Journeyman

U.K. producer Paul Frankland earned his widest recognition through the Woob alias on Em:t Recordings, the influential Nottingham-based ambient dub imprint. He maintains a separate contract with Ntone, the Ninja Tune offshoot, under the Journeyman moniker, which has so far yielded two full-length albums. The first, Mama 6, ranked among Ntone’s earliest offerings; issued exclusively on CD, it combined alternately house-oriented and downtempo rhythms with lush electronics and eccentric samples before rapidly disappearing from print. National Hijinx, released in 1997, profited from Ninja Tune’s expanding resources through a substantially larger run and simultaneous availability on vinyl and CD. Several tracks replaced the debut’s rhythmic gait with a quasi-junglist approach, yet the faster pieces retained the same poised, tranquil atmosphere. [See Also: Woob]