Dego
Co-founder of 4hero, broken beat pioneer and the man behind the 2000Black label.
Biography
Denis "Dego" McFarlane met Marc Mac through London's pirate radio scene, and the two set up Strong Island in Dollis Hill in 1989. He joined Reinforced Records soon after it was founded and has been half of 4hero ever since, co-producing everything from Parallel Universe to Creating Patterns.
His first solo outlet was Tek 9, which began on Reinforced in 1991 with "Kingdom of Dub". In the 2000s he became one of the central figures in West London's broken beat scene, founding 2000Black and forming a long partnership with keyboardist Kaidi Tatham (Bugz in the Attic). Silhouette Brown, their vocal project with co-writer Bembe Segue, was Dego's first full vocal album as producer.
He has also released under names including Cousin Cockroach, Nutmeg, MM Black and Pavel Kostiuk.
Projects & aliases
Tek 9
From 1991 on Reinforced. Albums It's Not What You Think It Is!?!?! (1996), Simply (1999), Tek 9 (2019) and Vintage (2021).
Dego & Kaidi
With Kaidi Tatham: Ankle Injury and Black Is Key on Eglo, A So We Gwarn on Sound Signature.
Silhouette Brown
Vocal soul project with Kaidi Tatham and Bembe Segue, released on Ether.
DKD
Broken beat group; album Future Rage.
2000Black
His label for solo albums such as A Wha' Him Deh Pon? and The More Things Stay the Same.
4hero & joint aliases
Tom & Jerry, Jacob's Optical Stairway, Plutonia, Da One Away. See discography