Interplanetary Criminal

The northern pulse of new UK garage

Interplanetary Criminal's energy is best understood from the dancefloor: elastic basslines, UK garage syncopations, echoes of speed garage, and a very vivid memory of Northern England's club cultures. Linked to Manchester and raised between Blackburn, Liverpool, and Bolton, the producer has turned the language of garages, pirate radio, and British bass records into a recognizable, direct, and physical identity. His music avoids flat nostalgia: it looks to the nineties and early two-thousands, but pushes them toward fast sets, aggressive dubplates, and a very current reading of rave.

From dark breakbeats to a garage signature

His apprenticeship began around 2012, while studying at the School of Sound Recording and producing gloomier breakbeat material. After a period in Leeds marked by lo-fi house, he returned to Manchester in 2016 and began releasing UK garage tracks on SoundCloud. That transition opened up a discography of EPs and cuts on independent labels like E-Beamz, Kalahari Oyster Cult, Dansu Discs, Sneaker Social Club, Time Is Now, Shall Not Fade, and Banoffee Pies. Intergalactic Jack, Confused, Sleepwalker, Move Tools, Nobody, Darkside, or Coming On Strong helped establish a signature formula: British swing, rough bass, precise percussion, and a tension designed for the club.

ATW, Locked On, and the B.O.T.A. leap

Together with Main Phase, he launched ATW Records, a key platform for a generation of producers reinterpreting British garage through the immediacy of contemporary soundsystem culture. His turning point came in 2022 with B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All), a collaboration with Eliza Rose that reached number one on the UK charts, was certified double platinum, and was nominated for the BRIT Awards. Far from diluting his identity in success, he consolidated his position with the compilation All Thru The Night (Locked On Vol. 4), released on the historic label Locked On, and with subsequent collaborations like No Time with SadBoi, Damager with Sammy Virji, Yosemite with KETTAMA, Slow Burner with Original Koffee, Fón Póca with Travy, and Contact alongside Gorgon City.

A maximum pressure selector

In the booth, he has become a central figure of the UKG revival: fast sets, bassline-edged cuts, references to Bolton and Manchester culture, and an encyclopedic reading of garage records. He has performed at spaces and platforms such as Mixmag Lab London, The Warehouse Project, Dekmantel, Depot Mayfield, Wire Leeds, Rinse FM, The Lot Radio, Boiler Room, and international stages in Europe, America, and Australia. His current value lies in keeping one foot in the underground circuit while engaging with massive audiences: Interplanetary Criminal doesn't sell a retro postcard, but a new, functional, and proudly northern version of the British club.