A nomadic youth led his family to settle in rural Northern England, where he began experimenting with sound using a copy of Cool Edit and anything else he could get his hands on. He highlights moments like glimpsing DJ Shadow’s MPC manipulation for the first time, and DJ Sneak dropping a Beach Boys track in the middle of a club when aged 16, as formative in his creative timeline. These moments sit amongst many which would reinforce Verso’s subversive and experimental approach from an early age - harnessing a sound initially embedded in hip hop which grew richer as his palette and knowledge evolved. “No matter what I’m making, what vibe or BPM, in my head I’m still making hip hop. It’s sample-heavy, drum machine music with just enough layers to be dreamy, and stripped back enough to leave space for that all important swing and energy.” In terms of production, Bert Verso’s sound is one shaped and led by his array of hardware. His toolkit is one made up of hip hop’s purest components - the sampler, the drum machine, the joyous experiments and noise boxes in between. His first release for This is punctuated by the familiar sounds of his treasured Octatrack, coloured in varying degrees by gear like a Waldorf Rocket and Korg FM synth. This collection was built over two decades of dedication to the culture and countless hours of experimentation, both as a solo pursuit and as part of Grey Tapes - a four piece Newcastle-based collaborative project, made up of local beat-makers and multi-instrumentalists. Recently becoming a father seems to have only honed and focussed Verso further, with an impressive run of 3 records set for release this year. He also credits the pragmatic teachings of Martyn, whose lockdown-initiated tuition scheme helped instil a disciplined and time-effective approach to streamlining ideas when at their most potent. With a freshly-steeled vision and a new radio residency on beloved local station Slack’s launching this summer, you can expect to hear a lot more from Bert Verso.