Mo’ Wax – Somewhere In Space

Somewhere in space this could all be happening right now…

James Lavelle’s Mo’ Wax record label had a huge impact on me in the ’90s. Similar to Ninja Tune, but a bit grungier, darker and cooler.

I’d switched on to them when they released the first Headz compilation, just before DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing dropped. Both records cemented the label as an immediate favourite.

The combination of graffiti ethos visuals, heavy Japanese influences, and their positioning of instrumental hip hop as the cousin of hip hop all made them extremely exciting.

So needless to say, I had to revisit the label as a whole. I’ve tried not to make it just about UNKLE, DJ Krush or DJ Shadow, and I’ve previously done a Headz mix, so as much as you can represent an entire record label, that’s what I’ve aimed for.

1. Nigo – Ape Sounds Opening
2. UNKLE – UNKLE Main Theme
3. UNKLE – If You Find Earth Boring
4. DJ Krush, C.L. Smooth – Only The Strong Survive
5. UNKLE – Berry Meditation (The Darker The Berry, The Sweeter The Juice Attica Blues mix)
6. Palm Skin Productions – Slipper Suite
7. Rob D – Clubbed To Death (Kurayamimo Version)
8. Palm Skin Productions – Trouble Rides a Fast Horse
9. Men Against Cool – Anger
10. UNKLE – Unreal
11. Dub War – Strike It (Attica Blues remix)
12. UNKLE – If You Find Earth Boring (UNKLE vs Howie B mix)
13. La Funk Mob – Motorbass Gets Phunked Up
14. Money Mark – Ba Ba Boom
15. Nigo – March of the General
16. UNKLE – Guns Blazing (Drums of Death Pt 1)
17. DJ Shadow – Right Thing
18. UNKLE – Eye for An Eye
19. DJ Shadow – High Noon
20. DJ Krush – Interlude
21. DJ Shadow – What Does Your Soul Look Like Pt. 4
22. Major Force West E.M.S. Orchestra – Mugen In The Morning
23. DJ Shadow – In Flux (Alternative Interlude ’93 Version)
24. Nightmares On Wax – Stars
25. DJ Shadow – Fixed Income
26. DJ Shadow – Building Steam With a Grain of Salt
27. Skull – Destroy All Monsters
28. Tommy Guerrero – Blue Masses
29. Visionistics – Mysterious Ways (JDS Hip Hop Jazz remix)
30. The Groove Robbers feat. DJ Shadow – Hardcore (Instrumental) Hip Hop
31. DJ Krush – 89.9 Megamix by DJ Shadow
32. Blackalicious – Rhymes for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind
33. DJ Shadow – Lost and Found
34. DJ Krush feat. DJ Shadow – Duality (2006k mix)
35. La Funk Mob – Ravers Suck Our Sound
36. Tranquility Bass – They Came In Peace