James Hayford is a sample based producer making tracks and remixes under the aliases @Shoes, Earwig, and Broken Compass. Growing up outside of Chicago, he started collecting records and chopping sounds on the MPC in the 90's, inspired by hip hop, psychedelic sounds, house, techno, down beat and trip hop. He runs the Shoes and Plimsoll edits label releasing reworks of funk, soul, dub, afro-beat and disco with respect and originality. His work puts a fresh perspective on the edits game with Ritalin-hyper-diced edits of Al Green, mash ups of 90's house with afro-beats, and dubbed out odes to classic breaks. The reissue kings, The Numero Group, released his "@Eccentric Breaks and Beats" mixtape, and Pitchfork compared his work to "DJ Shadow or the Avalanches."