The (slow in coming, but very real) return of Mo' Wax

November 14, 2015 10:43 PM

Mo'Wax is a British record label that was formed in 1992 by teenage school friends James Lavelle and Tim Goldsworthy. The label quickly gained renown for trip-hop, turntablism and other odd beat hip-hop, from the likes of Japanese DJ Krush, Americans Money Mark, Dr. Octagon and DJ Shadow, British Luke Vibert, and their own UNKLE project. The label lasted a solid decade, then petered out as the 2000s wore on. James Lavelle looked back on 21 years of the label (a year late), and is now restarting the label. This effort is being kicked off with releases by a West London artist, Elliot Power. More waxing below the break.

For a quick look back, The Guardian has a write-up from 2013 when James Lavelle started digging through his archive of Mo' Wax materials.

If you want to visually sort through the records, Mo' Wax Discography is one fan's attempt to document the core Mo' Wax years, from 1992 to 1997, when Ian Swift, aka Swifty, the first designer for the iconic Mo' Wax packages. Browse a broad range of documents and sounds from another fansite, Mo' Wax Please. Dig deeper on Discogs to see everything attributed to Mo' Wax, including those years since the 1996 A&M deal (great, lengthy interview and label overview from 1999) through the present day. Or you can virtually paw through the record bins and sample the catalog:

MW 001: Repercussions ‎– Promise -- live acid jazz from Brooklyn kicked off the UK label, setting the stage for the label
MW 014: DJ Shadow and The Groove Robbers - In/Flux -- DJ Shadow enters the scene, bringing his early sound to the label, and the label bringing it to the world at large
MWLP001/MWCD001: Various – Jazz Hip Jap Project -- an expanded version of a Japanese compilation, and the first "full length" release for Mo' Wax
MW LP 002/-CD: Federation – Flower To The Sun -- first full artist album from Mo' Wax, another collection of acid jazz
MW025CD/LP: DJ Krush – Strictly Turntablized -- the Japanese DJ/producer's second (of three!) major released in 1994, and first of four to be released on Mo' Wax
MW034CD/LP - Money Mark – Mark's Keyboard Repair -- Beastie Boys' keyboardist releases his debut LP, taking Mo' Wax back to its roots with a ton of odd samples and utilization of old keyboards, which Rolling Stone says is a bit of Mo' Wax "shining a light on hip-hop rebels" (it's a good review of Mo' Wax in 1996)
MW 046CD/LP: Dr Octagon – Dr. Octagonecologyst -- Kool Keith's debut album after running with the Ultramagnetic MCs since 1984
MW 059CD/LP: DJ Shadow – Endtroducing..... -- sh*t just got real .. instrumental; a new sound made from old records, bringing the focus to the producer instead of the MC
MW 072CD/LP: Luke Vibert – Big Soup -- Vibert's foray into hip-hop with some cheeky twists, after releasing other albums on the more techno spectrum
MW 078CD/LP: Liquid Liquid – Liquid Liquid (samples) -- the first retrospective reissue/compilation from Mo' Wax, likely due to the group's track Cavern that gained renown for its use by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel in White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
MW 080CD/LP: Attica Blues – Attica Blues -- jazz-influenced beats, named for an expensive Archie Shepp album
MW 085CD/LP: UNKLE – Psyence Fiction -- the uneven partnership between Lavelle and DJ Shadow, plus numerous high-profile cameos "cluttering the mix," at least in more current reviews (Pitchfork loved it back in the day, but has since disappeared, part of Pitchfork's revisionist history)
MWR 099 CD/LP: Andrea Parker – Kiss My Arp (sample track, more from Parker) -- a "rather dark but never depressing ... mix of the electronic and the organic," pushing the boundaries of Mo' Wax
MW 102 CD/LP: Urban Tribe – The Collapse Of Modern Culture (sample track) -- debut album from Detroit house musician who previously released music with Carl Craig's Planet E label; Craig took an active role in the creation of this album
MWR 104 CD/LP: Tommy Guerrero – A Little Bit Of Somethin' (sample track) -- the skateboarder turned musician's second album, featuring live, acoustic instruments, another shift for the label
MWR 105 CD/LP: Major Force West – 93–97 (playlist) -- "bass-heavy, horizontal beats with bizarre fades and beats over the top" from a Japanese duo and some friends
MWR 112CD/LP Blackalicious – Nia -- Even though Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel had teamed up as Blackalicious back in 1992, it would be another 8 years until they released this debut album together
MWR 115CD/LP: DJ Assault – Belle Isle Tech (NSFW moments in this short documentary) -- reissue of ghetto tech album
MWR 121 CD/LP: DJ Magic Mike – The Journey (Era Of Bass Part 1) (sample track) -- a compilation featuring instrumental versions of many hits from the renowned Miami Bass producer
MWR 122CD/LP: Divine Styler – Wordpower, Vol. 2: Directrix -- the follow-up to the original Wordpower album, ten years later, bringing back the uplifting abstract vocals
MWR 129CD/LP: Nigo – Ape Sounds (sample track) -- fashion designer behind A Bathing Ape (Bape) turned to music production; "Nigo and co-producer DJ Kudo's finesse for arrangement ensures remarkable coherence despite the hallucinatory feel"
MWR 132CD/LP: South – From Here On In (official video for Keep Close) -- eff it, let's throw in some Brit pop and hop on the current (in the year 2000) bandwagon
MWR 141CD/LP: David Axelrod – David Axelrod (playlist) -- the majority of the basic rhythm tracks for seven of the nine songs included here were recorded thirty years ago for an aborted project for Warner Brothers, which Mo Wax resurrected with additional instrumentation and vocals
MWR 143CD/LP: Malcom Catto – Popcorn Bubble Fish (playlist) -- debut solo album from the drum wizard, blending old blues, funk, and other styles
MWR 155CD/LP: Jordan Fields – Moments In Dub (sample track) -- not a dub record, but rather a heavy dosage of deep-house, hip hop, acid-fried funk with a little bit of his own special ingredients
MWR 159CD/LP: Parsley Sound – Parsley Sounds (playlist) -- a diverse collage of "indie rock" inspirations; "this Watford-based duo have stumbled onto the kind of uniquely inspired sound that could influence tomorrow's indie rock as deeply as yesterday's has inspired them"

