Back in 1999, a new club called Fabric opened in London. Housed in the Victorian-era Metropolitan Cold Stores near the heart of the City, it would change the course of clubbing in the capital for a long time to come – and would become home to some of the most influential DJs and producers of the modern era.

Mass, The End, Turnmills, Scala, the Coronet, and Ministry of Sound were already influential in the capital, and had been for many years, but it seemed there was still room for one more. And when the highly respected, but still relatively wet behind the ears (at least on a global, super-club scale), Terry Francis was asked to become the club’s Saturday night resident he almost said no. Perhaps he wasn’t sure how seminal a place it would quickly become, or perhaps, as he once said, he just wasn’t overly keen on the idea of playing at the same place week in, week out. The lure of international travel was too great. The excitement and splendour of exotic, far-way destinations pitted against the rain and gloom of England.

The rest, as they say, is history. Taking up the residency at Fabric turned out to be an inspired decision, as Francis has since become known across the world as one of the best tech-house DJs around. And if you ever find yourself in London on a Saturday night, head down to Charterhouse Street and ask for Mr. Francis. It’s his stoop, and he likes it that way.

But like almost all current electronic DJs born in the 1960s or 70s, Terry Francis did not start out mixing techno, or house, or jungle, or breaks. It was an early appetite, and subsequent hunger, for soul, funk and disco that got him his first sets in the UK – on the South Coast of all places. Recalling that time, Francis once said, “I lived in this town where I was probably the only one who owned a pair of decks,” and so, influenced by the likes of the BBC’s John Peel, reggae DJ David Rodigan, and Paul ‘Trouble’ Anderson he began to make a name for himself. In 1997 he was named ‘Best New DJ’ by Muzik Magazine, and given that one previous winner had been Derrick Carter, the Chicago house legend, Francis was in good company.

Being a born and bred Londoner Francis is now content playing most of his musical trade in the deep belly of the capital, but heads to Hong Kong this fortnight. Homebase may not hold 2,000 people, there certainly aren’t three separate rooms (well, the smoking ‘balcony’ and the dark recesses at the back excluded) and it certainly does not have a ‘body-sonic’ dance floor (essentially transducers transferring the bass directly from the track into your body) but it is intimate. Francis’ flawlessly smooth and flowing sets are known for their seamless mix of deep dubby house, celestial breaks and ethereal vocals, and taking his sound into a small place like Homebase can only be a good thing. It’s where the true heads go, and we’ll see you down there.

Oliver Clasper

Ever feel like you’ve seen a name somewhere before? If Martin Dawson doesn’t ring a bell, try King Roc, or possibly Two Armadillos, his alter-ego with Secretsundaze’s Giles Smith. Dawson’s a multi-instrumentalist who thrives on having many sides to his musical make-up, and for this EP he’s teaming up with Andre Crom for another collaboration that’s hitting the shelves just in time for a real British summer. It’s a three-hander of sumptuous breezy house that’ll put a smile on even the most pessimistic festival goer. 

Temptation is an airy, jazzy number that leans on old school keys that hark back to the heady days of the late 90s, and the French house invasion… to read full review click here 

to buy on Beatport click here

Following the release of his debut album Runner on Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels label, British producer Glimpse (aka Chris Spero) has also been working with Martin Dawson (perhaps better known as King Roc) on collaborative EPs starting with The Flying Scotsmen. Out on Germany’s seminal Cocoon imprint last month, Juno Plus writer Flora Wong caught up with the duo for a quick chat about their work together.

Firstly, how did you guys meet?

We first properly met on a trip to Kiev where we were both playing at an outdoor party on an island in the middle of this lake. By coincidence we were living very nearby in London so we took the journey together and hung out all weekend.  It was a very very funny trip… and we have been good friends since then.

Why do you work so well as a duo?

Probably because our tastes in music have a lot of similarities. We work quickly because we are both producers so it’s easy to communicate ideas and also being friends is important because it makes it much more fun to hang out in the studio. We just get a good chemistry between us and ideas tend to come very quickly which means we work fast, which is useful as studio time is precious due to living in different countries…

Catch full article with music here

Listen and bounce here

He is currently promoting his new artist album Feel Free Live Good (Big Chill Recordings). His radio show, Melodica, is growing from it’s base on Ibiza Sonica to include broadcasts in cities from Sydney to Istanbul to Chicago. Listen to the latest episode every week at www.mixcloud.com/chriscoco/

He is also working on new music with production partner Steve Miller as The Normalites; with his band City Reverb; and with production partner Sacha Puttnam on a secret new project. With regular gigs at cool venues Supperclub and Player in London and international shows, Chris is a busy live DJ too.

Check www.chriscoco.com for the latest updates and Chris’s controversial blog posts.

Current projects and recent successes:

Melodica: Weekly radio show, broadcast on Ibiza Sonica and various other stations from Sydney to Istanbul. Listen to the latest online at www.mixcloud.com/chriscoco/

Feel Free Live Good: forthcoming Chris Coco album project to be released on Big Chill Recordings (the label of the festival) in the UK in August 2010.

DJing: Regular gigs at Supperclub in the west, The Player in the centre and various venues in the east keep London locked. Then there are the international shows.

Normalites: collaboration with chillout don Steve Miller aka Afterlife. Lead tune Pink Skyscraper is on the new Hotel Costes, the biggest selling chillout compilation in the world.

Loco Dice – ‘The DUB is my Fave’

Gadi – ‘Like “En El Pegajosa” and I like Brett.’

Doc Martin – ‘Deep ,and moody Bwoy. Will give it a go…’

Alex Flitsch – ‘Postage Paid is great!’

Sebo K – ‘I like the dub mix. Will try it out!’

Florian Kruse – ‘Nice tunes!’

Deetron – ‘Love the Dub and Postage Paid is really nice as well!’

Motorcitysoul – ‘Hey, my man da brettster… labelmate now! ace! love “Postage Paid”!’

Heidi – ‘Wow…….super summer jam.’

Spencer Parker – ‘Lovin the dub! Brett always kills it!!!!’

Sneak – ‘Grimmey Johnson beats, good traxx.’

Dirt Crew – ‘Main mix rocks!!!’

Justin Martin – ‘Lovely stuff!’

Luke Solomon – ‘Like this shit’