five date tour begins in L.A. at the Virgin Sunset
at midnight. During the set Shadow threw copies of the 12”’s he was using into the crowd.
They contained instrumental and accapella versions of the songs on the album. He told a
fan there were only 25 of these made.
September 29 - 1998 Psyence Fiction released in America.
September 29 - Lavelle appears on KCRW to promote the UNKLE album and tour.
October - MTV Europe start playing the Rabbit In Your Headlights video.
October 2 - UNKLE US Tour ends in Austin, Texas.
October 3, Psyence Fiction #44 on UK Top 100 charts.
191
October 9 - Rabbit In Your Headlights CD single released in UK.
October 10 - Psyence Fiction #65 on UK Top 100 charts.
October 12 - Guns Blazing promo released in USA.
October 17 - Psyence Fiction enters the Billboard Heatseekers Chart at #1, and #107 in the
Billboard Top 200.
October 17 - Psyence Fiction #82 UK Top 100 charts.
October 19 - DJ Shadow DJs at the Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights. Latyrx and Blackalicious
open.
October 21 - Noel Gallagher works on his remix of Drums of Death.
October 23 - Ian Brown sent back to prison. He recorded his vocals for Be There in his home
studio right before this after Lavelle sent him a DAT with the instrumental.
October 24 - Psyence Fiction drops to #11 in the Billboard Heatseekers Chart in its second
week, and to #171 in the Billboard Top 200. This is its final appearance in the Billboard Top
200.
October 24 - Psyence Fiction #64 in UK Top 100 charts.
October 31 - Psyence Fiction drops to #15 in the Heatseekers Chart in its third week.
October 31 - Psyence Fiction #76 UK Top 100 charts. This is its final week charting in the
UK in 1998. It will re-enter the charts again in February 1999.
November - Rabbit In Your Headlights gets awarded Video Of The Month in Muzik’s
December issue.
November 7 - Psyence Fiction drops to #19 in the Heatseekers Chart in its fourth week.
November 14 - Psyence Fiction drops to # 28 in the Heatseekers Chart in it’s 5th week.
November 14 - Music Week announce Mo’ Wax have signed long term deal with XL
Recordings, the Beggars Banquet subsidiary that is home to artists including Prodigy and
Badly Drawn Boy. Elsewhere in the magazine, James Lavelle and Scratch Perverts discuss
touring.
November 21 - Psyence Fiction Drops to #41 in the Billboard Heatseekers Chart. This is its
final appearance in the chart.
November 21 - Rabbit In Your Headlights single released in Japan.
November 30 - Major Force West 93-97 album scheduled to be released.
192
December 1 - BBC start playing Be There.
December - The January 1999 Issue of Muzik claims Lavelle was paid £400,000 as part of
the XL / Mo ‘Wax deal.
December - The Jungle Brothers announce their next album will feature beats from DJ
Shadow. In 1999 they release their album VIP which does not feature Shadow.
December 12 - Lavelle plays the Worldwide Bapeheads Show with Cornelius, Scha Dara
Parr, Ben Lee, Money Mark in Tokyo. Their set features a live performance of Last Orgy 3.
1999
Mo’ Wax address: Ground Floor 25 Heathmans Road, London, SW6 4TJ.
Nigo’s Ape Sounds released by Toy's Factory, and Nigo starts his own record label.
January - In the February issue of Muzik, James Lavelle is named #31 in their list of the 50
Most Powerful People In Dance Music.
