Yes. I watched the film that @barry posted and there’s a theme about slowing down, opening up, letting in.
For me, that “scene” made sense if you’d grown up on hip hop, house and d n’ b, as it brought all of those elements together. It’s when it got a bit formulaic it kind of lost its buzz.
Was fortunate to be part of it all, with my mate managing Bugz as Seiji went to Uni in Edinburgh.
Ended up putting on Got The Bug, the Scotland edition, early 2000s. Put on Neon Phusion for their first live gig, Lyric L doing a live PA with Paul but most memorable was Kaidi jamming along to us DJ’n playing drums with his right hand, keys with his left and still managing to destroy a joint.
It was a great thing but when Goya went and then Plastic People, the whole thing kinda fragmented and fell apart, as the new fresh productions kept the Co-Op moving fwd. But yeah, the energy and futuristic sounds will always stay with me.
I think memorable musical moments were Domu’s Up and Down LP, all the early People stuff and the obvious anthems: Transcend Me, Hold It Down and Future Rage when you were in the dance.
Shout out to the early Velvet Rooms sessions where it all kicked off.
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I love Bruk, despite living in NZ at this time, there was a bunch of stuff flowing in- Mark (de clive Lowe) Flic, Nathan Haines and Chris Tubbs would always bring tunes/tapes/tips when coming back for xmas. Recloose was also living in welli so he would always be slotting broken-ey stuff into bar and floor sets.
What I most like (imho) of this short lived trend is the crystalisation of many things I enjoy
-Dubwise / soundsystem / dub siren / dancehall sonic aesthetic
-afro caribbean polyrhythmic notation, rhumba, merengue, calypso, also tony allen afro rhythms
-deep house / electro / detroit pads and synths
-Rude dancehall/dub/ 80s boogie baselines and big square waves
-sassy no mess streetsoul vocals
-tuff nerdy post 90s hiphop & jungle drum chops
-long jazz dance rollout tunes
-general party vibe stuff
all the tunes already listed here are on point, here’s a few more, and some bruk-not-bruk deviations…
apocalyptic post jungle space dread
tuff b boy jazz dance relick
stateside long form deepness
1998 drum machine soca
deep n long jazzy Bmore
1996 detroity rollout
Latin vibes, have hammered all tracks on this 12
https://www.discogs.com/release/2426622-Broki-Un-Amigo-De-Un-Amigo
a little slower afro vibe, but Mark Pritchard making those drums bang
Madlib made a bruk LP under the DJ Rels alias which is worth checkin. Classic madlib drum sloppiness but lacks rude & heavy low end soundsystem vibe of Laandan Town.
I still play alot of new and old brokenbeat. Because of it’s mashup nature it makes for really good genre segway transitions. just at -5 becuz 128 all night too fast for me heh heh.
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smashing deviations all round
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Totally agree with Scott here, it was definitely influenced by what everyone had grown up with. I always felt it was a reaction against other scenes becoming a bit formulaic so different producers brought their different influences so you had tracks that leaned more towards house from the likes of Orin Walters and Phlash and others that leaned more towards drum and bass from Dego, the Detroit influenced side etc etc. In the earlier days I don’t think it had a defined sound, more a ‘vibe’ (sorry!)
From a club perspective it felt like it was all about getting rid of genre restrictions, stretching out and mixing it up. Think many were a bit bored of hearing one genre all night and wanted to get back to more eclectic approach which had an influence on producers involved. The above mentioned Inspiration Information was a huge influence, all the main players were down the Arts Club on a Friday night, and as Scott says Velvet Rooms was massive. Sadly I think, as with many scenes, it got a bit formulaic a bit too quickly and an undefinable sound lost something when it became packaged and defined.
I do wish some of the main players got a bit more recognition, Kadi Thatham’s a fucking genius, IG too. Domu, Daz-I-Kue, Seiji, Orin, Bugz crew, Kate aka Bembe Segue amongst others all deserve massive pats on the back. Not to mention the unsung heroes like Mike & Spencer from Goya and Bettina etc. All under the watchful eye of Phil and the LGNJAS!! 
I’ll shut up now, getting all nostalgic. See you in the Cock & Bottle.
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Nicely put.
I think I’ve got the CDs of the Co-Op with Benji B from Plastics, that went out on 1xtra.
I was there that night and felt like it was the beginning of the end. The crowd just wanted to hear the out there Bruk stuff, when the real essence of the Co-Op, in my humble, was to play all styles and tempos. Props to Benji who came on and played Sa-Ra and Detroit Experiment, with numerous ‘pull ups’.
