A collaboration between a reclusive studio genius and a more demonstrative record store owner/DJ, this Manchester, England-based partnership merged the skills and aesthetics of Martin Desai (b. Manchester, England), owner of Codebreaker studios and sometime engineer for Andy Votel and Badly Drawn Boy, and Martin Brew (b. England), the proprietor of the Fat City record shop and a member of the Fat City All Stars DJ collective. Together, the duo drew on a shared affection for Detroit techno, northern soul and vintage film soundtracks to create an engaging, sample-heavy hybrid both charming and funky. Prior to J-Walk, Brew recorded deep dub explorations under the Strange Brew alter ego while Desai was the in-house programmer for Pleasure Records. The two Martins preceded the release of their debut album with a triptych of highly desirable and limited seven-inch singles, ‘Soul Vibration’, ‘French Letter’ and ‘Tearaway’, that elegantly mapped out J-Walk’s world of mutant funk, filmic atmospherics, and contemporary northern soul. The first of these releases was even subsequently cast as the unofficial summer anthem for the duo’s home city, despite being made available in an issue of only 500 copies. The ensuing album, A Night On The Rocks, featured each of these sought-after tracks as well as guest vocal appearances from artists such as Rae And Christian’s singer Veba and Elbow’s Guy Garvey as well as previous unknowns Pete Simpson and Sarah Hill. As if to emphasise J-Walk’s approach to life, the sleeve to the desirable release bore the legend ‘’Ave It’. J-Walk has notably remixed artists as disparate as Baaba Maal, Rae And Christian, Kings Of Convenience, Nitin Sawhney, and the Sugababes.