A Man Called Adam's Sally Rodgers and Steve Jones have been making pioneering electronic music since the late 80s. Exploring and assimilating diverse musical influences, the Guardian recently described them as "chillout masters famed for their blissful, sun-dappled sound." Throughout their careers, they've produced genre-defining tracks in Acid Jazz, Balearic House, Ibiza Chill Out and Nu British House. Their inclusion on popular compilation series such as Café del Mar means their music is streamed by millions. Yet despite their success as producers, composers, and remixers, they continue to push the boundaries of their creative practice.
Both Rodgers and Jones have PhDs (from the University of St Andrews and De Montfort University respectively), and their doctoral research spans the fields of sound, technology and lyric form.
Now living and working in Teesside, their 2023 album "The Girl With a Hole In Her Heart" represents a complex mediation of Sally's childhood experiences there, the region's wild coastal beauty, and its post-industrial transformation. Electronic Sound Magazine describes it as "a fusion of biographical stories, breezy pop notes and experimental field recordings... as mesmerising as it is unnerving."
To coincide with the album's release, Sally and Steve undertook an artists’ residency at MIMA (The Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) as part of a major exhibition - People Powered: Stories from the River Tees in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery. For this exhibition, AMCA premiered a specially commissioned sound work, curated a regionally focused vinyl listening collection, and with official tech partners Pioneer DJ & Pro Audio, facilitated Sunday Music Sessions that examined the history and dynamism of Teesside's music scene.
This residency, alongside other recent commissions – including the Sonic Rituals sound art residency in West Cornwall, The Gutter Girls installation for Hartlepool's Wintertide Festival, and the Ha'Penny Sound Walk (an experiential audio installation in Saltburn's historic Valley Gardens) – collectively demonstrate the ongoing evolution and increasingly interdisciplinary nature of their artistic practice.
Conducting playful sound art workshops, activating gallery spaces with sound, and experimenting with sound sculpture, installation, visual art, and video are among the progressive methodologies that characterise their work as they move forward.
Bio.
Sally Rodgers holds an M.Litt in Poetry and a PhD in Modern Poetics/Music from the University of St Andrews where her tutors included the poets Don Paterson, Kathleen Jamie, John Burnside, and Robert Crawford. Her research bridges her twin passions of lyric forms and electronic music, exploring the historical impact of media technologies on oral, written, and music-based poetries. She's deeply engaged with contemporary music, sound and literature in all its forms, with particular expertise in electronic dance, urban music and remix culture.
As director of Other Records, A Man Called Adam's label, Sally manages the business affairs of AMCA's catalogue worldwide and oversees their music's release and marketing strategy. Her teaching background includes leading sound art and creative writing workshops and working as a senior lecturer in Music Business practice at Leeds Conservatoire, where students named her 'most inspiring teacher' in 2018. As a creative entrepreneur, she's secured many commissions including sound design for BBC radio, The British Museum, and the National Science Museum, while also licensing AMCA works for TV and advertising.
Sally has worked as a voice-over artist and radio presenter (BBC Radio 2, 3, 4 & 6) and served as Tutor/Radio Supervisor for the Creative Writing Summer Schools at St Andrews. She's passionate about wildlife conservation and is a regular contributor to Nature, Literature and Arts magazine "Caught By The River."
She's also a busy, international DJ who brings thoughtfulness, energy, and emotion to her sets. Since returning to DJing in 2016, she's developed a distinctive sound that blends her own edits and remixes with jazz-fusion, global roots, deep house, cosmic disco, ambient, and experimental tracks. With residencies at legendary venues and memorable festival performances, Sally has established herself as one of the UK's finest music selectors.
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Dr. Steve Jones holds an MSc. in Sound Design from Edinburgh University and earned his PhD at De Montfort University. His scholarly investigations explore the creative potential of new media and portable audio technologies, with particular focus on mobile soundwalks, situated composition and headphonics. At the core of his work is a fascination with the connections between people, sound and place.
Under the mentorship of John Richards and his Dirty Electronics Ensemble, Steve has collaborated with prestigious international music institutions, including IRCAM in Paris, Stockholm's Royal College of Music, the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, STEIM in Amsterdam and Locus Sonus in Aix-en-Provence. He has been a roving member of various free improvisation collectives in Paris, where his sound is described as "electroacoustic music meets British rock n' roll."
Jones's educational career includes teaching positions at De Montfort and Coventry Universities, as well as conducting workshops on music and mobile coding in school classrooms across France and French Guyana. Currently, he serves as Senior Lecturer in music production at Teesside University.
His publications cover topics including acoustic measurements during the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile music practice models, reductionist interfaces for musical expression and mobile devices as folk instruments. Steve’s research at the intersection of technology, sound and community engagement continues to contribute to the field of contemporary music technology.
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