Steve Cobby of Solid Doctor serves as the chief creative force driving the well-known trip-hop label Pork Recordings, which is headquartered in Hull. Under that imprint he has issued numerous albums across multiple aliases, among them Fila Brazillia and Heights of Abraham. In 1991 Cobby and his Hull flatmate Dave Pork established the label specifically to issue the debut single from what was then Cobby’s side project, Fila Brazillia—a project that later became his central focus. After that release he began issuing solo work under the Solid Doctor moniker, completing two albums in a single year, one of which was the double-disc singles compilation How About Some Ether?.
His fusion of instrumental hip-hop, dub, funk, and house helped draw wider critical notice to Pork and anticipated the breakthrough of such imprints as Mo’Wax and Cup of Tea. Earlier endeavors, including the Big Life! pop/dance act Ashley & Jackson that disbanded around 1990, likewise informed his approach. The Solid Doctor recordings occupy territory between club play and attentive listening, balancing the priorities of groove-oriented songwriting and musicianship with the functional aim of filling a dancefloor.