January 9 - UNKLE nominated for best Dance Act and Best Album at 1999 NME Brat
Awards.
January 10-24 - UNKLE take part in the NME National Tour supported by Llama Farmers,
Delakota, and Idlewild.
January 16 - Music Week announces Domino have signed Tim and Kudo under the name
Flacco.
January 18 - Be There released on two CD singles in UK.
January 24 - UNKLE’s play at The Astoria on the last night of the NME National Tour which
features the first live appearance of Ian Brown since his arrest last year.
January 26 - The NME Premiere Review, a one-hour TV program from Channel 4, is shown
at five Virgin Cinemas in UK. The program features a recording of live performances from
various acts, including UNKLE. James Lavelle is also interviewed, with the clip available to
stream from the NME website in 1999.
January 27 - The NME Premiere Review airs on Channel 4 at 11:30pm.
February 1 - The Scratch Perverts and Lavelle perform on Breezeblock. The mix later
appears on the 2004 bootleg WWIII.
February 2 - Be There enters UK Singles Top 100 Chart at #8 where it peaks. It spends 6
weeks in the Top 100 all together before leaving again.
193
February 4 - The fifth Heineken Weekender in Galway features a Mo’ Wax Records Night
featuring UNKLE, James Lavelle and The Scratch Perverts. DJ Shadow also makes a
cameo appearance during the night.
February 6 - Psyence Fiction re-enters UK Top 100 Album Charts at #57
February 6 - BBC 4 airs UNKLE’s performance from January at the Astoria at 12:35am.
February 13 - Psyence Fiction #71 UK Top 100 charts.
February 18 - Shadow and Lavelle take part in a live chat on the Top Of The Pops website
at 5pm.
February 19 - James Lavelle, DJ Shadow, and Ian Brown perform Be There on Top of the
Pops.
February 20 - Psyence Fiction #80 UK Top 100 charts.
February 20 - DJ Shadow plays with Latyrx and Blackalicious at Justice League in San
Francisco.
February 26 - Shadow and Cut Chemist play The 45 Sessions, which spawns their later
Brainfreeze release and tour.
February 27 - Psyence Fiction #81 UK Top 100 charts. Be There #20 UK Singles Top 100
Chart.
March 6 - Psyence Fiction #84 UK Top 100 charts. This is its last appearance in the UK
Album Charts. Be There #29 UK Singles Top 100 Chart.
March 13 - Be There #45 UK Singles Top 100 Chart.
March 20 - Be There #67 UK Singles Top 100 Chart.
March 27 - Be There #75 UK Singles Top 100 Chart. This is its final appearance in the UK
charts.
April 3 - Lavelle plays at Nowere 6th Birthday party, Japan.
April 10 - Shadow takes part in a webchat for the fansite Entroducing.com, he mentions that
UNKLE got in trouble for some uncleared samples on Psyence Fiction but doesn’t elaborate.
April 21 - Quannum/Latyrx/Shadow begin UK tour with set in Bristol at Blue Mountain.
April 21 - Be There released in Japan
194
April 23 - Art of War show featuring Lavelle, Blackalicious, Shadow, Latyrx, The
Psychonauts, Scratch Perverts, Mo’ Wax Night at the Scala club, London.
May - MWA (Mo’ Wax Arts) renamed Mo’ Wax Associated and fully incorporated into Mo’
Wax Labels Ltd.
May 4 - Lavelle and Nigo host an Ape VS Mo’ Wax night at Kyoto Lab Tribe, Japan.
May 29 - DJ Shadow and UNKLE both play Homelands.
July 27 - Quannum’s Spectrum compilation is released featuring Shadow.
July 31 - Shadow takes part in a second webchat with members of Entroducing.com. He

