Interviews

Phil Cooper is the founder of NuNorthern Soul, a label synonymous with quality and a reputation for putting out music for the most discerning ears. This week sees the Ibiza based imprint release a body of work by Dutch Jazz Pianist, Jasper Van’t Hof, as part of the labels ‘Selected Works Series’. We get the chance to sit down for a chimney side chat with the main man.

It's a pleasure to talk to you today on DC. Where are you this moment and how will you be spending the rest of your day?

Hey Ryan great to be chatting. I am currently in Bangkok, I am travelling for 3 to 4 months after a great Ibiza season. I have been to Istanbul then to Oman visiting both Muscat and Salalah, and now Bangkok and Hua Hin in Thailand, before flying to Singapore and then onto Bali for a month, after that I am unsure and I am still working that one out, but will be back to Ibiza mid February 2026 latest. Today I met with Maarten Goetheer who produced the Suite for Chick EP on my NuNorthern Soul label, and I did a video and audio interview with him for my NuNorthern Soul YouTube channel that will come out over the coming weeks.

https://mynunorthernsoul.bandcamp.com/album/suite-for-chick-feat-pong-nakornchai

https://www.youtube.com/@NuNorthernSoul

You have lived in many places around the world. Where are you from? Where have you lived? And where are you currently.

I was born in Germany as my parents where in the UK armed forces, I grew up North Wales and have lived in Bali, Singapore, and Ibiza for many years. Ibiza is my home currently.

What do you love most about where you are living?

It's a great place for me currently as it provides a lot of good work for me across the summer months, and is beautiful for hiking, swimming and general goodness of life, plus it's well located for fairly easy access to the rest of Europe and it's a gateway to Spain, a country I feel at home in.

If money was no object, and you could choose anywhere in the world to live and run NuNorthern Soul where would that be?

Ibiza, the expense of buying a property is out of my reach but with unlimited funds I could find something suitable hahahaha. I will probably end up on the mainland of Spain the next few years but for now I will continue living on the island, rent is manageable.

How long has NNS been going. What made you start the label initially?

Started the label in 2012, so 13 years old now, I have been running labels since the late 90's early 00’s and as my music tastes have changed and developed I wanted to set up a label to reflect that, I was already running NuNorthern Soul sessions since the mid to late 90’s in various venues around Europe and beyond, and would try and find likeminded people to host my sessions whenever I was in a new country DJing at a club, if I could extend my visit and get a NNS session in then that would allow me to play a more eclectic musical leaning, then I would do so. The label was a natural follow on to that.

What was the first release you had out on the label?

https://bj-smith.bandcamp.com/album/the-movedrill-projects

How many releases are you in right now?

I would say well over 100, with the combination of EPs, albums and some artists having their own catalogue series such as One Half of Bent, 100 easily, and maybe even 150.

Was there a particular vision that you started out with for NNS?

If you came across a release in 10 years time would it still sound fresh! Timeless music not restricted by recording techniques or era!

Does the vision still remain the same today?

100% yes

Is NNS the kind of the label that A&R’s a lot of demos or would you say it is more curated from within - you selecting what you are looking for – as it seems that way for the outside.

When I started it was curated from within, me reaching out to artists to discuss them releasing on the label but as the label has grown it now receives a lot of demos, but there is still a lot of me curating and reaching out to artists we would like to work with.

What are some of the challenges you have in running a label in 2025.

Tariffs, production costs, shipping costs, cost of living. Vinyl has become a luxury now and people have less disposable cash to make purchases. It’s tough out there for everyone, and margins are squeezed tight, but I will keep trying to make it work

Have you ever run a 'dance’ label? Does this appeal to your senses?

Over the years I have run many labels from KAT to Sick Trumpet working with artists and remixers including Ron Trent, Rahaan, Zed Bias, Osunlade, Ashley Beedle, Ilija Rudman, Greg Wilson and many more.

Currently I also run the digital label Through Gods Own Eyes which has seen releases and remixes from a whole heap of dance music producers.

Can you tell us about the different series you have going on, on the NNS.

We have the Dedications to the Greats series from B.J. Smith who does incredible covers of works from some big name artists in his own unique style, we have just released his latest DTTG EP which features Joe Harvey-Whyte and is a cover of Don’t Be Cruel which was an Elvis Presley track, covered by Billy Swan and now by B.J. Smith. Plus we have the Selected Works series where I work with heritage artists and go through their vast catalogues and curate EPs with full sleeve notes (thanks Marc Rowlands and Matt Anniss) and amazing artwork by Chris Maude to showcase the rich diversity of the music by these artists. So far I have done two EPs with Ryo Kawasaki sadly no longer with us, and one with Mallorcan based musician, Joan Bibiloni and I we are currently about to release an EP by Jasper Van’t Hof, 6 tracks from his Pili Pili catalogue.

Your next release is from Dutch Jazz Pianist – Jasper Van’t Hof that you just mentioned. Can you tell us a little about this fascinating man.

Jasper Van’t Hof is one of those rare figures who seems to sit slightly outside time, yet deeply inside the pulse of European jazz. He’s Dutch, yes—but his reach has always been much wider than a single country or scene. Since the late ’60s he’s been pushing at the edges of what jazz could be, weaving in world music, electronics, trance-like repetition, and that unmistakable spiritual energy that connects him to the greats without ever sounding derivative.

