Ian Simmonds

Ian Simmonds has released material on !K7, Ninja Tune’s Ntone offshoot, SSR, and his own ATL imprint. Formerly of pop-house group the Sandals (who had a huge hit in the early ’90s with “Feet”), Simmonds went solo after problems with the group’s label forced them to break up (his label, ATL — All That’s Left — is an ironic tribute to that sobering experience). Although his solo releases began appearing around the time of post-Mo’Wax bandwagon-jumping, Simmonds’ tracks have a studied complexity that distinguish them from the breakbeat wallpaper of the spliff-soaked downbeat set. He released his first two 12″s, Juryman’s Juryman 1 and Juryman 2, on ATL before heading to Ninja Tune’s experimental Ntone arm for Juryman 3. His fourth single (care to guess its title?) appeared on Crammed subsidiary SSR in 1997 and included more full-blown drum’n’bass rhythmic elements. The Juryman full-length Mail Order Justice followed later that year, recorded with recording partner Luke Gordon (aka Spacer), the in-house engineer at Howie B.‘s Pussyfoot studio. Both Simmonds’ second (Last States of Nature) and third (Return to X) full-lengths appeared under his own name on !K7. ~ Sean Cooper