mentions that he decided he wouldn’t cut his hair until the UNKLE album was complete, and
Lyrics Born sent a photo of Shadow with his long hair to be included in the artwork for
Quannum’s Spectrum album.
September 9 - Rabbit In Your Headlights is nominated for Breakthrough Video at the 1999
MTV Music Video Awards in New York. It loses to Fatboy Slim’s Praise You.
September 17 - Lavelle starts new club called Vecta with The Psychonauts at the
Electrowerkz in Islington, London.
October 18 - DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist play Philedelphia. Cut Chemist has his records
stolen and is unable to play. They are later returned in December.
October 19 - Handsome Boy Modelling School’s So..Hows your Girl album released in US.
The album features DJ Shadow.
December 7 - Lavelle plays Be There on Ian Brown’s tour at the Brixton Academy.
2000
James Lavelle moves in with Richard File, in a flat on Old Street, London.
Mo’ Wax release the Futura book.
January 18 - DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist perform a “farewell” show in LA as part of their
Brainfreeze tour. The show is recorded, and the video is streamed live as a webcast on the
Jurassic 5 website.
February - In the March issue of Muzik, Lavelle is named #51 in their list of most powerful
people in Dance Music (down from #31 last year). Blurb notes that UNKLE’s Psyence Fiction
album has sold half a million copies.
February 1 - UNKLE nominated at BRIT Awards as Best British Newcomer.
195
March - Lavelle records the soundtrack to Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast film. The
soundtrack was recorded between Lavelle and members of the band South over eight days.
June - Lavelle announces residency at Fabric with The Scratch Perverts.
July 1 - DJ Shadow plays at Thud Rumble in San Fran. The show is later released on VHS.
August 23 - Art of War mix released, features DJ Shadow’s UNKLE demo Untitled Heavy
Beat.
September - It is announced that the Entroducing album has entered the 2001 Guinness
World Records. The album is awarded First Completely Sampled Album.
September 17 - Vecta club night launched by James Lavelle.
September 25 - Nigo’s Ape Sounds released in UK by Mo’ Wax.
September 29 - Dark Days film begins showing in US. The soundtrack features DJ Shadow
and includes new and old tracks.
October 13 - Lavelle presents the introduction to NIGO's One World Mix on BBC Radio One.
November 1-8 - The Bape Heads Tour 2000 tours Japan and features DJ sets from James
Lavelle, Nigo, and Kudo.
November 16 – Lavelle and Nigo DJ at Futura and Stash’s Command Z afterpart.
November 28 - The Verve bring out Rich File and Lavelle to perform Lonely Soul during a
performance.
2001
Mo’ Wax address: The Clockhouse, 1st Floor 220 Latimer Road, London, W10 6QY (287).
David Axelrod releases a new self titled album on Mo’ Wax. It is awarded a Guinness World
Record for the longest time taken to complete an album.
Nigo releases Ape Sounds Remixed.
March - UNKLE and SLAM release Narco Tourists.
July 6 – Nigo and James Lavelle DJ at Nigo’s Shadow of The Ape Sounds - Directors Cut -
Release Party held at Club Womb, Shibuya, Japan.
2002
UNKLE Sounds - Do Androids Dream of Electric Beats released
196
June - DJ Shadow’s Private Press released.
September 11 - UNKLE premiere Eye For An Eye at 12:30am on Channel 4.
October 15 – James Lavelle’s Global Underground 023: Barcelona released.
2003
James Lavelle is 29 years old.
Mo’ Wax is £270,000 in debt.
Lavelle is forced to sell his Basquiat painting.
September 22 - UNKLE release Never, Never Land as Mo’ Wax Records shuts down.
August 28 – DJ Shadow’s performance at the Institute of Contemporary Arts London

