Salt City Orchestra – The Book (Hardback Dub)
Neil Diablo
At the ripe age of 17 I was already a huge fan of Paper Recordings and Robodisco. I picked up this beauty from Vinyl Exchange on one my weekly vinyl pilgrimages into town (AKA Manchester City Centre). I was obsessed with this track in particular after hearing it at Hard Times in Huddersfield (I think it was an Azuli records party and DJ Paulette was at the helm in the main room of a church) and had to track it down. No Shazamin’ in those days meant you had to embarrass yourself by singing a track in a records shop in the hope they would know what the hell you were on about. Thankfully they did. Still slams today!
I WRITE THE BOOK I WRITE THE BOOK I WRITE THE BOOK I WRITE THE BOOK I WRITE THE BOOK I WRITE THE BOOK I WRITE THE BOOK I WRITE THE BOOK
PAP002
Paper Music Issue #1 – Downtime
Miles Hollway
The thing that always amazes me when I think back to the early days, is just how quickly everything developed.
Within the space of less than 2 years Elliot and I had gone from pulling pints (or rather tins of Red Stripe) at the Hacienda to residencies at Hard Times, a first foray into production via Beeswax Records (hand delivered and played by Junior Vasquez in the NY Sound Factory by Elliot) and then of course Paper Recordings alongside Pete and Ben. Barely 2 releases in, we found ourselves at the vanguard of what would rather quaintly, and frankly a bit ridiculously, soon be called ‘Nu Brit House’ alongside the likes of Nuphonic.
We were based in the old Sunset Radio studios in New Mount St, a very much under-lauded 90’s creative space. Our first release Salt City Orchestra’s ‘The Book’ had recently come out, had been well received and got the label some early recognition to the extent that Ben Turner from Muzik Magazine wanted to come up for a chat. I remember myself, Elliot and Si Brad were working on the next release when we had Ben with us in the studio and we were playing around with the Bob James sample that would become Downtime, which to this day is probably my favourite release we did for Paper.
Full of Northern banter and easy-come confidence that must have bordered on arrogance but passed for early 90’s lads culture, I wouldn’t have outwardly admitted to any self doubt at the time. But, looking back at it now, I think Ben’s visit subconsciously had quite a lasting impact on me in terms of my internal validation of what we were doing. Muzik Magazine had burst onto the scene as the new cool kid on the block and it was definitely a magazine we aspired to be associated with. Suddenly, it all felt possible or even, to quote from Interstellar…necessary.
PAP004
WASTEPAPER – Origami
Bill Brewster
I must confess, I am a Si Brad superfan, so there are rich pickings on Paper Music from his many aliases and collaborations. If I had to select one, it would be Wastepaper’s ‘Origami’. And I played a small part in it ending up on Paper. You see, it had originally been a remix of Raven Maize’s ‘Together Forever’ for Dave Lee’s Z Records and I was friendly with Dave. I remember him playing it to me in his Primrose Hill studio at the time and asking what I thought. For some reason, I felt it wasn’t up to the usual Bradshaw standard and confessed disappointment in it. Dave canned the remix and the boys released it on Paper. What a clot. It was and is brilliant.
PAP006
New Phunk Theory – Phunk Theory Theme
PBR Streetgang
We’ve always been huge fans of Paper Recording. Our DJ journey and the labels began at a similar time, so in a way it had a big hand in shaping us. One of my all time favourite Paper records was my first purchase on the imprint, New Phunk Theory – Phunk Theory Theme & Dancer (Pap 006). It’s simply an incredible E.P. and something I still often pull out today.
When we were trying to find our sound – these kind of records were a guiding light!
PAP012
Shaboom – Bessie
DJ Paulette
My immediate response is Shaboom – Bessie (1997). It was my secret Lazy Dog weapon that killed it any time I dropped it. I think Ben (Watt) picked up on it and put on various compilations. I danced my ass off to this track (think I even took a light fitting out with a jump once at Notting Hill Arts Club). I could never quite make out the lyrics but you know me, I still sang along at the top of my voice. This record and the combination of the memories still gives me goosebumps. It was a vintage year.
PAP014
Dirty Jesus – Don’t Fuck With My Shit
Luke Una
I love this oddball, slo-mo cosmic house track by Eric Rug. Machine music from the Black Heart Disco, astral brilliance.
