A Man Called Adam first came to the fore as providers of the finest Balearic grooves, influenced by the genre hopping DJ sets they heard in Ibiza’s early rave days.
They appeared in the Ibiza documentary A Short film about Chillin’ and came across as people who genuinely got the Balearic Ibiza vibe, rather than people who were there for the drugs and general hedonism the white island could offer. As a fellow Ibiza veteran, I always felt that A Man Called Adam just got it.
They were in tune with the spiritual vibe that dance music embodied and made some of the best and most evocative music of the era, aimed as much at the soul as the feet.
Their albums have shown them to have one foot on the dance floor and the other underneath a table at the Café Del Mar, and they have happily ignored being confined to one style of music, taking in soul, jazz, dub and anything else that caught their magpie eye.
Since then, both Sally Rodgers and Steve Jones have continued this eclectic aesthetic with their excellently diverse DJ sets.
In 2019, after a gap of some 20 years, A Man Called Adam returned with a new album, Farmarama, where they honed their sound to produce their best and most cohesive album yet. Farmarama is a delight to listen to and can transport you back to the Ibiza of old, where the Café Del Mar stood almost alone on the now infamous Sunset Strip.
The duo have also kept up a steady stream of compilations and remixes, keeping their flame alive and their fans happy. Farmarama came in for this treatment with two EPs of remixes and an album of 7” mixes, all of which come highly recommended.
Their latest release is Love Forgotten Oddities & Rarities Part 1, which the band describe as “a left of centre overview of one band’s career as heard in remixes, oddities, outtakes and edits.” This collection brings together soothing ambient gems, new takes on old favourites and varying degrees of dancefloor friendliness that again takes in the full range of their influences and touches dub, electronica and beatless grooves.
Taken as a whole, Love Forgotten Oddities & Rarities Part 1 illustrates perfectly the fact that A Man Called Adam are simply too talented and worldly wise to limit themselves musically. It further shows that whatever they turn their hand to comes with a guarantee of quality.
The world is a better place for having A Man Called Adam back in it and we hope that this current momentum is kept up, especially as they continue to demonstrate the fact that they can balance their various influences and their chilled focus so flawlessly.
If all of this has whetted your appetite, a good selection of A Man Called Adam’s recorded output can be found here on their Bandcamp page.
In the middle of this activity, Sally Rodgers has become the latest participant in our 13 Questions features. Read on to find out more about being defined by our responsibilities, koumpounophobia and being a disastrous baker.
1. Where are you, what are you doing and how is that working out?
“I’m at home in the North East and have just finished teaching online. I teach at Leeds Conservatoire a couple of days a week. I’m currently pouring a glass of wine, thinking about what to eat for dinner and answering your questions. There are worse places to be.”
2. How have you been coping with the lockdown situation?
“Sigh* I’m OK. I’m always reminding myself how lucky I am but I do miss my friends and my gigs and just face to face interaction generally. I seem to work, sleep, eat, walk my dog, repeat, these days. “
3. What do you miss most about pre-lockdown times?
“Just that really. Seeing my friends and playing records in a sweaty pub or bar. Going outside for a fag and a laugh. Staying in hotels. Arriving on a festival site. Meeting interesting strangers.”
4. Recommend one band or album that you think we should check out
“Cassowary”
5. When did you last make yourself do something you didn’t want to?
“Our lives are made up of many things we don’t want to do no? Our responsibilities define us though, so we do what we must.”
6. What’s your guilty listening pleasure?
“I don’t know why but I’ve been really enjoying old skool UK Garage and 2 Step lately. I made a playlist for myself with things like Sunshine by Garbrielle (the Wookie Mix) on it – haha!”
7. Can you cook?
“Yeah a bit. I’m best at Italian food. Just a few ingredients of exceptional quality cooked perfectly. I’m a disastrous baker though – can’t be arsed with all that measuring etc…”
8. Tell us a secret
“I have a mild form of koumpounophobia or button phobia. They don’t make me vomit like they do some people, and I can stand them if they’re functional, but I’d never buy or wear anything that had them on for purely decorative purposes. They make me shudder – haha.”
9. What’s the best night out you’ve ever had?
“Oh god, I don’t know. So many. When I was younger it was getting clattered, dancing all night and falling asleep in bass bin. Now its great food and wine followed by an ace selector, dancing with friends and drinking a dozen Negronis.”
10.When was the last time you laughed until you cried?
“Me and Steve were watching Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer’s Gone Fishing and were crying with laughter the other day. Bob Mortimer’s the funniest man. We also laughed our asses off at ‘Four Seasons Total Landscaping’ debacle and all the tweets and memes that ensued.”
11. What is your favourite view?
“I live near the beach and when I walk the dog you can climb up into the dunes and see the coastline stretching either way for miles. There are more exotic views in the world but this one will always mean home to me.”
12. When did you last shout at the TV?
“Honestly, I’m pretty selective about what I watch. I did switch off the government Coronavirus briefing the other day – Boris Johnson’s smirking face makes me angry.”
13. Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. Is there anything else you’d like to say?
“No, just thanks for having me :)”
Sun 13 