Residue

Not to be confused with the social-realist indie alias of singer-songwriter Darren Hayman operating around the same time, this Hefner is a project by Essex producer Lee Jones. And the sole album he released under the name in 2000 is a true lost gem of the trip hop / nu jazz era. The Hefner sound is characterised by breakbeats that never sit still: filters and edits that constantly shift bar-to-bar have the potential to feel awkward or fidgety, yet Jones’s genius is to make their flow sound completely natural and hyper musical. There are laid back soul songs, deep dub space, even a hint of Stereolab-like plaintive easy listening sophistication, but really you won’t spot influences, because the world building in this record is so total, it speaks only its own musical language.