Howie B & Hubert Noi

Howie B. was a popular London-based DJ and nascent studio hand prior to his move into full-time recording and production in the early '90s. Born in Glasgow, his association with Bristol club faves like Soul II Soul and Massive Attack fueled his aesthetic on a fusion of soul, hip-hop, house, jazz, and funk, first hazarded on early collaborative projects like Dobie and Nomad Soul. B. set up his own label, Pussyfoot, in 1994, already having released tracks under the his own name and Olde Scottish through noted outbound hip-hop imprints 2Kool and Mo'Wax, and a small-but-steady stream of material moving hip-hop instrumentals a step beyond the experimental joined Bernstein with beat junkies like DJ Shadow, U.N.K.L.E., Portishead, and Coldcut at the forefront of a U.K. breakbeat renaissance. Although his genre-spanning work with Skylab on 1994's #1 brought his talents for organized chaos before a wider audience, it was ultimately his role in the production chair for such artists as Tricky, Bjork, and, eventually, U2, that landed him a multi-album recording deal with Polydor which yielded LPs including 1996's Music for Babies, 1997's Turn the Dark Off and 1999's Snatch.