"Playin' Out" was the (difficult?) second album that I made as "Dubble D" which came out in 2007. Its predecessor "Reachin' Out" had been received so well and gained so much attention that I really wanted to do something a lot more 'raw' and low-key, (we even kept the cover as raw cardboard and all the 'artwork' in my own handwriting) as much to take the pressure off it being a bigger phenomenon as to reflect what I'd been up to musically since then.
At this stage we were playing out with 2020 soundsystem (Our live band from the 2020Vision label stable) more often and were gaining reputation to the point where on our club gigs we were starting to get booked to curate the whole night rather than just play our set. Ralph (Lawson) was already far better known as a DJ than for the band so having him DJ as well as us play was a no brainer for any promoter, (in fact it was exactly how we got most of our initial gigs!) but I also started to DJ the 'warm up' set for our live show, starting with 80-90 bpm hip hop beats and gradually mixing my way up to 122bpm where we would start to mix in with our full live band set, Ralph taking things home with a DJ set after the performance.
I started to write more tunes specifically for these sets which not only reflected what I was listening to at the time (as always a diverse mix of everything from jazz to latin to soul to hip hop to techno and beyond) but also reflected a lot of the music I was hearing in clubs in Manchester, particularly Electric Chair and Scruff's 'Keep it Unreal'. I was, and remain a huge J.Dilla fan and his 'Do-nuts' had recently come out posthumously. It was a constant player as we toured. I loved the rawness and the way each cut blended into the next and it was a huge influence in the way that I was DJ ing at the time and also therefore how I wanted to put this album together as a representation.
The tracks "Transistor Jazz", "Wriggle" and "Coleman" were released as a vinyl 'teaser' under the name 'Moodymanc', a nickname given to me in the 2020 office in reference to my coming from Manchester and my nagging phone calls, with artwork that parodied earlier KDJ releases but with images from 'Coronation Street' a long running Manchester (ahem, Salford) set T.V. sitcom. It soon became apparent that the in-joke was lost on much of the rest of the world as the record, and its follow ups reached a way bigger audience than ever envisioned, but that's another story perhaps. I'm still really grateful for the platform it provided me with as a DJ and re-mixer, and the connections and friendships worldwide that I retain and value today.
So here it is for free, or make a donation if you wish! There's the full album as a 'mixed' version, as it was intended to be heard (we were still just about in the era of CDs and listening to albums as a whole at the time), but also the separate tracks individually should you want them. If you enjoy them I hope it inspires you to check out some of my more recent projects and output. Any and all support is massively appreciated, and it all goes towards making more, and hopefully better music.
D.