Adam F “Circles”

The birth of our underground brand Factory 93 not only brought on an adrenaline rush reminiscent of the renegade warehouse era of raving—on which Insomniac was founded—but it also had us thinking back to all the people, places and parties that made this whole operation possible. And with that came a burning desire to crack open our collection and dust off the classic records we couldn’t live without. Through our From the Crate series, we’ll be breaking out both seminal and obscure cuts alike, imparting some knowledge in the process.

While growing up as the son of glam-rock star Alvin Stardust no doubt influenced his early interest in music, a young Adam Fenton would be the first to tell you that his early love musically was on the jazz-fusion side of things, rather than having anything to do with electric guitars or club music in the traditional sense. By the mid-1990s, all of that would change, as his Adam F moniker would go on to play a seminal role in the ongoing evolution of the burgeoning drum & bass scene in the UK.

Able to merge his influences into a sound that seemed to equally pull from the apocalyptic darkness that Goldie and his Metalheadz crew reveled in, as much as it touched on the bubbling musicality of Roni Size and the Reprazent crew, Adam F’s early releases—on imprints like Lucky Spin and Section 5—seemed to unite the disparate corners of the scene in a way few had done before.

If there was ever any doubt of Adam F earning himself a slot in the upper echelon of the notoriously insular UK drum & bass scene, that all vanished as his 1996 hit “Metropolis” (on Metalheadz) swept through dancefloors worldwide, even capturing the 1996/7 Muzik Award for “Best Drum ‘n’ Bass Tune” of the year.

At a time when drum & bass was seen by the major labels as the next big thing, Adam F found himself buoyed by the support of EMI Records with his debut album, 1997’s Colours, serving as a kind of jaw-dropping portfolio of his and the genre’s evolution up to that point. Two songs in particular stood above the others—“Circles” and “Music in My Mind”—both breaking into the Top 30 singles charts in the UK, with the album itself winning a MOBO award (the UK equivalent of a Grammy).

A manifesto in its own right, the album captured the stylistic underpinnings of the mid-1990s perfectly, with both Roni Size and Grooverider showing up as collaborators on an album that attempted to give a nod to its roots, while also looking to the future. Able to span the ever-widening gap between the rough and rugged and smooth and jazzy sides of the scene, the project also created a space where trip-hop, jungle, and ambient were able to weave their way through effortlessly.

Looking back, “Circles” stands out not only due to its chart-topping success and critical acclaim, but also for the way it continues to hold up over the years with its deceptive simplicity. Built on the foundation of a raw bassline, simple vocal hook (“Check-check-check”), running breakbeat and atmospheric groove, the anthem seemed to open up drum & bass to a wider audience across the globe, with love pouring in from around the world.

Even now, just playing the first few bars of the track, before the breaks come in, can bring on the goosebumps for even the most battle-hardened ravers from back in the day. With just the right touch of darkness and otherworldly vibes to keep things grounded, the interplay between the layers made for a kind of dizzying and hypnotic experience that transcended the dancefloor into something truly spiritual. It’s almost as if Adam F was able to merge the aesthetics of LTJ Bukem, Goldie, and Roni Size into one tune—one that still had his unmistakable imprint and anthemic vision.

While Adam F would go on to even wider critical acclaim with projects that aimed to fully incorporate his love of hip-hop and music production—as well as give rise to a new generation of anthem creators via his and Fresh’s Breakbeat Kaos imprint—this is the jam that will live on in the history books as the one on which his legacy continues to be built.