includes Lonley Soul live with Richard Ashcroft, and a remix of Nursery Rhyme.
197
Index
3D, 12, 37, 38, 107 Celestial Annihilation, 92, 99, 100, 113
A Northern Soul, 67, 68, 92 Chaos, 103, 104, 188
A Tribe Called Quest, 12, 15, 80 Charlie Dark, 17, 49, 53, 61
A&M, 47, 48, 49, 52, 55, 76, 130, 131, Cherry Pie, 58
184, 190 Chico Jam, 59
Abstract Soul, 59, 61 Chief Xcel, 33
Acid Jazz, 17, 28, 37, 38, 45 Concerto for Strings and Beats, 100
Adagio For Strings, 92, 100 Cornelius, 75, 80
Alan Scholefield, 15, 16 Cream, 61, 62, 186
Alice Temple, 70, 87, 88, 186 Cream Live Two, 61
Alien, 116 Cycle Messenger World Championships,
Andrea Parker, 48, 49 42
Antony Genn, 133 Cynthia Rose, 17
Anything You Like, 57 Dan The Automator, 34, 48, 75, 77, 123
Ape Shall Never Kill Ape, 72, 74, 75, 127, Dave Thomson, 12
189 David Axelrod, 33, 52, 81, 107, 132
Ape Sounds, 72, 74, 193, 196 David Toop, 41, 42
Apocalypse Now, 85, 92, 121 Dazed & Confused, 38, 42, 59, 97, 105,
Atlantique Khan, 103, 104 149, 158, 162
Attica Blues, 45, 46, 48, 53, 187 De La Soul, 13, 45, 75, 81, 187, 188
Baby Ford, 55, 60 Deborah Anderson, 60, 113, 187
Badly Drawn Boy, 94, 96, 99, 100, 113, Denis Lavant, 109, 149
189, 192 Dewback, 53, 184
Ball Busters, 94 Dissatisfied, 87, 103
Bape, 27, 72, 73, 127 DJ Krush, 28, 34, 43, 46, 80, 183, 185
Basic Mega-Mix, 31, 151 DJ Milo, 37
Be There, 91, 111, 112, 113, 127, 128, DJ Spooky, 55, 60, 116
129, 133, 192, 193, 194, 195 DJ Zen, 33
Beastie Boys, 13, 27, 37, 46, 55, 56, 57, Dust Brothers, 54, 75, 133, 185, 188
59, 60, 81, 101, 120, 132, 183, 184, Ed Hartman, 52
190, 191 Eg & Alice, 88
Beat Bop, 54, 81 Electro, 11, 38
Belmondo, 53, 55, 56 Endtroducing, 51, 52, 64, 65, 69, 77, 78,
Ben Drury, 43, 49, 57, 84, 117, 126, 135, 102, 115, 123, 130
150, 155, 182 Entropy, 33, 150, 182
Berry Meditation, 57, 58, 60, 61, 186, 187 Fleetwood Mac, 99, 100, 113, 114
Beth Ornton, 113 Frances O’Connor, 55
Bitter Sweet Symphony, 70, 127 Fraser Cooke, 25
Björk, 38, 39, 47, 78, 80, 188 Fujiwara Hiroshi, 26, 28, 72, 74
Blackalicious, 33, 66, 121, 132, 137, 192, Funkenklein, 31, 32
194, 195 Futura, 42, 43, 44, 60, 73, 116, 117, 119,
Blade Runner, 62, 86, 112, 145, 178 125, 132, 182, 184, 195
Blood Stain (UNKLE Reconstruction), 90 Garage Piano, 57, 58, 61, 186
Bloodstain, 70, 76, 87, 89, 91, 113, 186, Getting Ahead in the Lucrative Field of
188 Artist Management, 94, 125
Blue Lines, 19, 38, 67, 114 Gift of Gab, 33, 65
Blue Note, 23, 186 Gilles Peterson, 14, 17, 21, 28, 167, 182
Bluebird, 14, 15, 17, 27, 180, 181 Global Underground, 90, 197
Bombin, 12 Gorillaz, 123
Breather, 96, 97 Grand Royal, 46, 101, 132, 184, 185, 187,
Breezeblock, 128, 193 190
198
Grandmaster Flash, 13, 29, 35, 81, 180, Lonely Soul, 70, 71, 76, 87, 92, 93, 94,
188 103, 113, 115, 122, 123, 186, 188, 190,
Grant Marshall, 36 196
Greek Mythology, 13 Lost and Found, 42, 43, 51
G-Son, 55 Love TKO, 27, 41
Guinness World Record, 65 Lyrics Born, 33, 65, 83, 121, 137, 188,
Guns Blazing, 82, 84, 101, 102, 128, 188, 195
190, 192 Major Force, 26, 27, 28, 37, 41, 43, 50,
Handsome Boy Modelling School, 123, 53, 61, 72, 73, 74, 81, 183, 184, 187,
195 192
Header, 54, 55 Major Force West, 41, 50, 53, 61, 73, 74,
Headz, 45, 58, 76, 132, 183, 184, 185, 81, 182, 184, 187, 192
186, 187 Malcolm McLaren, 26, 36, 81
Hearts of Darkness, 85, 120, 177 Malcom Catto, 132
High Noon, 64, 66, 77, 154, 188 March of The General, 73, 74
Hollywood BASIC, 22, 31, 32, 46 Mario C, 52, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 137,
Holygoof, 18, 24, 181, 183 191
Honest Jon’s, 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 25, 26, Mark Burgess, 12
