Mo’ Wax — Where Are They Now: Palm Skin Productions / Simon Richmond (1992)
Mo’ Wax was a record label started by James Lavelle in 1992, which closed about ten years later. Initially they released 12" singles and licensed a compilation from Japan of Japanese Hip Hop, until 1994 when they began releasing albums of their artists original work. While some of these artists such as DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, and Money Mark continued releasing music after Mo’ Wax closed, others have seemingly disappeared from the music scene. In this series I will look at each artist on Mo’ Wax and try to find out where are they now…
Mo’ Wax released the label’s third 12" single in 1992, Palm Skin Productions’ Getting Out Of Hell. Palm Skin Productions is the alias of Simon Richmond, who also recorded under the names Boswick Gates, Bubbatunes, Pacific Rim Dubs, and Simon Palmskin. Chris Bowden also contributed saxophone to several of Palm Skin Productions songs, to the point that they are often referenced together.
Following Getting Out Of Hell, Mo’ Wax released several more works by Richmond, including 1993’s Time & Space EP, In A Silent Way, and This Is Just A Dance, as well as 1994’s The Beast which entered the UK Singles Charts. Richmond also contributed to Mo’ Wax’s Headz compilation in 1994, and played congas on Love T.K.O.’s Headturner album which was released in 1994 on Mo’ Wax and Major Force.
In September 1996 Palm Skin Productions’ debut album Remilixir was released on Virgin Records subsidiary Hut. All Music described the album as “one of the best Trip Hop albums to date,” and noted the song Condition Red as the albums highlight, feeling that it topped “Tricky at his own game of trip-hop darkness.” In the October 1996 issue of The Wire Peter Shapiro described Remilixir as an “occasionally beatless album, comprised of eerie ambience and moon-funk synthscapes.”
Talking to Muzik at the time of Reixilir’s release, Richmond explained his philosophy of making music and the reaction he seeks from the listener:
“Whatever it takes, a drum ’n’ bass sound, a scary sound, a sample. You fuck with it until you’ve got something which hasn’t happened before…The perfect reaction to this album would be for it to be taken seriously…And not be seen as another knob-twiddling ambient trip hop record. If it sounds like something you’ve never heard and you swear you’re never going to buy another record afterwards, that’d be a good reaction.”
Palm Skin Productions second, and most recent, album Künstruk was released in February 2000 on Howie B’s Pussyfoot Records. Pussyfoot descibed the album as:
“Palm Skin venturing further into the realms of electronica but without compromising on the funk he’s renowned for. Stark electro merged with irrepressibly funky breaks, remote synthesizers firing in other dimensions, warm chords throbbing with euphoric strains and Palm Skin weaving the layers together in seamless opposition...Multi-textured, urban and hard-hitting Künstruk is the sound of Palm Skin Productions back on the block.”
But the press weren’t as friendly. Select Magazine awarded the album 2/5 and described it as “uniformly precise and clean, it’s like a less surprising Plaid.” Select were unimpressed overall with the range of sounds and said the album felt as though it was ticking ingredients off a list which led the album to “ambient blah-dom.”
Following Künstruk’s release Palm Skin Productions has continued releasing EPs and singles, moving to Freerange Records beginning with 2005’s So Bad EP, until 2008's Magnetic North EP which was described as “immaculately produced deep, dubby house that will soothe the soul and lift the spirits.”
The most recent Palm Skin Productions release was Done in 2009 on Dark Energy Recordings who described the title track as “an absolute monster,” and the B-side Pig Iron as having “amazing ambience and subtle jazz touches…[which] will appeal to the deeper heads”.
Outside of the Palm Skin Productions moniker, Richmond has contributed to the following groups: Cousin Grizzly, Fresh Handmade Collective, Lionel Moyst Sextet, South Sea Bubble, The Bays, The Big Cheese All Stars, The Imagined Village, and The Pickled Walnuts.
Most recently Richmond released an album of folk music with Sheema Mukherjee called Karma, and in April 2020 Richmond commented on his change in direction when he posted to Facebook, “You move out of London, you have a child, you start collaborating with folk musicians. Next thing you’re the guy in lockdown sitting on your front step carving spoons.”
Outside of making spoons and folk music, in 2020 Simon Richmond has been posting a series of videos to Facebook and Instagram titled 2020 NEVER BEATEN, and has brought back his Palm Skin Productions name once more for the project, so there is hope for new Palm Skin Productions for the future.
UPDATE 6 Nov 2021: Simon Richmond has left a reply noting he has new music coming soon. Palm Skin Productions’ The Sword Will Die is out soon on Tru Thoughts.
