If you’ve got any interest in UK music history, this one’s for you.
This is a seminar-style talk by DJ, producer, and NTS Radio broadcaster, Ruf Dug – in which he takes the audience on a personal journey through the world of UK street soul.
Street soul, for the uninitiated, is a style of music rooted in black British working-class culture – raw, DIY, built on drum machines and synthesisers, that a young Ruf Dug discovered almost by accident. Dug is upfront that he’s not here to deliver a definitive history. He’s here because he loves it, and you can hear a genuine passion in his voice.
His entry point was King Bee Records in Whalley Range, Manchester – a shop that became his gateway to a sound he describes as unlike anything he’d heard before. From there, the talk expands outward: to the Manchester sound systems Broadway Sound and Soul Control that were throwing parties and building scenes in the mid-to-late 80s, and to the broader continuum of UK street soul that stretches from those bedroom productions all the way up to Soul II Soul and Massive Attack.
The talk takes place at the Vinyl Factory, including selected songs like a cover version of Crowded House ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ with a distinct early 90s feel. There’s a lot more than what we’ve covered here. You can check out the full video on YouTube.