Depth Charge

Since the late 1980s Jonathon Saul Kane has operated as one of the British dance underground’s steadiest and most inventive presences, issuing material under the names Block, Spider, Octagon Man, Grimm Death and, most frequently, Depth Charge. Among his signature cuts are the tracks “Bounty Killers” and “The Demented Spirit,” while his remix credits stretch from Eon, Bomb the Bass and Sabres of Paradise to Senser, Silver Fox and S’Express. Across these projects Kane has remained anchored to dance music’s hip-hop, funk and electro foundations, positioning him at the intersection of numerous subsequent hybrids and revived styles. His 1989 Vinyl Solution 12-inch “Bounty Killers” is widely acknowledged as an early benchmark of uptempo trip-hop, built from chunky sampled breakbeats, bruising basslines and tongue-in-cheek kung-fu dialogue—a template that continues to define the Depth Charge catalogue. Kane’s two imprints, D.C. (devoted to trip-hop and dub) and Electron Industries (electro and techno), issued several landmark mid-’90s underground releases, among them recordings by Damon Baxter (Sem, Deadly Avenger), Ian Loveday (Eon) and Delta, together with Depth Charge and Octagon Man titles such as “Shaolin Buddha Finger,” “10ft. Flowers,” “The Legend of the Golden Snake” and The Exciting World of Octagon Man. Material Kane recorded as Depth Charge between 1991 and 1994 was later assembled on the 1994 compilation Nine Deadly Venoms. Further singles and EPs appeared on DC Recordings over the following years, yet another full-length did not arrive until 1999, when the mix album Electro Boogie: Shape Generator surfaced in April and the studio set Lust followed in October. Lust Vol. 2 appeared in February 2000. Kane also established Made in Hong Kong, a film festival and video label operating through Vinyl Solution that promotes and distributes Hong Kong action cinema associated with Chow Yun Fat, Ringo Lam, Wong Kar-Wai, John Woo and Jackie Chan.