before Omni

i knew about his postpunk / avant-funk / industrial / NwW-aligned deep past - all the Satie/Budd-esque piano etudes

but i didn't realise (until I read this Drumtrip piece) that Rob Haigh had hardcore form before he hooked up with Moving Shadow

shortly before Omni Trio he recorded as Splice and ran the label Parliament Music, aka PM Recordings -  an extension of his Hertford record shop Parliament Records. The label put out 16 EPs and 12 inches in a fast burst during 1992 and a little ways into '93

Haigh never mentioned any of this when I interviewed him in '94 (via letter not phone, let alone in person: the replies arrived  handwritten but in capital letters - as if lower case, a glimpse of his actual handwriting, would be too personal)

i wonder if he was embarrassed by his early breakbeat efforts?

let's give them a listen then, to see if he should have been

w/ partner Rhodes.K - the Fuck It Up EP












on his tod, the Bass Odyssey EP






the Re-Edit to Taste EP








Barefoot Dancing EP










Pianism EP







is that the first appearance of the Omni Trio name? now i think about it i think i have this record somewhere, surely picked up just because of the Omni rmx - not realising it's yer classic auto-remix (under an alias) maneuver

and then this bonus track which is Haigh showcasing his piano skills and giving away some licks for other producers to use




with his mate Rhodes-K again - the All You Need EP








a one-track collab with Syko as part of the multi-artists EP This Is The Future




Well, it's juvenilia definitely (meaning in terms of his rave-era artistry - he was already quite old by this point), but enjoyable in its scrappy, nutty, made-in-minutes energy - i can perhaps see (especially in the context of speaking in '94 and its ever-maturing growth to artcore) that he'd want to draw a discreet veil over these early sketches


odds and sods by other bods on the label







you got love the title "Progressive Handbag"

jazzual

and this one - the last word in jazzy jungle -  drum and double-bass

when you need to feel love

jongaliss



relick on the next EP is even more flustered-frantic and treble-hissy, but sans the wicked bassdrop and the "jongaliss"




and that whisked-into-soul-souffle chanteuse sample comes again on this 95 tune



where does that Tinkerbell tingle of Angel Delight hail from then?

perhaps her identity should remain a mystery