Brooks

Derby native Andy Brooks issued his earliest production, "Electric Dance Machine," on DiY’s 2922 Days compilation at the age of 16. Issuing his unconventional house tracks under the Brooks name, he joined the Mantis roster and put out his opening 12-inch, Pink Cigarettes, in 1999. A measured release rate extended through 2000 and 2001, each year yielding one single—Clix followed by The Distance. Output increased sharply in 2002 when Miss Bombay 1974 and Colour Me Bad appeared as further 12-inch records ahead of his first album. Issued late that year, the excellent You, Me and Us realized the promise of those initial efforts via an absorbing collection of tracks that overturned conventional expectations within deep house. Although still in his early twenties when the album surfaced, Brooks had clearly absorbed vast quantities of electronically inflected R&B from two decades earlier as well as foundational elements of Chicago house and Detroit techno. Instead of replicating those sources outright, he reshaped them into a sound that felt both playful and polished.