Biography
Riz Maslen stands among the leading figures in a rising cohort of female composers shaping post-techno experimental electronics. Under the guises of Neotropic and Small Fish with Spine, her recordings fuse ambient, dub, and electro textures with fragments of house, hip-hop, and drum'n'bass. Though she has issued far fewer projects than fellow artists on the same roster such as Coldcut and London Funk Allstars, steady output and an absence of stylistic repetition have lifted her to near-equivalent standing. In the mid-'90s she joined the NTone and R&S imprints—respectively as Neotropic and Small Fish with Spine—armed with little more than a single compilation contribution and a four-track EP, yet quickly populated her catalog with standout instances of downbeat breakbeat alongside experimental ambient and dub constructions.
Her ascent within the higher echelons of Europe's experimental dance scene only commenced after a relocation to New York, where the Stickleback EP appeared via the dance-focused Oxygen Music Works, itself housed under the Apple umbrella. Following two tracks contributed to a Ninja Tune subsidiary NTone compilation, she returned to London in 1995, issuing the Tumble Weed EP; the next year brought both the single "Laundrophone" and the album 15 Levels of Magnification on the same label. Belgium-based R&S soon afterward released the self-titled Small Fish with Spine EP. Maslen further gained recognition through her ties to the Future Sound of London, joining them for an appearance on the U.K. music program Top of the Pops and participating in several of their recordings. Her second Neotropic full-length for Ninja Tune arrived in 1999 as Mr. Brubaker's Strawberry Alarm Clock.
Her ascent within the higher echelons of Europe's experimental dance scene only commenced after a relocation to New York, where the Stickleback EP appeared via the dance-focused Oxygen Music Works, itself housed under the Apple umbrella. Following two tracks contributed to a Ninja Tune subsidiary NTone compilation, she returned to London in 1995, issuing the Tumble Weed EP; the next year brought both the single "Laundrophone" and the album 15 Levels of Magnification on the same label. Belgium-based R&S soon afterward released the self-titled Small Fish with Spine EP. Maslen further gained recognition through her ties to the Future Sound of London, joining them for an appearance on the U.K. music program Top of the Pops and participating in several of their recordings. Her second Neotropic full-length for Ninja Tune arrived in 1999 as Mr. Brubaker's Strawberry Alarm Clock.