After touching on the first albums of the various and varied artists in the Mo' Wax roster, we're at the end of their discography, which is possibly a new beginning. Elliott Power currently has a few singles to his name (Sink/Swim, On the Windrush [video], and now Murmur [video]), he was signed with Marathon Artists, and now is co-signed with Mo' Wax (Facebook) with a full album forthcoming.

posted by filthy light thief (20 comments total)

I've been thinking of doing a Mo' Wax post for a while, then I forgot until I heard James Lavelle's new Global Underground mix (another major music institution that went dormant and is now coming back, but that's a tangent too far). I kept re-playing Elliot Power's "Sword Souls (UNKLE remix)" [unmixed version] and had to know more about Elliot Power. I looked around and read that Mo' Wax is back! So here we are.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:49 PM on November 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

Also, lost of Mo' Wax previously in FACT's top 50 trip-hop albums, and Liquid Liquid's music video for Cavern was linked previously in the obit post for Michael Sporn.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:56 PM on November 14, 2015

trip hop was alright at first, and Mo' Wax were first in my experience.

DJ Shadow never really topped in/flux, and the first/best version of that first caught my ear c/o Headz ((A Soundtrack Of Experimental Beathead Jams) which was NOT coincidentally the first Mo'Wax release I ever owned.

brain food all the way.
posted by philip-random at 12:15 AM on November 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yep, that was my first too. It's interesting to listen back to that Headz CD after 20 years of listening to electronic and sample based music, as at the time I basically had no context for that sort of thing at all...genuinely mind expanding stuff.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 12:57 AM on November 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Superb post, filthy light thief! I didn't know GU was coming back too!
posted by matrixgeek at 1:16 AM on November 15, 2015

As soon as I saw Mo'Wax, I knew this was going to be another epic filthy light thief post! Used to have a lot of their vinyl; always great stuff. I hope the restart goes well.