Sleazy McQueen
The Latenight Cruising mix was so inimitable and new that it helped establish a new description for so many songs since it was first released in 1997; cruising house music. The stripped back groove is so spare the introduction of percussion, reverb drenched atmospheric trill or funky clavinet can take center stage, allowing each element to showcase alongside the groove, underpinned by beautiful and melancholic chords. This song is so delightfully open, so impressively spacey that the listener is both hypnotized and earnestly compelled to groove. I dream of making something so deep but still so compelling. Each element is so perfectly placed that adding more isn’t necessary. The less is more approach is truly the hardest music to make perfectly, and signifies some of the most beloved songs in (dance) music history. Even nearly 30 years on from its release, it’s still played by DJs worldwide, a claim many songs from that era cannot share. It remains the epitome of organic, funky and emotional deep house with disco sensibilities and a cornerstone of the many classics coming from paper at the time.
PAPLP001 / PAP016
Dom B Sensi – Those Norwegians
Hot Toddy
This was and still is a fav of ours. A cheeky little cut from their album Kaminzky Park. It became a bit of a staple for bar room moments and late night, back to mine sessions. Slabs of 70’s sleazy funk peppered with dubby hits and loads of atmosphere, simple but very effective…Can You Dig It? Yeah yeah yeah!
Anna Greenwood (Paper Anna)
My dear paperecordings took me on as a mere slip of a thing, doing office admin, stuffing records into mailers for DJs and the like for a couple of days a week. Despite not actually liking house music (IMAGINE), we shared a hedonistic attitude to life and er, business. Foolishly seeing a capacity for smoking fags, drinking, shouting in pubs and behaving like a loon as winning characteristics for an employee, they took me on full time and I ended up as label manager. Not sure if that was because no one else wanted to do it.
Despite being excellent at putting out music people loved to dance to in very handsome sleeves, we were dead good at going out and having ourselves a right laugh. It was top. Thank you for giving me my first grown-up job, encouraging the writing of nonsensical newsletters and press releases (see below), letting me be in charge of licensing tracks from the wondrous back catalogue to nu Brit house hipster compilations, and just putting your faith in me.
Is my second-best job ever (first is Marple Bridge Stores where I just ate sweets every Sunday. No disrespect paper darlings, I love you dearly but being paid to eat sweets will never be topped).
Happy Birthday.
PAP023
The Problem Kids – Miles Away
Dick ‘Magik’ Johnson
Out of many Paper highlights, I’ll never forget the first time hearing the bassline drop on Problem Kids’ “Miles Away”. It was at a time when I was playing mostly US deep house, and this just blew everything out of the park. I played Miami Music Conference that year and the two big songs were this and Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better With You”.
PAP027
Kenny Hawkes – Sleaze Walking
Rocky (X-Press 2 / The Problem Kids)
Myself and Mark signed our Problem Kids project to Paper back in 97/98 I think. We were so chuffed to be a part of such a cool label. They totally let us just make music, which as a producer is all you ever wish for. So many fabulous memories of gigs and tours under the Paper banner, particular stand outs were the tour we did in New Zealand way back then. An absolutely wonderful bunch of people doing it totally for the right reasons and putting out some incredible releases over the past 30 years. It is one of the only labels that still, to this day, still account to me twice a year.
Happy 30th Paper, long may you continue!!
Massive love and respect, Rocky xx
PAP035
Julius Papp – Maximum Voyage
Tristan Jong (Gratts)
Hurray for Paperecordings! Three decades in, the label has been a huge part of my never-ending musical journey. From buying my very first records (Crispin J Glover’s ‘Rhythm Graffiti’ LP and the Debaser Boy’s ‘Density / Brazilica’ 12) to being enchanted by their late nineties email newsletters (here’s a little 2013 blog recap), Paper’s awesomeness truly knows no bounds.
Let this last statement be a testament to their timeless brilliance: while 2000’s 3LP Robodisco compilation is (literally) still in my bag at the minute, I also played their latest release (Kappekoff’s remix of Spillopper) that comes out TODAY in my set last Saturday.
Fuckin’ wild? You’ve said it.
PAPLP004
Crazy P – A Nice Hot Bath with
Third Attempt
I’d love to go with my initial introduction to the label, A Nice Hot Bath With by Crazy P(enis).
