SHAZAM

Actually the single force of one Rob Haigh, Omni Trio's sunny brand of intricate, orchestrated drum'n'bass has been growing in acclaim since the onset of "ambient" or "intelligent" jungle in the mid-'90s brought names such as L.T.J Bukem, Spring Heel Jack, and TPower to the fore. By his thirties, Haigh already had a decade on most of those names, a fact made evident in the often more eclectic influence behind his tunes, from Carl Craig and Mantronix to Miles Davis and Can. An acolyte of London's mid-'80s experimental industrial/avant-garde scene, Haigh's first Omni Trio releases -- a series of 12"s issued in distinctive, color-coded sleeves -- started to appear in the early '90s. Following on the heels of early hardcore and darkside techno, Haigh's tunes were among the first composed outside of jungle's immediate dancefloor loop, and were early examples of the music's potential to draw on a wide range of sources (ambient, house, jazz, soul) for influence. His first full-length album, The Deepest Cut: Vol. 1, was released on Moving Shadow in 1995 and combined many of those early 12" tracks -- "Mystic Stepper," "Renegade Snares" -- with some stunning production and remix work by Foul Play (on "Snares"), among others. His proper debut, Haunted Science, was released by Moving Shadow in 1996; Skeleton Keys followed in 1997. In addition to his increasingly successful career as a recording artist and remixer, Haigh also owned and operated a record shop in Hertford. ~ Sean Cooper, Rovi