Artwork conceptualized by Dave Sector with an image from the NASA commons archive.

CF: For those who don’t know can you tell us what Sector 12/12 and Black Classical are?

BKCLX: Just an ordinary bloke with a large record collection.

CF: The Black Classical 12 hour spiritual jazz mix gained loads of attention a couple of years ago and was even heralded by Gilles Peterson on the Brownswood website. What was the intention behind that mix and how did you go about putting it together?

BKCLX: Haha I don’t think it had anything to do with Gilles Peterson to be honest, Thristian was the one that discovered it over on the Jazz Meet blog about 6 months after I put it up. He posted it on the Brownswood blog and there was a mad flurry of people chatting about it, I think to date it has received around 20,000 downloads.

There was no real intention behind it other than I used to do a radio show on Space Invader FM and that was my last show for a while due to work commitments etc. In a way it was to go out with a bang, I basically played records non-stop for 12 hours. There have been a couple more since then “Astrosonics Doctrine Spiritual Jazz Volume 2”, which is a bit longer at around 18 hours or so and then there was one that I did for the Sun Ra centenary last year.

CF: What do you normally listen to at home? Can you name 3 of your favorite albums past or present?

BKCLX: I generally listen to a very wide range of music, I get bored though so I have to switch it up quite regularly, this can range from techno, house, classic rave, hip hop, classical, electronica, drone, ambient, musique concrete, jazz, funk, soul, DnB and even pop music. Three fave LPs is a tough one but…

Jazz

Medasi – Nation
Black Rhythm Happening & Ghetto Music – Eddie Gale (can’t separate the two)
NOW! – Bobby Hutcherson

Others

Squarepusher – Feed Me Weird Things
Plaid – Not for Threes
Boards of Canada – Music Has The Right To Children

s1212: I try and listen to music from all genres as I like a mixture of moods and tempos. It’s rare that I play an album more than a couple of times, but there are some exceptions!

Source Direct – Exorcise The Demons: Trademark darkness from the St Albans duo. This LP is loud, offensive and paranoid. Razor sharp breaks and jaw dropping bass take center stage in what is surely the most uncompromising and relentless drum and bass album ever made. Worth noting there is only one remotely light moment on the album, the first half of Love and Hate. Suffice to say it takes a nasty turn.

New Sector Movements – Download This: A genre defining moment for the broken beat scene from one of its pioneers, IG Culture. This LP is as much a classic example of modern jazz fusion as it is a bold and futuristic dance album. This was like nothing I had heard at the time and to this day gets played regularly. The future has never been closer.

Patrice Rushen – Before The Dawn: Only five tracks but all of them timeless. Funk, disco and jazz are all represented in their rawest form. Not so much fusion, it’s more of a collection of really great compositions from different genres. I urge anyone to buy a copy if they can, as it features a track for every mood and occasion. Feel good music for the dance floor.

CF: Black Classical, what is your favorite thing about living in Manchester?

BKCLX: Manchester’s pretty crap to be honest, living on the back of past hype. Not much has happened here since the late 80’s to early 90’s. The best thing was growing up when things really happened between 1981 — 1992, it was all about the music. Early hip hop, house, the jazz rooms at Berlin and the all-dayers. Manchester radio back then was amazing, I don’t think there was a place in the country that covered the massive diversity of Key 103 (Sundays) or Sunset, amazing DJs including Mike Shaft, Greg Wilson, Chad Jackson, Lee Brown, Colin Curtis, Hewan Clark, Stu Allen etc. I learned a hell of a lot from those guys, they were all my musical heroes!

CF: Do you have any future projects you’d like to tell us about? Any other collaborations between you two we can expect to see/hear in coming months?

s1212: More radio shows and more free releases. This month’s stream features a guest mix from Volcov (Enrico from Archive/Neroli) that we are very excited about! As for the rest of the year, who knows? We will just have to wait and see where the journey takes us.