The Listening Room at 180 Studios

From a backroom studio in Guadeloupe to dancefloors across the Caribbean and beyond, Disques Debs became the heartbeat of the island’s sound. In this episode, recorded at Devon Turnbull’s Listening Room at 180 Studios, DJ and archivist Poly-Ritmo explores how one small label reshaped the musical landscape of the Antilles.

Founded by Henri Debs in the late 1950s, Disques Debs released more than 500 records, spanning Gwoka, Biguine, Cadence-Lypso, and Zouk, and became a bridge between local traditions and diasporic innovation.

Across five decades of releases, Poly-Ritmo reveals how Debs’ DIY spirit turned constraint into creativity by recording orchestras in a converted cinema, hand-printing sleeves, and mixing each track himself.

 From a backroom studio in Guadeloupe to dancefloors across the Caribbean and beyond, Disques Debs became the heartbeat of an island’s sound. In this episode, recorded at Devon Turnbull’s Listening Room at 180 Studios, DJ and archivist Poly-Ritmo explores how one small label reshaped the musical landscape of the Antilles.

Founded by Henri Debs in the late 1950s, Disques Debs released more than 500 records, spanning Gwoka, Biguine, Cadence-Lypso, and Zouk, and became a bridge between local traditions and diasporic innovation.

Across five decades of releases, Poly-Ritmo reveals how Debs’ DIY spirit turned constraint into creativity by recording orchestras in a converted cinema, hand-printing sleeves, and mixing each track himself.

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In the latest episode of The Listening Room, writer, DJ, and Run Dem Crew founder Charlie Dark explores the records that made 1990s hip-hop a lifeline for young Londoners. Recorded inside Devon Turnbull’s Listening Room at 180 Studios, the session maps how a sound born in New York rewired the capital’s streets, clubs and imaginations.

Moving from Public Enemy’s Def Jam tour shockwaves to pirate tapes, Live to London broadcasts and coveted Soho import shops, Charlie traces the ecosystem that raised a generation.

Through 12"s by A Tribe Called Quest, Brand Nubian, Gang Starr, Mobb Deep, Rawkus-era Mos Def and more, he unpacks how basslines, samples and storytelling shaped language, style and aspiration in Black British London. A love letter to hip hop’s golden era, told through a London lens.
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In our first episode, recorded at Devon Turnbull’s Listening Room at 180 Studios, broadcaster and collector Haseeb Iqbal revives the long-overlooked soundtracks of Lollywood: Pakistan’s once-thriving film industry.

Drawing from rare vinyl unearthed on a recent trip to Karachi, Iqbal plays music that shaped the golden age of Pakistani cinema in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s.

From the cinematic ballads of Noor Jehan and Nahid Akhtar to the psychedelic orchestrations of the Tafo Brothers and Sohail Rana, Haseeb tells a story of artistic freedom and cultural pride before the country’s creative industries were silenced under military rule.

Between records, Iqbal reflects on his own journey growing up in North London, learning about his heritage through music, and finding connection in the sounds history nearly erased.

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