Welcome to the Shades of Rhythm Sound Cloud. Here we hope to start uploading the history of Shades of Rhythm in the form of Vinyl releases from 1987 acetates to 2009 Remixes. We have dug deep and to start the cloud off we have found our first 2 Acetates we pressed to play in our DJ sets way back in 1987 followed by our very first release on Stevie V's label Beatbox International back in 1988. 
Shades of Rhythm are Nick Slater, Kevin Lancaster & Rayan Hepburn but on these very early releases we had a fourth member, Colin "Wildcat" Tyson who was a huge influence on the band. Cat always wanted his own label & didn't want to sign his music to a another record label and in 1988 decided to go it alone. 
Next up was the Frequency album, our first Album, pressed up by ourselves and responsible for kickstarting our musical endeavours. The Frequency Album was Naive yet fresh and will always bring back fond memories of that time. We literally sold the vinyl out the boot of our car to places like Spin Inn  Records in Manchester & Mash records in London. 
While The Frequency Album was busy getting signed we put out the Fenland Bass EP. We released it on our SOR Recordings label (SOR 002) under the artist name "Frenzied Bass". Not sure why? Probably so as not to interfere with the forthcoming ZTT releases. 
Our Records were getting played and our first Remixes came in, one from an Indie band called Habit and a track called Power. The other from 2 friends of ours from Peterborough, Dave Allen & Simon Brownlie, recording under the name Tranquillizer for Casper Pounds label Rising High.
Next up the ZTT years...


Godfather’, ‘Legend’, ‘International Hero’. All accolades attributed by loving fans Worldwide to the DJ, Producer and scene pioneer known as ‘Slipmatt’. For over three decades, this dubplate diamond has been changing the game, staying on the pulse and keeping ahead of the curve, packing dancefloors and selling out clubs long before it was cool and still does so to this very day.
  
Having produced a ton of successful singles and compiled a number of hit selling mix albums under his ‘Slipmatt’ alias for some of the World’s most respected record labels including United Dance and Ministry Of Sound, ‘Slipmatt’ is also one of the masterminds behind legendary production outfit SL2 (along with Lime and MC Jay), the visionaries responsible for the chart smashing anthems ‘On A Ragga Tip’ & ‘Way In My Brain’ among many others on the iconic label XL Recordings, home to legendary acts such as ‘The Prodigy’, ‘Basement Jaxx’; and ‘Adele’. 

‘On A Ragga Tip’ is presently enjoying a resurgence of popularity as it goes on the current Virgin Media TV ad as part of their Un-Limiting adverts which includes the new ‘On A Ragga Tip’ Un-Limiting Remix, which has equally proved as popular as ever with dancefloors around the globe and this year alone is scheduled  to collaborate in the studio with Shades Of Rhythm, Andy Galea of Sol Brothers, Alex P, Awesome 3, Alexis Raphael, Sooney and, his good friend DJ Lime with some brand new SL2 releases also in the pipeline.

This wayward don of dance has also played at every major dance event and venue worth knowing about over the years including Energy, Telepathy, Fantazia, Vision, Universe, World Dance, United Dance, Dreamscape, Helter Skelter, Slammin’ Vinyl, Rezurrection, Elevation, Moondance, Raindance, Peace Fest, Clockwork Orange and to top it all off had the great honour of playing directly after his good friends ‘The Prodigy’ to a packed O2 Arena of over 20, 000 people, bringing that particular night to an epic close, and ringing in the year 2014 with a tremendous bang.

‘Slipmatt’ also repeatedly continues to play across the globe in the USA, Asia, Australia, Europe and every corner of his native UK for a string of well recognised and well attended club promotions, festivals and events. He’s no stranger to a Festival or two either playing at leading big top gigs such as Glastonbury, Boomtown and We Are Festival and there has also been and continues to be multiple overseas visits to Ibiza where Slipmatt still to this day enjoys regular return trips to the White Isle’s most infamous hot spots to play such as Eden, Es Paradis and Benimussa Park (The Zoo) 

His media outreach is quite noteworthy also, having started RAW FM, been a resident on Kiss FM, a regular in M8 Magazine and Mixmag, featured in the illustrious DJ Magazine Top 100, he’s been on BBC television a number of times including the famous chart show ‘Top Of The Pops’, runs two of his own popular Radio shows and Podcasts ‘World Of Rave’ and ‘Slip’s House’ and additionally, has won a multitude of awards, including that of ‘Best DJ’ and ‘Best Producer’ awarded by some of the industries most respected bodies such as Kiss FM and EHM.

Not one to ever slow down or fall behind and always keeping himself fresh and relevant, this dancefloor don has been focusing lately on the biggest and best house beats, which has led him to an already extraordinarily busy 2020. Add to that his upcoming book “My Story (and How I Became a World Class DJ)”, which is set to be a smash hit amongst rave fanatics the World over later this year and with over a hundred gigs booked for 2020 already (mid-Feb), there are no signs of this crowd pleasing international artist slowing down any time soon. 

Godfather Of Rave and still keeping it fresh? Definitely.

by Jon Brown | 2020

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