27, 182 Mark Hollis, 104
Howie B, 27, 41, 42, 44, 45, 184 Masayuki Kudo, 26, 27, 41, 50, 52, 53, 61,
Ian Brown, 91, 111, 128, 187, 188, 189, 71, 72, 113, 124, 134
192, 193, 194 Massive Attack, 12, 19, 37, 38, 47, 48, 53,
If You Find Earth Boring (UNKLE Mix), 43 57, 67, 78, 80, 81, 92, 107
In/Flux, 28, 33, 34, 51 Matthew Puffet, 12
Intro (Optional), 80, 112, 171 Max Burgos, 56, 60, 138
Island Records, 17, 21, 24, 130 Melody Maker, 33, 34, 40, 45, 96, 147,
James vs. Nigo, 73 161, 165, 167, 169, 170, 171, 172, 183
Jason Newstead, 102, 189 Men From U.N.K.L.E., 23, 24, 25, 142,
Jean-Michel Basquiat, 48, 54, 144 157, 164
Jeremy Healey, 14 Metallica, 81, 102
Jeru The Damaja, 76, 187 Michael Kopelman, 14, 27
Jim Abbiss, 78 Midnight In A Perfect World, 52, 155
John King, 54, 75 Mike D, 8, 46, 60, 83, 85, 101, 102, 115,
Johnny Dollar, 19, 114 123, 132, 138, 161, 176, 184, 189
Jon Clare, 15 Mo’ Wax Arts, 133
Jonathan Glazer, 108 Mo’ Wax Please, 16, 17, 18, 181
Jurassic 5, 80, 121, 195 Mo’ Wax Please Records, 21
Justin Winks, 12 Mo’ Wax Vs Grand Royal, 46
Kan Takagi, 26, 27, 28, 60, 72, 74, 75, Money Mark, 48, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60,
120, 127, 137, 138, 191 61, 74, 101, 117, 123, 131, 136, 137,
Karmacoma (U.N.K.L.E. Situation), 53 138, 151, 154, 167, 185, 189, 193
KDVS, 29, 151 MPC, 32, 51, 76, 77, 99, 182
KMEL, 30 Nakanishi Toshio, 26, 27, 41, 42, 50, 61,
Kool G Rap, 82, 83, 101 72, 137, 138, 182
Kung Fu, 13 Nellee Hooper, 26, 37, 38, 39
Last Orgy 3, 74, 75, 127, 189 Never Never Land, 130, 133
Lateef, 33, 66, 83, 137 Nightmares on Wax, 14, 183
Latryx, 121, 191 Nigo, 72, 73, 74, 127, 132, 184, 187, 188,
Lesson 4, 31, 151, 155 193, 196
Lisa Haugen, 65, 151 NME, 17, 19, 33, 34, 45, 60, 65, 68, 71,
Living In My Headphones, 59, 161, 162 78, 88, 103, 122, 124, 125, 127, 128,
London Records, 45, 47, 90, 120, 182, 133, 148, 186, 190, 193
183 Norman Jay, 14
Nursery Rhyme, 94, 96, 97, 190, 197
OK Computer, 76, 105, 107, 123
199
Oras Washington, 29 Songs Of Experience, 52
Organ Donor, 64, 106 Soul II Soul, 12, 37, 81
Osman Eralp, 130 Soup or Salads, 59, 61
Outro (Mandatory), 110, 157 Source Lab Vs. Mo' Wax, 104, 153
Oxford, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 25, 105, Source Magazine, 30, 181
119, 128, 147, 149, 160, 180, 181 Source Records, 103
Pablo Clements, 62 South, 132
Palm Skin Productions, 23, 63 Spike Stent, 112
Paris, 31, 32, 111, 185 Spinners, 62
Patrick Forge, 17, 19, 181 Stanley Kubrick, 93, 108, 116, 126, 157
Paul Bradshaw, 17, 27, 28, 38 Star Wars, 53, 73, 77, 82, 89, 94, 185,
Paul McMahon, 12 188
Pete Tong, 14, 17 Stash, 42, 73, 75, 182, 184
Philippe Ascoli, 103 Steve Finan, 47
Photek, 55, 60 Stone Roses, 81, 91, 111
Plaid, 44, 55, 60 Straight No Chaser, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 25,
Planet of the Apes, 72, 73 27, 28, 127, 181, 183
Planet Telex (Karma Sunra Mix), 105 Street Sounds, 11, 12, 13, 36
Pointmen, 44, 116, 117 Stüssy Tribe, 27, 72
Portishead, 38, 44, 47, 53, 67, 80 Style Wars, 54
Prime Cuts, 127 Sweatmouth, 21
Psyence Fiction Director’s Cut, 134 Swifty, 17, 23, 25, 43, 49, 181
Public Enemy, 12, 29, 37, 81 Symphony No. 25910 -Escape From
Push The Button, 117, 151, 189 Planet Of The Apes-, 74
Quannum, 80, 121, 132, 188, 189, 194 Takarajima, 72
Rabbit In Your Headlights, 77, 106, 107, Talk Talk, 81, 104
108, 120, 123, 188, 191, 192 Talkin’ Loud, 17, 19, 21
Radiohead, 16, 45, 76, 77, 80, 105, 106, Talkin’ Summer, 19, 182
107, 188 Terry Callier, 81, 113
Rammellzee, 11, 43, 53, 54, 74, 135, 139, The Abyss, 125
157, 158, 160, 184 The Baby Namboos, 57, 141, 152
