Later in the decade, broken beat, a specifically British sound inspired by jazz, jungle, hip hop and rare groove, also emerged from the same London district, with Mike Slocombe and Spencer Weekes’ Goya Music – holed-up in the basement in Kensal Rise’s Saga Centre – an informal HQ. In the ’90s Asher was part of a loose conglomeration of Kensington-based DJs, producers and A&Rs, that included his mentor Noel Watson, in thrall to new house sounds emanating from the US, frequently using the tongue-in-cheek acronym LGNJAS (Ladbroke Grove New Jersey Appreciation Society) on 12-inch releases. His first job in the industry was working at Roy The Roach’s Quaff Records in Lancaster Road, near Ladbroke Grove, in 1989, alongside his best mate Ray Whittard. It’s where he was born and raised and where he lived all of his life. Or, as he told DMC World: “Underground and undercover: that’s me not one for the limelight.” Typical of Phil’s personality – humble, understated and always generous – that only now do we fully appreciate the impact his music has had on us all. The unsung heroes.īut the outpouring of love and multiple tributes that appeared upon news of Asher’s death, suggest that his reach and popularity were far greater than we first imagined. The backroom motivators, the genre innovators, the gifted grafters. The residents who only the locals know and love. The DJs that do all the digging but don’t always get the credit. They are the party-starters or organisers. Every city in the world has a Phil Asher or two.
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