Nightmares On Wax

Nightmares on Wax began as a collective before evolving into the solo vehicle of founding member George Evelyn, whose work draws from the British techno scene that emerged after the rave era and stands among the country’s most enduring wellsprings of downtempo electronica infused with dub reggae and hip-hop. The project’s first full-length, A Word of Science (1991), forged an essential link between New York house and electro, Detroit techno and soul, London rave and acid, while anticipating the wider-ranging explorations that soon followed. Over three decades Evelyn has guided the Warp artist through an expanding catalog highlighted by Smokers Delight (1995) and Carboot Soul (1999), then a sequence of increasingly organic statements such as In a Space Outta Sound (2006), Feelin’ Good (2013), and the freedom-themed Shout Out! To Freedom... (2021). Additional ventures include the ambient-focused Re-Imagineering Meditation Mix (2023) and fresh reinterpretations of earlier material on the 2024 live EP Carboot Jazz.

Originating in late-’80s West Yorkshire as an outgrowth of Evelyn’s b-boy crew the Soul City Rockers, the outfit issued early singles “Dexterous” and “Aftermath,” both widely praised, the latter climbing into the U.K. pop singles Top 40. That debut album helped lay the foundation for the experimental downtempo hip-hop and electro-funk later refined by Mike Paradinas, Luke Vibert, Spacer, and others, securing the group’s place among techno’s forward-thinking innovators.

After Science the collective dissolved; early associate Kevin Harper departed to concentrate on DJ work while Evelyn issued scattered house tracks on Warp’s Nucleus imprint before retreating into extended studio experimentation, frequently alongside Robin Taylor-Firth. Four years later he reappeared with a contribution to the Mo’ Wax Headz compilation and, shortly afterward, delivered Smokers Delight, an instrumental hip-hop set distinguished by its characteristically British breadth. Retaining the same sampler-and-sequencer approach, the album proved subtler and more rewarding on repeated plays than prior efforts. Comparable qualities marked 1999’s Carboot Soul, Evelyn’s first release under a new domestic arrangement with American indie label Matador. In 2000 NoW crafted De La Soul’s first new track in several years, featured on the Sound of N.O.W EP alongside the rap veterans, and soon contributed a volume to the Studio !K7 DJ-Kicks mix series.

Two years later Evelyn completed his fourth album, Mind Elevation. A longer interval preceded the next proper Warp LP, yet In a Space Outta Sound surfaced in 2006, with Thought So... and the unmixed selector compilation Coming Home arriving in quick succession. Continuing his downtempo DJ work, Evelyn partnered with Jazzanova arranger Sebastian Studnitzky and issued another wide-ranging collection, Feelin’ Good, in 2013. The following year a 25th-anniversary retrospective, N.O.W. Is the Time, appeared, accompanied by remixes from Morgan Geist, Optimo’s JD Twitch, and Ashley Beedle, among others. The Ground Floor EP, featuring Andrew Ashong, Wolfgang Haffner, and Acid Mondays, arrived in 2016, followed in 2017 by the first of several singles leading to the early-2018 album Shape the Future.

After a decade of near-constant touring, the COVID-19 pandemic halted Evelyn’s schedule, prompting reflection on freedom that shaped his ninth studio album, Shout Out! To Freedom... (2021). Subsequent releases included Remixed! To Freedom... and Shout Out! To Freedom... (Live at Pikes Ibiza) in 2022, while the continuous ambient dub set Re-Imagineering Meditation Mix emerged digitally in early 2023. Nightmares on Wax revisited house music through the Club E.A.S.E. single series, and 2024 brought both a deluxe edition of Carboot Soul and Carboot Jazz, an EP documenting live renditions of material from the album.