Rare Records, 52 The Bends, 76, 105, 107
Raw Stylus, 22, 23, 164 The Escapade of Futura 2000, 43
Real Deal (Shadow Remix), 31, 151 The Face, 25, 30, 55, 56, 57, 68, 106,
Repercussions, 22, 182 158, 163, 172, 173
Rich File, 93, 99, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, The Fridge, 17, 19, 182
133, 139, 141, 196, 197 The Knock, 101, 102, 189, 191
Richard Ashcroft, 68, 71, 76, 92, 93, 94, The Light Surgeons, 128
122, 123, 125, 133, 185, 187, 197 The Man From U.N.C.L.E., 25, 52, 82
Rock On, 54, 55, 74, 75, 139, 142, 152, The Men From U.N.K.L.E., 24
154, 176, 184, 187, 189 The Neptunes, 132
Ronny Jordon, 24 The Oxford Venue, 16
Royaltie$ Overdue, 45 The Private Press, 131
Run DMC, 13, 26, 29, 37 The Psychonauts, 62, 133
Scha Dara Parr, 75 The Time Has Come, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46,
Scratch Perverts, 74, 127, 128, 192, 193, 67, 87, 116
194, 196 The Underground Movement, 12
Shadow's Legitimate Mix, 18, 31, 33 The Venus Project, 21
Shynola, 84, 128 The Wire, 42
Skylab, 42, 139, 151 Thom Yorke, 51, 70, 71, 76, 77, 96, 105,
Skywalker Sound Studios, 77, 187 106, 107, 123, 188
Sleeping With The Enemy, 31 Tim Goldsworthy, 16, 41, 52, 53, 56, 60,
Smoke-Filled Thoughts, 47 67, 70, 71, 87, 113, 122, 124, 137, 180
Solesides, 33, 45, 66, 83, 121, 137, 157, Tim Simenon, 14
159, 168, 171, 172, 174, 182, 188, 189 Tim Westwood, 17, 37
200
Tiny Panx, 26, 27, 74 Urban Hymns, 70, 123
Tommy Boy, 31, 33 Virgin, 47, 48, 49, 120, 130, 131, 183,
Tommy Guerrero, 132 191, 193
Tony Vegas, 73, 74, 127 Virgin Records, 49, 120, 131
Top Of The Pops, 129 War Is Hell, 113
Toshio Nakanishi, 41, 61 What Does Your Soul Look Like, 46, 51,
Toy’s Factory, 73, 74, 75, 117, 120, 156, 65, 183, 184
173, 174, 188 Where Do You Go?, 57
Tricky, 37, 47, 57, 67 Why Hip-Hop Sucks in '96, 65
Trilogy Box Set, 74, 189 Wild Bunch, 12, 19, 26, 36, 37, 57
Trip Hop, 35, 53 Will Bankhead, 43, 49, 57, 99, 117
Tui Interactive Media, 55, 174 Will Malone, 19, 92, 100, 188
Unfinished Sympathy, 81, 92 Worldwide Bape Tour 1998, 127
UNKLE Main Title Theme, 85, 86, 190 XL, 131, 132, 133, 192, 193
UNKLE vs. Scratch Perverts, 128 Zimbabwe Legit, 18, 31, 181
Unreal, 70, 76, 89, 91, 111, 112, 113, 190 Zoe Bedeaux, 56, 57, 67
Untitled Heavy Beat, 70, 113, 186, 196
201
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank all of the Libraries, Museums and Archives of the world for archiving
yesterday’s knowledge for the future. Specifically, I’d like to thank the following who helped in
the creation of this book: State Library of Victoria, State Library of South Australia, RMIT
University Library, HYMEN Archive, and the Internet Archive.
I’d also like to thank all of the people out there who photograph, upload and discuss their
extensive collections online. From fan-sites like MoWaxPlease.com, to user-created
databases such as Discogs, and forums like Unkle77.com, there’s such a great community of
people online who have taken the time to share information and images which have in turn
helped with the creation of this book.
Thank you also to those who took the time to read through early drafts of this book for me,
especially Brian who continued to send through tips and information that has helped me
greatly.
Finally, thank you for reading this book. I hope it was an enjoyable and informative experience,
and I hope it inspires people to write their own books.
If you have any thoughts or feedback regarding the book, please feel free to get in touch and
I’ll do my best to respond: jimmyjrg@gmail.com or see www.unklewiki.com for updates.
- James Gaunt
March 2020
202