It must have been around the time I finished high school, and I had just started playing DJ / live gigs. I could not stop listening to this one, it’s such a timeless record which I still play often. It has it all; funk, soul, disco, trip hop, house, jazz. This genre-blending approach has inspired me in many ways and made me continue to dig for similar stuff. It set off a proper first impression, and I’m very proud to be working so closely with Paper today, with hair on my chest many years later.
PAPLP004
Crazy P – Smoovin’ Groovin’
Ralph Lawson
The Paper Recordings crew and 20/20 Vision were tight, very tight. We came through at the same time in the mid 90s as part of an emergent UK House Music scene that also included Classic & Nuphonic from London but we were Northern connection being based in Manchester & Leeds respectively. At the time I was a resident DJ at back to basics and would eagerly await the next Paper Recordings release, the early productions featured Miles Hollway & Elliot Eastwick in the studio with Si Brad and got off to a flying start with The Book, which you needed to flip over, for the Hardback Dub for its looped & filtered vocal hook driving over tougher drums to devastating effect on a dancefloor.
But it was the next release Downtime that would be the one to stay in the box, not just for weeks or months but for years, as it remains one of the best warm up records ever made. People that used to frequent weekly clubs will remember that first session or Warm Up fondly and it will always hold wonderful memories for me as it was my weekly slot at basics. The excitement of making it into the club and getting to the bar while the DJ eased you in with some downbeat grooves was always my favourite time. Then around midnight; crank the volume, dim the lights and drop Downtime. It’s a long record that has many changes & progressions, unusual in the house music world of looped repetitive beats, so by the last hurrah of Downtime, you could reliably look up from behind the decks to see your dancefloor filled. Downtime remains a bona fide Back to Basics classic.
Less known but played for as long as Downtime was another amazing record on Paper by French producer Erik Rug aka Dirty Jesus called Don’t Fuck With My Shit (DFWMS). I love records like this because they exist as an enigma, a moment in time, being the only one of two records ever produced as Dirty Jesus. DFWMS became another Basics classic and I played it religiously, if you’ll excuse the pun.
Then there was Crazy P.
Long before they were the band we all know and love they were on Paper Recordings and produced the magnificent album A Nice Hot Bath With, which was the album that first brought them to my attention and a record I return to time and time again for the slinky grooves of Smoothin’ Groovin’ or the unexpected P-Funk bass licks of 3 Play it Cool. And, of course, I’m forever grateful that the band also came onto 20/20 Vision to produce two timeless classic albums.
But away from those early productions Paper Recordings have managed to last the test of time with Ben Davis and Pete Jenkinson at the helm keepin’ on keepin’ on with love & dedication for the music, which is what anyone running an indie label for 30 years must have. So hats off to all and wishing Paper a very Happy 30th Anniversary.
PAP038
Kenny Hawkes – Ashley’s War Part. 2
Terry Farley
So, our Kenny. Kenny Hawkes, one of the UK’s best DJs in the 1990’s and beyond, Ashley’s War is a skank through tribal and techno dub – it’s deep dark ‘n’ sexy – like Kenny himself (RIP mate).
Repap003
The Music Man – I Got The Music (Sir Henry’s Special Mix)
Pete Jenkinson (Paper Recordings)
In 1998, we posted a series of random, inanimate household objects to Matthew Herbert. There were no MIDI files, instruments or cassettes inside; it was stuff like spoons, an alarm clock, pens, and empty drink cans with a handwritten note in the last delivery challenging him to make us an EP. We thought nothing of it and then six months later a DAT tape arrived with some music on it. Operating under the one-off alias The Music Man, Herbert had taken this “box of junk” and transformed it into the Homemade EP. The standout track, ‘I Got The Music’, is my go-to track from our catalogue, the rhythm feels totally organic, composed entirely from the stuff we’d posted him. Herbert proved that you just needed some cutlery & junk, plus a bit of imagination to make a dancefloor move. It captured a moment in time when electronic producers were beginning to rewrite the rules of how dance music could be made; it was a privilege to be part of it.
Repap004
Andrew Tytherleigh – Hot Muffin
Rune Lindbaek
I have no idea how many times I´ve played this trippy deep disco´ish diamond out. Tune!
