Soul-Identity Music

In the past, the first day of May was marked as a day of rebirth so today seems a more than fitting time for former broken beat protagonists Mark Force, Kaidi Tatham and Matt Lord to launch a brand new label, TEN50 Records into the fore. At one point all three played an active role in the pioneering West London collective Bugz in the Attic, until the group ultimately went on hiatus half a decade ago. Since then, each member has gone on to forge their own individual music careers, Mr Tatham perhaps being the most active up until now. Today’s announcement promises lots more productions from the trio’s production alias Blakai as well as solo tracks from each of the respective artists.

Back in the day, the broken beat scene was a thriving community of producers that seemingly collaborated and released music under various monikers at will. The legendary weekly Sunday CO-OP club sessions, started at the now defunct Velvet Rooms and later established at the London institution Plastic People, were often the testing ground for many a track made in the studio the previous week, and often the sheer amount of music that was cut to dub plate meant that many of the tunes you heard in DJ sets never officially saw the light of day . The new label TEN50 Records appears to have been created as a conduit to bring some of these unreleased projects back to life and following the apparent resurrection of the man like Domu to today’s underground scene, it’s creation certainly heralds another step in the right direction for these fresh-thinking artists to bring us some brand new heat.

As with the launch of any new imprint in these times, TEN50 Records has to hit the ground running in this digital age and as such they are offering up their first release, an electronic reissue of the classic Blakai track ‘Afrospace’, to download for free in exchange for a Facebook Like on the label’s new page. A staple in many DJ sets at the time, the Bembe Segue vocal-led cut caused havoc in many a dance and now given a fresh housier update alongside the original Blakai rub and Thy Lord remix it’s primed and ready to kick off a new era.

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The first unreleased music to exit from the label’s schedule also drops today and it’s the long-awaited 12-track debut from former Basement Jaxx vocalist Blu James (remember ‘Red Alert’?). A superb slice of future soul, broken beat and boogie masterminded by Daz-I -Kue and featuring further production credits from Blakai, Dego (2000Black), Simbad (Raw Fusion, Defected) and QB Smith (Warm Days), it’s more than worthy of a cursory listen. Check out clips of three of the tracks below then head on over to the TEN50 website to grab the full project. Trust us, you’re unlikely to be disappointed.