Catalogue Number: GU002
Release Date: February 1997
Buy it from: Beatport

At the time we made this, my favourite records were “Downtime” by Elliot Eastwick, Miles Hollway & Si Brad, “East End Trax” by Paul P. Flynn (DJ Q) (OR “Prescription Every Night” by Heaven & Earth – same sample!) and “Son of A Beatnik” by Taxi C.A.B.

Its always a bit weird making records when you have a very strong influences. You want to make something just like your favourite things but there’s something in me that stops me just copying someone elses style. So we ended up with this weird, 70s sampling groove that has lots of lovely pads over it. Hardly the cut-up disco that those guys were making so well.

“Cantina Scene” refers to this scene from the first Star Wars movie. I was imagining a Jedi world where bars in Pirate City play deep house. Stupid I know.

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“Aquaman” was inspired by my friend Marc McCabe (who later went on to run the respected Under The Counter label). At the time I was doing the warmp-up set for Gareth Sommerville at Yip Yap (La Belle Angele, Edinburgh). Marc used to come with me from Glasgow and we’d hang out at the club once Gareth had started. Some nights his capacity for partying would be on superhero levels, only matched by his love of deep music. Hence Aquaman. This track has the kind of moody, wandering bassline that used to get the floor started at Yip Yap. And that meant Marc left the DJ box and headed to the floor. Good times.

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What the papers said:
“A slice of prime deep house that follows a path between Mr. Fingers and Slam.” Update

Catalogue Number: GU001
Release Date: January 1997
Buy it from: Beatport

I decided to start Glasgow Underground at the end of 1996. By then, I’d had a couple of years releasing the music I made with Andy Carrick on the Muzique Tropique label. I’d made up all these psuedonyms (4AM, West Coast Connection, Mystic Soul, American Intrigue, Urban Revolution & Communication X) so that it looked like we were a “proper” label with a number of artists. I’m not sure why I did it since I put our names down as the writers & producers each time. But there you go.

We were only selling about 2000 12″s about 3 or 4 times a year so I was making money writing for various music magazines (Generator, Muzik, Mixmag Update). During that time, I met a load of producers who 1) made music I loved and 2) couldn’t find labels to take it. Add that to the music that was being made by DJs & club-heads in Glasgow at the time and I had all the material I needed to start a new label. A proper one this time. With more than just me and my friend from University making house music.

At the same time I met Kenny Inglis (who has since gone on to record as Spylab & Cinephile). “Just a Mood” was one of the first things we made together in his studio in Bishopton, on the west coast of Scotland. At the time, I loved making mood records. Mostly for DJs to start the evening with, or for those 6 o’clock in the morning moments when people have been dancing all night and need something a little more kicked-back.

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“Shona’s Song” was another of the tracks Kenny and I made that year. It is named after an old girlfriend of mine – it was her kind of bassline. The track owes a lot to the French producer Shazz, his 1994 EP “A View of Manhattan” seemed to never leave my DJ box.

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What the papers said:
“Sleazy, after-hours house. Prepare to dive.” Muzik Magazine
“Two gorgeous, deep-as-the-ocean-blue cuts.” Update