PAP048
Hot Toddy – Stratocoaster & Work It Out
Max Essa
Two wonderful tracks packed with low-slung discoid grooves, which I fell in love with immediately! Still playing this one twenty-five years later.
RepapLP004
Rune Lindbaek – Søndag
Marco Gallerani (Hell Yeah!)
There so many good tunes to talk about in Paper Recordings catalogue, so many still in the box. The Cine City 10” was my first encounter, totally fresh and unknown to me at that time. Today I would describe it as amazing adventurous tracks merging deep house, breakbeats in a weird cinematic way… anyway, around 2000 I started to get obsessed with the eclectic electronic scene coming out of Norway, as you know Paper guys have been showcasing acts like Those Norwegians, helping me to connect many dots between Bergen and Oslo… out of all this fantastic output I’m very fond of a little timeless album: Sondag by Rune Lindbaek on their sub-label Repap (it took a while to understand it)… simply wonderful, balearic headnodding to the top. Takk
PAP072
Harlem Zip Code – I Feel Music
Phat Phil Cooper
I was lucky to be in the company of Andy Gough and Steve Page, who were part of the PAPER crew early doors. Steve and Andy did production at the club night in Chester, where I was resident, SWEET. They bought the first promo over in a Brown paper bag, The Book. I was hooked from the moment and eventually met Elliot, Ben and Pete at various Manchester events and Southport weekenders.
A young James Baron was just cutting his production teeth after a great EP on Musica Vitae that had caught the ears of the heads, and I sent some demos to Elliot and remember getting an answer phone message from him saying he liked the demos but was concerned that the lads involved might be Welsh sheep shaggers!!!! The rest, as they say, is history.
Here is to another 30 years.
PAP078
Crazy P – You Started Something
Philippa Jarman
When I worked at Piccadilly Records I always thought it was important to stock everything on local labels or by local artists, so we always gave Paper a push. My choice would be Crazy P ‘You Started Something’ – such a good track and one that myself and Kath McDermott hammered at Homoelectric and elsewhere. It felt like a breakout moment for the band, with ‘The Wicked Is Music’ album doing really well the following year. Side note: I should have been at the album cover photo shoot outside the Apollo, but it was done the day after Electric Chair, and I overslept and missed it!
PAP088
Crazy P – Give It Up (LAID Instrumental)
Marius Sommerfeldt
Congrats on 30!
So much to choose from, but the breeziness of the Laid mix of Crazy P’s “Give It Up” still gives me chills down my spine. From sunny daytime warmups to a hazy 7-hour set in Berlin, dropping it around 05:30 after some proper acid-house, this one just works, every single time. So many great memories tied to that track — definitely an all-time favourite.
PAP099
Crazy Penis – There’s a Better Place (Magic J Remix)
Severino (Horse Meat Disco)
Quality stuff as always.
Big fan of Johnson. It’s just groovy raw Chicago vibez.
So many to choose from, Manchester’s finest.
Happy Birthday
PAPDLS149
Flash Atkins & CP – Malawi Chant
Danny Ward (Moodymanc / Balaphonic)
I’m sure I’m not alone in this but I instantly think of ‘Soul Train’ by Eddie Flashin’ Fowlkes. Beyond sublime, as fresh as hell (still) and playable anytime, anywhere…you would have to be dead to not feel the funk of this record! A definite camouflage netting rip-down anthem from the Electrik Chair days! On that tip the Problem Kids, ‘Miles Away’ EP had a similar irresistible gritty funk (*cue shelf digging…).
In more recent times one track that ‘never leaves the bag’ is Flash Atkins & CP’s ‘Malawi Chant’. I’ve played this countless times at parties all over the place and at all times of day and night, and it never fails to bring the vibes, a wonderful precursor to some of the ‘Flash Atkins All Stars’ and BOM Nation releases of which I’m also a big fan!
Happy 30th….. and many moooooooooore x”
PAPDLS150A
2 Billion Beats – Noise In Your Eye
Ed Mahon – Cowbell Radio
Well it’s a tricky assignment, 30 years, loads of events, a plethora of ace tunes and so many memories!
First of all, a massive thanks and big love to Ben, Pete and Chris for all the amazing work and dedication in keeping the good ship Paper sailing for so long.
