What did you think about the term "braindance?" Who came up with it?

Thats Grant, I mean when you think about other terms, they are just so cringey, like hip hop etc, those words are so embarrassing, so funny they caught on, why not try and make some words silly words catch on, a laff innit.

Ha just had funny memory... pretty much whenever Id go to the Cinema with Grant, the quiet bit in the dark just before the film would start Grant used to shout out REPHLEX ! ha, really funny dude..

What were your thoughts when you discovered Squarepusher's music? Did you want to keep doing things with him on Rephlex or did it feel like he was better suited to being on Warp?

It felt right for him to go to Warp somehow. OMG yes we drove around the cornish lanes a lot listening to those first Squarepusher demos, man, they were just so different at the time, so accomplished for someone so young, was like putting A million volts across my lobes first checking his stuff out.

What did you think of some of the later braindance artists that came along like Bogdan Raczynski? Were you into the music they were making?

Bogdan was a massive inspiration for some of my tracks on the Drukqs album, the fact he was doing it all on a shit pc tracker..totally amazing, this was before 99.9% of people used the computer for everything, it was just for sequencing then, easy to forget that very significant fact now, his records are so underrated.

You released a lot of music by Bogdan Raczynski in a short space of time. Do you think it was hard for people to get their heads round that much music dropping so quickly?

Yes I do and still regularly forget most people are not that obsessed with music, I think Im only really friends with people who are obsessed about music, I'm interested in pretty much everything and enjoy learning from people who know things I don't but usually don't stay in touch ha.



some of my friends like Luke didn't like it at first, probably due to its DIY production but he later got into some of it.

Actually music that hasn't been produced at all in the writing process can shine the most with good mastering, that was very true with Bogdans stuff imo, its usually better to nothing unless you completely know what you're doing.

Bogdan Raczynski's My Love I Love.jpg

What stood out about Aleksi Perälä's music when you signed him?

He's one of the friendliest and most gentle Finnish people I've ever met, that's what actually stood out most for me before the music, currently loving loads of his new output.

In the early days you and Grant talked about not being into the breakbeat culture that was emerging, but then went on to release some more jungle-oriented stuff like Luke Vibert’s Amen Andrews project, Soundmurderer & SK-1, and DJ Scud. Did your feelings about the music change?

good that you say that, Grant wasn't into breaks for a wee while, there was a shit ton of trash to sift through so you could be excused for not getting it right away but most of my first ever tracks made and released had breaks all over them, 1st amazing breaks record for me were the first two 2 kilos eps on Radioactive Lamb records, Mohameds Mind and Visions Of Paradise,number9 DHS[but whole ep]

and probably Trigger- Stratosphere, Quadraphonia-Quadraphponia...jimmy crash-crash course,exorcist/homicidal-shades of rhythm, so many more, gunna put some mixes out soon. and i gotta add 'BFC-evolution' to that little breaks list, carl craig.

How much did you get involved with the reissues and licensed releases like the Future Sounds compilation, Black Devil, Dynamix II, 808 State?

Future sounds we were both into, met up with Terry Baldwin, funny guy, quite fucking dark actually, long time ago though.

Black devil-found by good friend PP roy, master carboot sale warrior.

Dynamix II- both into em, their first ever records, still amazing.

808 State, I cant remember not loving...Newbuild one of my fave ever records, same for Grant im sure..I helped master that from the original tapes on my Studer machine, all stuck together with sellotape etc :)

How do you feel about your remix of 808 State’s “Flow Coma”? It sounded like you had fun doing that one.

of course, I would love to another one but more the original vibe, all X0X boxes and no breaks, one of these days.

There was also a small thread of more experimental music like Pierre Bastien, Victor Gama, Voafose and the Radiophonic Workshop compilation. Do you think there could have been space on Rephlex for more of that kind of music?

Voafose is our all mate Jeremy simmonds, top dude, always been there, lurking in the background, done loads of unreleased ones with him. his releases are probably my fave on Rephlex..his tape manipulation tracks, so good.

Yeah I wanted to put more historically important experimental stuff out, like Herbert Eimert which was less Grants thing.

Aphex Twin & Vic by Dalgarno - photo courtesy of Aphex Twin.jpg

Did you and Grant ever disagree on releasing or not releasing certain things on Rephlex?

amazingly not much, Grant and my friendship started with our love for early Chicago house music and early 80's electro and his interest in my tracks, he's also secretly made and released some of his own stuff but you will have to ask him about that!

It was Grant's bread and butter and a more of a luxury job for me, so hardly surprising there was some.

What did you think about Leila’s music? What was she like to work with?

Shes amazing. I met her when I was on Tour with Bjork years ago, she was live mixing for Bjork, we stayed really good friends ever, one of my fave ever people.

What was it about Drexciya's music that appealed to you to license it back in 1994?

I didn't immediately like Drexciya coz I was passionate about Kraftwerk and mistakenly wrote it off as a rip off but didn't take long to work out they were just as passionate about it as me and it was fucking excellent and I was wrong.

They were just showing their passion directly but bringing a lot more to the table.

I mean its pretty impossible not to be influenced by Kraftwerk, just so profoundly good, I think all their classics just sound better and better..so intense in a completely different way, utter unique genius.

But I of course absolutely adore EVERYTHING by Drexciya, when James Stinson died I was so totally gutted but Gerald Donald did the impossible and took their music to somewhere else equally as amazing if not even better, dude has been churning out classic after classic, don't know what we would have done without him, you can almost take him for granted but that would be a huge mistake.

What can you tell me about the relationship you had with James Stinson and Gerald Donald, and how did you feel about all the Transllusion, Dopplereffekt, Arpanet, Zwinschenwelt releases you put out?

for me it was purely musical, Ive never met either, had a few very close encounters though, been in the same room etc, would be a total trip to meet Gerald.

I know their music so well, its been a big part of my life, love all those releases, I think Gerald tapped into the total bleakness of whats going on in the world way before me, I thought he was joking at first as my life was too cosy to see it for what it was at that time in my life.

What do you feel like the overall attitude behind Rephlex was?

more about music than the image, non posey.

Do you miss Rephlex being in action? Do you have any thoughts about why it came to an end?

I don't miss it , I think it operated for exactly the right amount of time, I still use the same A&r ing techniques but just apply it completely to music listening pleaseure/dj selections now.

How do you view the label and its legacy overall? One interviewee called it a hobby label, do you think that’s a fair description?

I was too involved to be objective, hobby sounds cool, 'Electronics and music hobbyist records' or like heath robinson, ham radio aficionado, Maplin, records :)