Jello Biafra seems a strange person to start an article on James Lavelle with but on closer inspection the link may seem less tenuous . . . Coldcut use Jello Biafra on their recent Journeys By DJ release - a release that owes much to the experimental explosion that followed MoWax's rise to prominence and the coining of the term "trip hop". But a stronger link lies in a consideration of the underlying philosophy of Jello Biafra's spoken word performance at the Enmore Theatre last week . . . .

An outstanding attack upon the philosophy of fundamentalism of all kinds, Jello Biafra waged a verbal assault upon fundamentalism in religion, fundamentalism in economic policy, fundamentalism in politics, and, perhaps most pertinently, fundamentalism in underground music. Debates in punk circles as to whether or not band X or band Y is true to some imagined historical yardstick (England 1977?), pale in comparison to similar debates in the hip hop and techno undergrounds. "You've sold out" one fellow DJ accused angrily earlier this year, whilst countless hip hop records warn of the danger of "crossing over" and getting "crossed out". One techno trainspotter harasses another "Detroit is where it all began", whilst in a palatial South Coast residence Reverend Fred Nile and his cronies tell us that "the Christian God is where it all began". Such obsessions, those of purity, and desire for a singular totalising history, are the signs of a weak mind fearful of change. Such obsessions also divert attention away from the more pressing and important multitude of injustices in day to day life.

James Lavelle and his MoWax label have made a brave attempt to sail against this prevailing wind. First, by running against the tide of revivalist retro-oriented acid jazz with innovative instrumental hip hop records from DJ Shadow and Krush. Then came the major label deal with A&M Records who now handle much of the financial dealings of MoWax, however despite this association the label has penetrated further and deeper into a broader palette of sounds frequently described as "underground". Interestingly this deal has resulted in a loss of respect more from trend-following fans than actual artists and producers who now seem even more keen to work with MoWax.

And now, Lavelle takes the first steps towards debunking what is partly his own doing, the "trip hop" phenomenon. A compilation, Headz, marked the high point of the first phase in 1993, bringing together the disparate elements of Nightmares On Wax, Autechre and Tranquillity Bass head-to-head with Krush, Shadow, Attica Blues and La Funk Mob. Its release helped establish a scene that has since thrived with countless new record labels and injected a new found adventurousness into older labels. But now things have settled, some of the records are beginning to the sound the same. This will change when Headz 2, the sequel, planned for March 1996, is released and it looks set to mark another important paradigm shift.

"We've asked people to do tracks specifically for the project in addition to licensing tracks and we currently have in the region of forty tracks we're happy with . . . . the Beastie Boys have contributed some tracks, a lot of Drum & Bass stuff - Peshay, Alex Reece's Wax Doctor, Roni Size & DJ Krust, Photek, a Tortoise track which seems like a logical progression for us - not something you'd immediately classify as dance music, in fact its more guitar-oriented. The Prunes, Stasis, Peter Ford, straight hip hop, we've tried to span it as broadly as possible - and a lot of them feed off each other . . . . after the Excursions series reaches release number ten we're going to do away with the separation between techno and hip hop Excursions and pull them together more, then we have Andrea Parker, Bug In The Bassbin with all sorts of remixes, and the Krush remixes by 4 Hero, Peshay, DJ Crystl . . . its no longer about straight emulation but encouraging people to innovate, and this includes opening up a way for techno artists who write good hip hop to actually get it released, and vice versa".

Currently MoWax, with the assistance of major label offshoot London Records, is making forays into the land of the great classification where everything chaotic is covered by a thin, almost non-existent veneer of order - Amerikkka.

"Everybody likes to classify and label stuff - its an easy way to categorise and make sense of things but at the same time it can be extremely limiting. For example, if someone goes into a shop and there's a tune on that they absolutely hate and the shop assistant says "oh that's trance" or whatever, that person goes away thinking its all like that . . . Once something becomes defined as a separate musical style you begin to restrict and contain your artists and the public to a certain extent, who in turn expect a certain type of product . . . . the first two things we have coming out in Amerikkka are the Money Mark album and the DJ Krush album and we'll see how it goes down. We have confidence because we feel that even within a country so subdivided by cultural tastes a lot of the people who are actually [at the cutting edge of cultural production] and making the music might still have their own ideas about what constitutes good techno, or good drum'n'bass or good hip hop but respect first and foremost, as their bottom line, the ethic of experimentation. For example, within hip hop there are producers who appreciate and respect what Krush and Shadow are doing even though much of it goes against the grain, and that becomes evident from the appearance of guests on the Krush album which is a kind of endorsement."

James Lavelle concludes, "we're trying to bring a package that reflects just how broad the things we are trying to do actually are . . . and point out the links between things that are on the surface quite different . . . . 'Trip hop' - if we can neuter that term over the next year I'll be happy."

Yellow Peril

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