Nuff moaning, it was a beautiful thing and definitely the backbone of my ‘clubbing’ journey.
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Do you know why Domu just stopped making music? Seems like he just decided enough was enough and that was that. No more DJing as well.
Yep. Can’t really say on here, but yeah, he stopped over night, wrote a massive piece on the 4hero forum and exited the ‘business’.
He did recently put out something on 2000Black, two tracks uptempo with a more Umod affair included too.
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those coop nights reminded me a lot of sunday metalheadz at the blue note, all the producers and artists in the spot, the anticipation of what was the next drop, who had the heaters etc…
short and (bita)suite,…
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Also caned this comp when it came out.
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To be honest, Domu was one of my favs, great DJ too.
Always amused me how he took this and made it into something so beautiful as Last Time.
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awww I wish I could have gone to a co op at velvet rooms or pp🥺
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Might be more broken beat adjacent than straight up bruk but I love this as an all out party tune.
Also, nice use of the Chick Corea hook.
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I worked across the way from Spencer and Mike as the Junior office was two minutes away. Top people. You’d always come back with the maddest pile of music (say about 30 records) to go through which might have been a problem tbh as they were doing a lot of music. Wish I had all those records now as there were so many killers. They both had really really good taste in music and had been there since the start of “house” in the UK. Not to be neggy but the bass and beats were so good but maybe it suffered from the same thing as UK jazz now which was really liking that Rhodes sort of sound which gave some of it a similar sound… Some of those beats though were just ridiculous. Kensal Road, W10 was on a roll back then with everyone in everyone else’s studios. Lively time.
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Just found the letter he posted. Hope he found happiness in whatever he pursued next.
The End
It’s over. I can’t go into the personal reasons, but of course will leave you some explanation as to how I got here. It feels a bit like walking away from a life of crime or the Mafia. I am Carlito, I have finally made the break from the old dangerous way of making a living. I just hope Benny from the Bronx doesn’t shoot me as I am boarding the last train out of here. The point is that I am no longer Domu. He is a character, always has been, and as of Friday 13th November 2009, he no longer exists. Neither does Umod, Sonar Circle, Bakura, Yotoko, Rima, Zoltar, Blue Monkeys, Realside or any of the other names I put out music under. I am cancelling all my gigs and not taking any more. My hotmail is closed, my Twitter is closed and my Facebook is closed. If any of you want to talk to me and know me well enough to have my mobile number then that is still the same, and please feel free to call any time. My other email address I mail from occasionally is still open to tie up any loose ends.
I had started to change, for the worse I am now sure. My confusion was growing, my insecurity and bitterness getting out of hand, a lack of creative direction and focus were leading me somewhere very dark. I have felt so depressed by all of this. Believe me I have searched my soul long and hard this year to find the reasons again why I do this, but I can’t locate them. Too much of ‘me’ is mixed up into all of this, and no one should ever give so much of himself or herself to a job. I once believed in all of it, that I made and played music for a certain type of person, for people who didn’t want to adhere to the ‘normal’ way of life, the free thinker, the independent or open minded type who was bored of the genres, the staples, the blueprints or the formulae. The underground. But I just don’t truly believe I am needed in this battle anymore. It has been passed down to another generation, who are doing it their way, and I have no desire to try and edge in and start proclaiming to be fighting a fight that is no longer mine. I am a 31-year-old man. I can’t claim to be holding a torch up to something that meant so much to me at 15. At 21, maybe. But now, after ten years going full time, I think I have said all I had to say. My creative light has dimmed. Maybe because I started so early, who can tell? But I feel satisfied that this is it.
I have had an amazing time. I’ve travelled the world, drank and partied and made a decent living out of entertaining people throughout all of my 20’s. I met some incredible people in cities I never dreamed I would visit, shared my thoughts and collected wisdom from a huge range of deeply profound and lovely people. But I have also met some real arseholes, and I could feel I was becoming one. Playing records I wasn’t sure I liked to people who had no idea who I was. I had gone cold, cold to the music, to the reactions and to the point of it all. I was changing what I thought I liked, so that I would be liked. I am not a chameleon. I am not Madonna, I can’t stay abreast of the current styles and keep changing with it just to stay in fashion or retain some kind of credible status or career. I have had my moment. If you know me well, you would have sensed a change in me over the last two years. I have always suffered with problems of confidence, but I know that’s not why I am throwing in the towel. I feel like I have to change so much of what I think is ‘me’ to carry on. What I believe in, how to talk to people, how to behave. I just don’t think I can be so arrogant and harsh to stand out anymore. There is so much noise out there that people have to shout louder and louder to be heard. And for what? I am beating myself up over something I no longer believe in for an income that is stressfully patchy and more often than not, very low.
