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Tracks of the trade

DAN F MAY BE an artist of mystery, but his behaviour is sending me over the edge. I have been e-mailing, ringing and sending endless text messages to the Hong Kong-based music producer - and still there is no response. It could be because he is much in demand these days, but it is more likely that he is avoiding the limelight.

Dan F, aka Dan Findley, is a bundle of contradictions. He is, arguably, Hong Kong's most successful breakbeat artist, yet hardly anyone here has heard of him. Since 2001, he has made a name for himself on the British scene with works from his studio in Taikoo Shing. His records have been hailed by the likes of DJ Hyper and Adam Freeland, earning him continual five-out-of-five reviews in leading dance magazines - yet not one of them has a clue what he looks like.

'When I went to London in 2002, they all thought I was this four-foot, specky kid,' Findley says when I finally corner him for an interview. 'I turned up at the door one day, and they opened the door looking down at my knees.'

We are sitting in a corner booth of Yumla, one of Hong Kong's leading music bars, where the 27-year-old is the creative director. His is a low-key presence, with most drinkers assuming he's just a jovial punter who downs pints in the corner.

But an album release looks set to change things for Findley, who was part of the defunct local hip-hop collective LMF. His disparate worlds of Britain and Hong Kong are about to converge and make him a known man as the first post-LMF break-up album hits local record stores.

Davy Chan, the hip-hop outfit's leading drummer, songwriter and now computer producer, is striking out with an arresting solo work that includes collaborations with locals Josie Ho and Joey Tang, and Japanese rappers Sword and Yoko. The album is called Unbreakable, which Findley co-producer. It is a partnership that promises to work in two interesting ways: Findley is being introduced to his home audience, and he is propelling Chan and the Asian collaborators into the British dance scene.

Although global networking might sound glamorous, it's actually hard work, says Findley. 'My entire connection with the dance scene is by e-mail. Being eight time zones away, it takes a bit more effort and imagination than just popping down the road to meet people.'

Things have changed dramatically since Findley landed in Hong Kong from Britain five years ago to take up a job as a civil engineer. It was April 1999, and he was 22 and escaping a career as a 'globetrotting geologist'. High pay and an adventurous life in jungles and on oil rigs had brought one problem. 'It doesn't matter if you're 50km offshore or 50km into the desert, there's sod-all social life.'

His arrival in the SAR sparked an addiction for buying technology, a trait inherited from his father, a computer programmer. Findley's equipment soon evolved as he built up a studio and he began experimenting with 'writing house and really bad trance'.

With his love of early 1990s British bands, Findley was naturally drawn to breakbeat, a genre marked by complicated drum patterns and a spirit rooted in band music. 'In layman's terms, breakbeat is the beats of hip-hop and funk at the speed of contemporary dance music. Good beer-drinking music,' says Findley. 'You just get absolutely hammered and jump around like an idiot.'

After sending his own demos to Britain, where they were ignored, Findley set up his own label, Disuye (pronounced 'Die-siu-yey' which means big master in Cantonese - a name his Hong Kong wife Patricia jokingly bestowed on him). He then hooked up with a British distributor.

'People started buying [the records] and we got some good support from people like Adam Freeland, Hybrid, Meat Katie and DJ Hyper. They'd send me e-mails saying they loved the music and to keep up with it.' Positive reviews appeared in DJ Magazine and Mixmag and incredibly, out of the eight Disuye releases so far, four have been highlighted as Show Player of the Month in DJ Magazine.

Findley has put together more than 20 tracks for established labels and compilations. Last year URB Magazine wrote: 'It's like he's been plotting his assault on the breakbeat world for several years. He's come out of nowhere and within 12 months, established himself as one of the tightest, most respected producers.'

Findley's sound is marked by its innovative twists. 'I like surprising people,' he says. 'You try moving in funky little ways, to surprise the people dancing and make the DJs work for their money.'

And his new Central studio, Phatlab, that opens today, will help him further a sound he says is distinctive to this city. 'I sound like Hong Kong. Your music is naturally a reflection of your surroundings. I believe that wholly and truly. But it's actually taken me longer to get known here than overseas. I think I sell about five records a year in Hong Kong. There are a lot of talented people here, a lot of creative energy. It's just near impossible to find them,' he says.

'One of the frustrating things is that if the people in Hong Kong don't know about it, how is the rest of the world going to find out?'

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