L-Vis 1990

Co-founder of Night Slugs – James Connolly’s L-Vis 1990 moniker played an integral role in introducing audiences to a melting pot of hyper-specific club sounds. Through the label’s Club Constructions series and a run of phenomenal club 12”s in the early 2010s – Lil Silva’s ‘Night Skanker’, Girl Unit’s ‘Wut’, Bok Bok’s ‘Southside’ EP, L-Vis 1990’s ‘Ballads’ and Jam City’s ‘Classical Curves’ LP to name a few – Night Slugs’ alchemistic blueprint helped redefine the possibilities of UK club music.

“I stopped doing L-Vis back then because I was so sick of cyclical trends at the time”, says Connolly. “But I never overlooked the cultural significance of what we were doing, and how that impacts dance music in the UK even now. We set the blueprint.”

While enjoying plenty of success as Dance System, returning to working on music he sees as coming from a place – music steeped in dance floor history and the kind of physical reference points Connolly feels are missing in contemporary dance music – has refreshed and revitalised his thinking. That and a trip to Notting Hill Carnival over the summer.

“You learn a language as a producer”, he explains, “and I see that what we did with Night Slugs and that era of music was create a musical language. There’s patterns, sounds, certain motifs and little bits that we cherrypicked from different scenes all over the world. I’m picking up that language again, just with a lot more experience and coming at it from a fresh perspective. I’m not part of any scene or clique anymore, I’m just me. I’m just L-Vis.”