For me the early Paper days were synonymous with Crazy Penis and those early releases were magical and framed that time for me, but I bet everyone will mention them (rightly so, may I add), so I decided to think/dig a little deeper.
I must say Flash’s “In Crowd” was a big tune for me and one of our first Cowbell anthems. As good luck would have it, Ben sent it to me shortly before my first ever Cowbell show in 2011, we hammered it for a while and Chinny was very proud when one of the Unabombers asked him what it was when he played it at Electric Elephant.
My favourite release personally was Noise In Your Eye by 2 Billion Beats. For a time they were untouchable and that was my tune of 2013, when I absolutely rinsed it (always to a great reaction). A big shout to the B-side too ‘Full Moon Boogie’ which I remember getting an absolutely stunning reaction when I played it at Beatherder that year and THAT piano break kicked in!
Of the many ace memories, one stands out for me as one of my favourite nights of all time.
For the 2014 Alfresco at Blackpool Cricket Club we had the Paper Recordings takeover at night time upstairs (going up against ALFOS downstairs). Leon Sweet kicked things off in style and 2 Billion Beats cranked it up until disaster struck and a pissed-up punter spilt a drink on the left deck which soon became unplayable and threatened to derail the whole night, leaving poor Col and Tom almost helpless with nearly 3 hours to go and me and Chris still to play!
In a moment of pissed up clarity I remembered I had my iPad in the Cowbell studio next door and so ensued an impromptu B2B set with Chris playing his CDs on the right deck and me trying to use the DJay app off my iPad on the left deck. Somehow it worked and it was an absolute blast, we even pulled in some of the ALFOS crew from downstairs by the end of the night, when this photo was taken.
It was quite apt that one of the standout tunes was when Chris played the Crazy P remix of Max Sedgley’s “Something Special“; it summed up the whole thing!
Still no idea how we managed to this day but everyone who was there won’t forget it and once more a Paper night absolutely bounced!
Hats off to the legendary Paper Recordings, hands down one of the best underground labels of all time, with a worldwide following and responsible for some amazing music. Here’s to many more years!
PAPDLS202
Rave-enka – Honningen
Ben Davis (Flash Atkins)
Trying to pick a favourite track is like trying to pick a favourite child, I love them all equally. From Paper’s first iteration, Crazy P’s ‘You Started Something’ and Harlem Zip Code’s ‘I Feel Music’ probably got the heaviest rotation, and I recently dug out Head Nodding Society’s Nudge Up, which is still a masterclass in house music with its groove, production and simplicity.
Moving on to the label’s digital era, The Emperor Machine’s remix of Flash Atkins’ Summer of Love absolutely knocks it out the park, Leon Sweet’s Sunny Bigler was huge and Proviant Audio’s Real Love Tastes Like This! is my favourite album from the catalogue. Ralph Myerz’s Acid 4 Eddie is epic, Daco’s Durant was the first track I thought of for the intro our film Wild Water and 2 Billion Beats’ Slow Down is just wonderful. I could go on!
But the track I’m picking is an utterly brilliant under-the-radar banger that represents what Paper Recordings means to me. Rave-enka’s Honningen is an off kilter techy nagger that never fails to raise the hairs on the back of my neck. It was by a relatively unknown artist, the sample is wobbly, the arrangement only pays off in the last 2 of its 9 minutes and it doesn’t sound quite like anything else. It could only have come from Norway, a country that I have a deep affection for, and which has given the label its own little niche in today’s cluttered world of dance music. It also gave me a side career making films. But I think most of all, it represents the friendships I have made through the label over the past thirty years in Norway (including Ravi) and beyond. It has always been about releasing music that we love with (possibly foolishly) no regard for commercial success by people we like.
It’s been an absolute privilege.
PAPDLS204
Kimo – Whirl
Sean Johnston (Hardway Brothers / ALFOS)
I’m wearing my heart on my sleeve here as I included Kimo’s Whirl in my ALFOS compilation, but it’s a perfect encapsulation of the revived Paper aesthetic. That mix of deep, hypnotic house, warmth and melody is exactly what Paper has found again in recent years. Andrew loved it and played it often, and it became part of some unforgettable summer festival moments for us. It means a lot to me.
PAPR279
Jahn Solo – Till The Night Closes In
Cal Gibson (Secret Soul Society)
Very cool, very simple, very nicely done: a real slowburner that rolls and rolls and rolls. Clever, catchy, cute curveball: what’s not to love?
