From Depth Charge to The Octagon Man - The Genius of J Saul Kane

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

by Tat

Maverick, genius, groundbreaker, flagbearer - Jonathan Saul Kane AKA J. Saul Kane was all of these things. When the news broke across social media last Autumn that Kane had passed away, there was a collective coming together to share his music - music that had broken so many rules and barriers. No doubt more articles and tributes will appear over the next few years as to one of electronic music’s most talented and uncompromising sons. It is fair to say that he never got anywhere near the respect for such a talented artist. His legacy is no less than the likes of Goldie and James Lavelle who gained notable recognition for their impact on the electronic music scene in the 1990s.

Kane’s D.C. Recordings largely ceased operations in 2009 and many of those who connected with him on Facebook no doubt hoped to see a new iteration to follow in the footsteps of Vinyl Solution and D.C. An avid photographer, Kane often posted images taken on his walks around the urban streets but sadly there was no music. Then in recent years posts started appearing as he acquired more bits of studio kit alongside teasing clips of D.C. artwork visuals styled on the classic Shaw Brothers logo. But ultimately there was no more new music forthcoming and whether Kane had completed any recordings is at present unknown. He passed away in the summer of 2024 and it took a few months for the news to become commonplace. 

I met Kane a few times in the early 90s at a few nights in London and as a fully paid up fanboy of Vinyl Solution records and Kane, and so was delighted to get the chance to play at his WonTon Beats night which remains one of my DJ highlights. Many people will know Kane for his heavy, fuzzy hip hop and cinematic influenced tracks largely through his better known Depth Charge moniker. Then there was his Octagon Man guise that championed electro when it had largely been nudged to the side in favour of techno and house. Kane was much more than these two projects and on top having a critical eye for stunning visuals and sleeve artwork he produced a myriad tracks in different styles. So whilst he will be largely remembered for his Depth Charge work, I wanted to highlight his ability to shift from one sound to another and carry it off masterfully. Here are a few select productions by Kane which capture how bright his talent burned for two decades and how his music continues to stand the test of time and deserves more attention. 

The Octagon Man - Free-er Than Free - Vinyl Solution (1989)

I’ve recently been listening to a few electro and break mixes that a good friend shared with me and noted how a few tunes sound remarkably similar to Kane’s first outing as Octagon Man. Free-er Than Free stands up incredibly well 35 years on, and almost timeless with a groove that I remember being championed on John Peel’s famous late night Radio One shows. Formally released as a white label, I soon picked up my own copy and I’m still astounded with how good it sounds. Back in 1989 it is really quite hard to think of what influenced Kane to make this given what was coming out at that time. The percussion and cries of ‘ooh baby’ alongside an ethereal piano and cinematic chords set a very high bar from the start. There was nothing like this at the time, and highlighted why the UK’s most influential DJ and tastemaker at the time should pick it up for airplay. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s98cIIPpXmc

T.E.T - Ear - Vinyl Solution (1994)

I could have easily gone for both T.E.T releases as these are just hot dancefloor cuts on a very deep level that are substance over fashion, they still work as a result. Kane kicked off with Ear before releasing Burning Paradise the same year with the latter going more uptempo. One cannot but wonder whether Kane produced these over the course of a weekend as there is a real connectivity in the tracks that were somewhat different from his main Depth Charge releases at the time, where most of his attention was. As four track EPs go, this is pretty faultless and as you would expect have an unwavering connection with the raw underground sound that he was so loyal to. If Kane was listening to anything to inspire the sound of T.E.T, then one would expect it to be a mix of NOW and Sweet Exorcist via Warp Records from a couple of years earlier. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5OzbRNM34A

Alexanders Dark Band - Beat Vortex - D.C. Recordings (1998)

Kane released three double albums under this guise between 1998 and 2005 with Beat Vortex kicking things off. Imagine your classic hip hop beat tape through a lot of guitar fuzz pedals and you have got some idea of the sound. Perhaps the project was partly inspired by the release of his Beat Classic album the preceding year which was a compilation of mostly instrumental and dub versions of early and mid 1980s hip hop classics. Unlike the aforementioned projects in this article, this was the closest to the core Depth Charge thread. Coming out around an incredibly productive time for Kane, these represented a more stripped down sound of repetitive and hypnotic beat tracks, filthy baselines and as the artist name suggests, a darker sound. As a producer Kane knew how to create a head nodding groove and many of these tracks would lend themselves over to having a rap vocal, if they had the right MC. A lot of independent rap has switched to a much dirtier and darker sound in recent years and Kane showed once again where he was ahead of the curve with this release.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPBZsntewO4

Depth Charge - Blue Lipps - D.C. Recordings (1998)

Picking a stand out Depth Charge record is pretty impossible - where do you actually begin? Goal, Bounty Killers, Shaolin Buddha Finger, Number 9, are all masterpieces along with iconic sleeve artwork. All were largely overlooked as the music landscape bandwidth lauded the likes of the more commercially successful Chemical Brothers and Leftfield. Kane moved between genres but usually left enough of a trace of himself in most releases for followers to know the person behind them. Blue Lipps is a great example of this, again a very bass laden, fuzzy sound. Despite only being about five minutes long gave the impression it was a lot longer as there is so much going on in the production. The trademark sleazy sound is there which was creeping ever more into Kane productions about this time as filters switched attention between one sound another. Suddenly the record goes full Italo disco for a few moments halfway through to catch you off guard. Kane made a few dirty disco tracks and sadly that like his T.E.T. releases it is a shame he didn’t make more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VIy-ifZetg  

There is no doubt that Kane left a legacy, whether by the 100 or so records he released or the handful of remixes he put his name to. There is also the incredible Vinyl Solution and Depth Charge back catalogues to explore which cover nearly a quarter of a century. Kane was one of a kind and hopefully music fans will continue to discover his creations which not only reflect the British electronic music scene at the time but also played a huge part in shaping it into what we hear today.