Ninja Tune is also still going strong; I've been especially loving their sublabel, Werk lately.
posted by p3t3 at 3:08 AM on November 15, 2015

So much awesome here, thanks filthy light thief!
posted by zombieflanders at 3:37 AM on November 15, 2015

DJ Shadow and UNKLE are still on heavy rotation in my iPod. Thanks for this post - this is great news!
posted by workerant at 4:31 AM on November 15, 2015

UNKLE stands up better when I think of it as a singles mixtape rather than an album, or as the Hollywood sequel to an independent debut film. There are too many celebrity guest appearances whose own styles are too distinct to flow together (even if, on their own, "Nursery Rhyme Breather" and "Rabbit in Your Headlights" are pretty great), and while the sound is bigger than "Endtroducing..." it fails to develop a similar atmosphere and intensity.

Regarding Shadow's relationship with Mo'Wax... The anniversary reissue of "Endtroducing..." includes a second disk of outtakes, remixes, and a short live set. On the outro, Shadow explains that he produced the collection himself to preempt anybody else from doing it at some point in the future without his participation. Which says quite a lot even if it leaves some interesting things unsaid.
posted by ardgedee at 5:03 AM on November 15, 2015

I had the Parsley Sound record; I was a big fan of their Platonic Rate EP. There's probably a case to be made for Parsley Sound as the link between acid jazz and hauntology à la Ghost Box.
posted by acb at 5:17 AM on November 15, 2015

Psyence Fiction was a glorious mess from the very first track, which kicked the album off with Kool G Rap dominating everything, and then promptly veered into some chilled guitars and then eerie atmospherics. Complete mess, but a damn good one. (and then the little glimpses of what went on behind the scenes...)

This post has got chucking Nia to my phone for a good re-listen. Great album.
posted by sektah at 7:11 AM on November 15, 2015

sektah, I've also thought about writing something on the UNKLE discography and history because I was surprised to find the changing roster and sound over five albums, a soundtrack and now two live albums. Back in my record binging days, I picked up a bunch of UNKLE releases, and now I'm going to dig them all up for a re-listen.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:19 AM on November 15, 2015

Treasure my copy of Headz. Headz 2 was a bit of a disappointment, though.
posted by larrybob at 11:25 AM on November 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Headz 2 was a bit of a disappointment, though.

indeed. I was going through some old cassettes recently and there was Headz 2. Cool, I thought, and put it on. Boring, I concluded. Like much of so-called trip-hop unfortunately. Cool to get high and trip along to, but I shouldn't NEED to be high.
posted by philip-random at 12:51 PM on November 15, 2015

Reissue of Headz 2, please.
posted by Going To Maine at 1:50 PM on November 15, 2015

Heads 2a might have been a bit weak, but Headz 2b had a ton of awesome stuff on there...
posted by Jon Mitchell at 8:17 PM on November 15, 2015

Thanks for the great post. Endtroducing is still one of my favorite things in the world. Shadow and Chemist's Renegades of Rhythm was an excellent history lesson and painted a vivid picture of the period before Mo' Wax - a vinyl trip as profound as Moses's stone tablets.

Also, beware of the bootlegs.
posted by sapagan at 11:12 PM on November 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Thanks so much, filthy light thief, for the pointer to the David Axelrod album.
A great post.
posted by On the Corner at 12:33 AM on November 17, 2015

My pleasure, all around. I enjoyed the trip down memory lane, as it included some side paths that I had missed. The label got significantly more diverse in its later years.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:02 AM on November 17, 2015

From an interview with Elliott Power - Mo' Wax isn't really reborn, it's more of a branding thing (the catalog number for "Murmur" isn't in keeping with the old Mo' Wax scheme), and there's also a new UNKLE album on the horizon.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:28 PM on November 21, 2015