I used to say I owed it to ‘the fight’ to keep going. My belief in that has waned over the last few years too. Yes we needed Coltrane to go against the grain, to sacrifice his well-being and life to create beautiful art. We needed all of them, creative and unique beings burning brightly in our souls, our influences and idols that created the music and the movements that can provide us with sanity, sanctuary and meaning through our confusing lives. But music has lost some of it’s meaning to me as a medium. It’s everywhere; everyone is making it, playing it, giving it away, and trying to make a living. So many people have a voice in it now it is hard to pick out what is cutting edge from what I actually truly feel. I have gotten numb to my life’s biggest passion, and I need to leave it for a while to see if I can ever get it back to how it was.
Some have attributed meaning and understanding to my some of my work. I know it is special to some people, and my message was understood by a few, which I am very grateful to have come to know over the years. I was lucky enough to catch a ride in it for a while, was recognised by some very special and talented people and I earned the respect of my peers and achieved a hell of a lot in a short space of time. There have been huge highs whilst playing music to all sorts of crowds, creating an atmosphere and being in control. I have felt the joy and adrenaline rush of the success, alongside the emptiness and despair of the empty club or the unresponsive floor. Now I recognise I have done all that, I need to put it all behind me and move on, and the only way to do that is to disappear. It has to end sometime, and as I keep saying, everything is finite. I don’t want to lose everything else in my life for this. I just don’t believe in it enough to make that sacrifice. The kids are fighting the battle now. I hope I influenced some of them, I know I have, and that gives me a sense of ease doing this. I haven’t wasted 10 years, I know I have bought joy and hope to many of the disenfranchised, the open-minded, the musical outsider or the devoted dancer. There are people creating things and using technology in a way that I am having to try and catch up to, but I no longer feel the desire to. They are doing it better than I ever could now. It’s their time, and mine has passed. You can either think I am being incredibly brave by admitting it or incredibly weak and stupid for stopping. But it’s just how I feel. I was going wrong in many aspects of my life, and I need to start making a change. I have no idea how long this piece will stay up, but this site won’t be here forever. Please feel free to copy and paste and pass on to preserve it, to let others know why I left, assuming anyone cares.
I have tears in my eyes now. I have so many people to thank for all the personal and professional support they have given me over the years, but I shall do that personally in time. But I want to thank everyone who has bought a song, paid an entrance fee, had a dance or just come up and spoke to me about life, music, the world or whatever. You have given me a dream-like blessed existence for many years. If I have inspired anyone, then I am a happy man. You all have certainly inspired me, and I want to use those years of travelling and sharing to good effect, not this anger and confusion I feel towards it all now. I need to find meaning to the next phase of my life. So I bid you all farewell. I am just too sensitive to keep up the façade of something that doesn’t feel right. I knew it would come someday, maybe some of you that knew me saw it too. I have so much love and respect for my peers and teachers that are carrying on with the struggle, and want the next generation to achieve the best they can for themselves and their art. I am just not a lifer. I’ve traded up, and I’m out.
I’ll leave you all with this. Life isn’t the X-Factor. No one has a God given right to his or her dream or ambitions coming true. I have worked hard and had some great luck. I followed some opportunities, squandered others. I have no regrets, other than not stopping when I knew I should have done this time last year. The only thing you have to guide you through your life is your instinct. Sometimes the right decision isn’t the easiest, but between your conscience and your intuition you will find the answer. Please listen to it. It’s you.
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Beats…in the (contemporary) film I watched about BBeat, someone says IG is “like Timbaland”. A maestro beat maker, in other words.
Went to Goya with Paul once and Mike gave me a load of tunes, of which contained the CDR of Domus Up + Down. Left there and then met Phlash for the first time as he pulled up in his Golf. Asked Paul if he could play some cello on a track and ended up smoking on the couch in his studio all afternoon. Loved Phil, just a lovely engaging man.
I’ve still got all my records from that time and sheds of CDRs - the latter holding some unreleased Bugz and Domu stuff that was passed on, never shared.
Was in BITAsuite when Mark and Kaidi were doing their Blakai stuff - not sure if that stuff ever saw the light of day, but it was wild and definitely from the future.
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Fleetwood Mac sample?
Still in my bag from time to time