Bola

I bought my first ever turntable from Darrell in 1994 when he worked at Dr Rock in Rochdale. He looked cooler with his long hair back then. I say that, so did I.

Bola aka Darrell Fitton is an electronic musician from the UK. Most of his work is recorded under recording monikers of Bola and Jello.
Darrell's first release was in 1994 with the track Blipsalt via Warp's Artificial Intelligence II compilation but was only included on the limited edition 2xCd version & the 2×Vinyl LP compilation which also included a limited edition 12" single (Which featured a 2nd Darrell Fritton track entitled Metalurg which is also unique to this release).
Darrell Fitton returned in 1995 with his own first complete 12'' single release under the name Bola entitled Bola 1 (SKA005) via Skam Records based in Manchester in the UK.
Bola released the 7" single KS (KMAS002) in June 1998 followed by the classic first full lenght album in December 1998 entitled Soup (SKALP002) , the album was remastered and reissued with new artwork in 2003 (SKALP002).
A limited set of 3 EPs named Shapes (33Shapes) was released in 2000, pressed at only 300 copies. In September 2006 Shapes was remastered and reissued by Skam Records, adding three bonus tracks (SKALD020).
After releasing the classic landmark album Soup in 1998 there was the 2nd album entitled Fyuti (SKALP007) in 2001 , then Gnayse (SKALP015) in 2004 and then Kroungrine (Skalp022) in 2007.
He is currently working on a new album, to be titled Ambrosia, which at this stage is still without an estimated release date.
Darrell Fitton has produce some of the best near meditational electronic ambient and IDM music and the consistancy in his productions is effectively near flawless.
He remains quite possibly one of the most underrated of any artist in the electronica scene which is a real shame and borders on the criminal given the high quality of his productions and work over the past 17 years.

Darrel Fitton is probably one of the most underrated IDM musicians. His production skills and knowledge are so perfect and way beyond most IDM-me-toos. Though, his releases haven't been ground-breaking after "Fyuiti", the sound of his releases is still like bathing in a six-dimensional space. There's hardly any other musician in the field matching this.

I discovered Bola's music by accident. Using a giftcard in a CD storechain year 2000ish (great years of techno long passed) was never an easy task (aka "dodging Britney"). So just to get it over with, I picked something from the miniscule dance/techno-category with a cover which gave a credible vibe.. this strategy has failed before, mind you.
But Bola was a very pleasant surprise, the music's integrity lived up to the cover cred for once. ;) There are several characteristics too the music; experimentalism, bass-heavy quality sound, sometimes rhythmic and chaotically sequenced, and always atmospheric with a definitive edge. If you're into atmospheric music (who isn't?) and enjoy experimentalism and playfulness, you should definitively try this out as soon as you can.