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You look at all those bands throughout history like Fleetwood Mac and The Beatles, there’s

– James Lavelle, 1998

This PDF has been reformatted for ease of use.

Hard Copy details are below:

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2020

BLUEBIRD AND HONEST JON’S 14

THE TIME HAS COME 41

MO’ WAX EXPANDED 45

RECORDING PSYENCE FICTION 76

TRACK BY TRACK - PSYENCE FICTION 80

"Guns Blazing (Drums of Death, Pt. 1)" feat. Kool G Rap 82

"Bloodstain" feat Alice Temple 87

"Lonely Soul" feat Richard Ashcroft 92

"Getting Ahead in the Lucrative Field of Artist Management" 94

"Nursery Rhyme / Breather" feat Badly Drawn Boy 96

"The Knock (Drums of Death, Pt. 2)" feat Mike D 101

"Chaos" feat Atlantique Khan 103

"Rabbit in Your Headlights" feat Thom Yorke 105

"Outro (Mandatory)" 110

“Be There” feat. Ian Brown 111

Unreleased and Unrecorded 113

FINALISING PSYENCE 115

TOURING WITH THE NME / BE THERE 127

DOWNFALL OF MO’ WAX / NEVER NEVER LAND 130

WHERE ARE THEY NOW 135

SELECT UNKLE DISCOGRAPHY 142

APPENDIX: TIMELINE 1973-2003 180

At 12, Lavelle’s parents separated31 in a divorce which he would describe as “horrific”32

James Lavelle recalled his time at the club in 1994:

Swifty later recalled meeting Lavelle on the day of his interview:

Followed by Palm Skin Productions Getting Out Of Hell:

Lavelle discussed the differing sounds of Mo’ Wax in early 1994:

James encouraged us to source new materials, use special printing processes,

Header is an independently produced 'enhanced CD' combining 30 minutes of

Mario C recalled recording Garage Piano:

I wanted it to be technically the bollocks...I’ve never touted myself as the best DJ in

Endtroducing was released in September 1996 in England,616 followed by it’s American

Hearing Ashcroft was a revelation to Lavelle during the unsuccessful LA sessions as he

Shadow for his part told Remix Magazine,

The following songs are featured:776

• Quannum MCs – "Blue Flames"

Lavelle explained the idea of the sample:

In 2012, DJ Shadow released a Greatest Hits compilation entitled Reconstructed, which

He further discussed his satisfaction with Spine Magazine:

“What’s that really sweet smell?” asks Yorke.

Lavelle explained the origins of the collaboration between Thom Yorke:

Glazer explained his take on the video:

Untitled Heavy Beat (Part 1 & 2)

Rich File Demos

Lavelle explained further in an interview in the NME from 1998:

Shadow explained further in 1998:

I always envisaged this album as a cinematic experience, so in keeping with

Badly Drawn Boy

Mario Caldato Jr.

EPs & Singles (1994 – 2003)

Notable Appearences (1994 – 2003)

Remixes (1992 – 2003)

No Date - Ronnie Jordan - Get to Grips (unreleased)

Als, H 1995, 'A Model Affair', The New Yorker, 27 March, p. 37