Playgroup

Playgroup emerged as a studio-based collective under the direction of Trevor Jackson, whose background encompassed graphic design for sleeves by Eric B. & Rakim, Stereo MC's, and the Jungle Brothers alongside his work as a producer and remixer formerly known as Underdog and Skull. Blending disco, funk, hip-hop, dub, new wave, and house, the self-titled Playgroup album appeared on the Source label in 2001 and included contributions from Roddy Frame, Edwyn Collins, Shinehead, Kathleen Hanna, and Rowetta. Astralwerks handled the U.S. release in March 2002. Jackson followed with two mix projects by year's end: an installment in the DJ-Kicks series and the limited-edition Party-Mix disc. In 2005 Peacefrog assembled two discs of his remixes for Soft Cell, Yello, and the Rapture under the title Reproduction. Several years afterward he briefly revived the Playgroup moniker for one disc within Rapster's Kings of Electro double-disc mix collection. During 2016 Jackson launched a nine-part series of Previously Unreleased EPs on Yes Wave, dropping one installment weekly from July through September; the majority of those tracks later appeared on a double-CD compilation also titled Previously Unreleased. He additionally operated the Output label, which issued material by Fridge, Four Tet, LCD Soundsystem, Black Strobe, Mu, and Colder.