PAPD293
Anoraak – Fire Inside (Emperor Machine Maxi Edit)
Anoraak
I have nothing but fond memories of releasing Fire Inside on Paper Recordings back in 2020. It was a long-awaited project that began years earlier as a jam session in Luxxury’s Los Angeles studio, where Lauren Turk later added her delicate vocals after we met in the Hollywood Hills. Being signed for an EP on such an iconic label – run by the kindest people – was an absolute honour, especially with the incredible Emperor Machine remix they arranged. Endless gratitude to the Paper team, here’s to another 30 years!
PAPD294
JB Dizzy – Freak Street
La Guardia de la Luz
I have been a fan of 1979’s Tantra – Hills of Katmandu disco track since forever. First time I heard JB Dizzy – Disco Freak, I thought a tighter, chuggier, smokier remix of Tantra had slipped between the cracks, unnoticed – the unmistakable motorway bassline, guitar licks, and the female chant that Danny Tenaglia lifted for his ubiquitous “Elements”. Every time I came across the track (always in the middle of the dancefloor) I would go crazy to figure out which remix or bootleg it was. Obsession with music is like that – you need to know as if your life depends on it.
I received the Trash the Wax Vol. 8 promo and gave it a test run in my car. What a pleasant surprise that 10 tracks in, Disco Freak came up, reassuring me that life was good, and everything would be ok. And….Everything has been great!
PR360
Max Essa & David Harks – Lobster Boys
HiFi Sean
I was sent a promo of ‘Lobster Boys’ and was blown away by it and something unique happened whilst I was listening to it. I suddenly had an audio premonition of another version in my head and I had to make it. Trust me I never ask to remix other artists work as it is a bit ‘bumptious’ right? But I reached out and this version is easily in my Top 10 fave remixes I have ever done.
PR373
Lakeshouse — Lake’s House
Nutritious
I fell in love with Paper long before I ever sent a demo. The records were ones I’d pull without even listening first–the chunky, musical deep‑house / nu‑disco thing, sleek sleeves you could spot across the shop, and this sense that whoever was behind the label properly lived in clubs. For me, Paper is one of the names that majorly shaped what I believe ‘great dance music’ should feel like.
Fast‑forward and I’m not just rinsing the records, I’m on the label–joined by a catalogue that runs to 2,000‑plus tracks from hundreds of artists in 50‑odd countries, and a story that stretches from Robodisco in Manchester basements to Norwegian space‑disco and incredible films like Northern Disco Lights. What’s kept me here is that it never feels like just adding another catalogue number; it feels like being part of a splendidly wobbly, cosmic and loving family that still looks forward, not back. Thirty years in, Paper remains dangerously good at two things: making you a better DJ/producer by osmosis–and ruining your willpower in record stores. I blame them for the state of my record shelves and half my sound, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Too difficult to pick just one fave, so I’m going with my favourite recent release: Lakeshouse—Lake’s House. Pure gooey deepness from the north!
PAPR367
BOM Nation – Àșę
Chris Massey (Sprechen/Paper)
Tough to choose from so many great times & music over the years of my own personal involvement with Paper!
Having not been around for the 90’s boom period (and still well in my Trance phase then!) it’s been more of the last decade that I have been fully exposed to the label.
BOM Nation’s album ÀȘĘ would prob be the pick of the crop. Having seen its formation from ideas and influences that Ben was always talking about to arriving by way of some early E.P.’s (where the sound was still being found) to eventually the album. An insane mix and blend of electronic music with heavy emphasis on African vibes but with something truly unique to the UK’s North West. Additionally to the album was to see a full band form around the music and get to see them and share the bill when we all performed live at The Golden Lion in 2025 where my own Thief Of Time band and BOM rocked the top room. The performance from BOM transcended the listening experience of the album into a full force, non-stop energy packed mosh-pit which still makes me smile to this day!
A Bobby Bonus from…
Tigerbalm
Ata Kak – Obaa Sima (Lakeshouse Remix)
I really loved Ata Kak when he sprouted up in London. I saw him live at Field Day or Lovebox first and then when i heard this remix i was all over it playing it the last few years! It’s a very fun silly high energy highlife vibes- eccentric- my fave kind of tune and remix.