At the piano or behind the keys, he’s fearless. Early on he co-founded bands like Association P.C., bringing a raw, progressive, almost psychedelic edge to European jazz-rock. Later, with projects like Pili Pili, he stepped fully into global rhythm culture—long before it became fashionable—building ecstatic, percussion-driven journeys that pulled from African traditions, club energy, and jazz improvisation. It was jazz, but it was also ritual, movement, and trance.

What makes Jasper truly fascinating is that he has never played the -career game”. He follows ideas. He collaborates with adventurers. He builds new sonic worlds rather than revisiting old ones.

And the Pili Pili band – what and who was the band comprised of.

Pili Pili wasn’t a “band” in the traditional, fixed-line-up sense — it was Jasper Van’t Hof’s long-running rhythmic laboratory, a place where jazz musicians, African percussionists, and deep-rooted vocal traditions collided to create something genuinely ahead of its time. Pili Pili was powered by a vibrant mix of African rhythm and European jazz imagination. Angélique Kidjo’s early vocals lit up the project with melody, folklore, and pure fire, while Congolese percussionist N’Goma Binda grounded the music with deep, earthy grooves. Bassist Hans Fierst and drummer Daniel Schwarz added the flexible, improvisational backbone, bridging jazz sensibilities with rolling, polyrhythmic energy.

Around them, Jasper Van’t Hof built an ever-shifting collective: layers of African percussion driving the trance-like pulse, and a rotating cast of European jazz musicians—horns, guitars, keys—bringing colour, texture, and exploratory edge. Together, they created a sound that was both raw and elevating, rich in rhythm and full of forward momentum.

Talk us through the release a little if you will and what inspired you to revisit this music?

In 2024 I licensed the track Pili Pili which was a Balearic classic, I got Coyote to do an edit but it was the ease in which I was able to license this track that got me thinking about the Selected Works EP, I proposed it to the team who look after Jaspers catalogue and they liked the idea. Dr Rob over on Ban Ban Ton Ton wrote an excellent piece about it for reference.

So this is part of your ‘Selected Works Series’. What other works have you covered in this collection. Please talk us through them a little.

As mentioned earlier, Ryo Kawasaki and Joan Bibiloni have had Selected Works EPs

Ryo Kawasaki was a jazz fusion guitarist, composer and band leader from Tokyo, Japan. He is best known as one of the first musicians to develop and popularise the fusion genre and for helping to develop the guitar synthesizer in collaboration with Roland Corporation and Korg. His album Ryo Kawasaki & the Golden Dragon Live was one of the first all digital recordings.

Here is a great insight to Joan also - https://banbantonton.com/2020/09/09/interview-joan-bibiloni/

https://ryokawasaki.bandcamp.com/album/selected-works-1979-to-1983

https://ryokawasaki.bandcamp.com/album/selected-works-part-2-1976-to-1980

https://joanbibiloni.bandcamp.com/album/selected-works-1982-to-1989

Do you have your sights already set on the next collection in this series?

Not yet, I am busy finalizing the 2026 schedule and it’s looking very busy :o) I usually give the Selected Works releases a few years to manifest.

What else is NNS working on that you would like to share?

Very excited about Mondo Love and Betrayal, which I will be working on from early 2026 with a full album lined up for summer. Below is an extract from their artist bio to give you some background and flavour.

For Mondo Love & Betrayal, a duo formed of Neil ‘Nail’ Tolliday and Henry Claude Scott, the spark that lit their musical partnership was a shared love of classy synth-pop and the colourful and creative end of 1980s dance-pop, it was an urge to scratch that itch, as much as a mutual admiration for each other’s work, that initially brought them together.

It would be fair to say that Tolliday and Scott have trodden different musical paths over the course of their respective careers. Tolliday, under the now familiar Nail alias and many others besides (A.M Vibe, Lucky Lime and Smoke to name just three), has become a respected figure on the UK electronic underground, renowned not only for the quality of his dancefloor-focused deep house productions (he was once a part of the extended DIY family) but also his passion for boundary-blurring experiments and albums of unusual electronica. He was, of course, also a member of renowned downtempo duo Bent alongside long-term collaborator Simon Mills.

Scott, on the other hand, is a guitarist, producer – and now reticent but talented frontman – who cut his teeth playing jazz. He initially rose to prominence via his Torn Sail collaboration with singer-songwriter Huw Costin, with the pair delivering folksy blasts of downtempo and Balearic brilliance for labels including Claremont 56 and NuNorthern Soul. Scott emphasised his musical credentials further alongside another fellow Nottingham resident and Constellations Workshop regular John ‘Ming’ Thompson as Brown Fang. The duo’s two albums to date blur the boundaries between downtempo, ambient, Balearic, krautrock and American minimalism, offering up sublime instrumental soundscapes.

If we find ourselves in Ibiza, where is essential for us to visit?

Sunset session at Hostel La Torre, early evening drinks on the roof of The Standard overlooking Dalt Vila & brunch at the Croissant Show in Ibiza Town.

What was the last record you purchased out of interest?

Dip In The Pool - What About This Love (Chaos In The CBD Remix) 12”

What has been one of the highlights of this past year for you?

Being honest, just seeing my friends and family being healthy and navigating the bumps in the road that life has thrown at them over the last 12 months.

Is there anything else you would like to tell us?

I touched on it earlier but I have started to create content for the NuNorthern Soul YouTube channel. A mixture of off the beaten track slow travel and interviews with people from Ibiza and / or the eclectic / balearic music scene.

Check out the latest release from Phil Cooper.