The Octagon Man

Since the late 1980s Jonathon Saul Kane has ranked among Britain’s steadiest and most inventive presences in dance music, issuing material under the names Block, Spider, Octagon Man, Grimm Death and, above all, Depth Charge. He cut enduring pieces such as “Bounty Killers” and “The Demented Spirit” while supplying remixes for Eon, Bomb the Bass, Sabres of Paradise, Senser, Silver Fox and S’Express. Kane’s productions never strayed from the hip-hop, funk and electro foundations of dance music, a stance that has kept him central to successive waves of hybrid styles. His 1989 Vinyl Solution 12-inch “Bounty Killers” is widely viewed as an early specimen of uptempo trip-hop, built from thick sampled breakbeats, punishing basslines and playful kung-fu snippets—the same ingredients that continue to define his widely circulated Depth Charge output. Through his two imprints, D.C. for trip-hop and dub and Electron Industries for electro and techno, Kane issued several of the mid-1990s underground’s most distinctive records, featuring Damon Baxter (Sem, Deadly Avenger), Ian Loveday (Eon), Delta, Depth Charge and Octagon Man on titles including “Shaolin Buddha Finger,” “10ft. Flowers,” “The Legend of the Golden Snake” and The Exciting World of Octagon Man. A double LP, Nine Deadly Venoms, gathered many of the Depth Charge tracks issued between 1991 and 1994. Kane also co-established Made in Hong Kong, a film festival and video label operating under the Vinyl Solution umbrella, devoted to the circulation of Hong Kong action cinema associated with Chow Yun Fat, Ringo Lam, Wong Kar-Wai, John Woo and Jackie Chan.