5 Facts / 5 Tracks: Sonic Soul Orchestra
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British producer JP Firmin, recording as Sonic Soul Orchestra, launches his new imprint People Watching this spring with ‘Good Inside’, a collaboration with vocalist Kathy Brown. The label’s debut release pairs Firmin’s soulful production with Brown’s lead vocal, arriving alongside an edit from S.K.O.D. that brings a piano-led arrangement to the track before returning it to the main groove.
Firmin spent years touring with pop and rap acts before reconnecting with house music during the COVID period, a return that quickly turned prolific. Productions and remixes appeared across SoSure Music, Midnight Riot, Quantize, King St, Groove Odyssey and a string of others, building the momentum that has now led to People Watching.
“People Watching is rooted in the spirit of early House Music culture, drawing from the core elements that made (and continue to make) the scene such an uplifting, inclusive, and an addictive place to be. At its heart, our new label is about capturing feeling: wellbeing, togetherness, and the full emotional spectrum that dance music holds, from joy to melancholy and everything in between. I’m really excited to share this brand-new space for all the quality music we have lined up!” – Sonic Soul Orchestra
Kathy Brown has been a fixture of house and club music for the best part of three decades. Originally the lead vocalist in Praxis, she built a solo profile through US dance chart placements in the late 1990s, including a top five finish with ‘Joy’ in 1999. In 2004 she appeared as lead vocalist on Soul Central’s ‘Strings Of Life (Stronger On My Own)’, a UK release built around Rhythm Is Rhythm’s 1989 house classic. Her work with Sonic Soul Orchestra, including earlier releases ‘Need You’ and ‘So Into You’, continues that run.
We caught up with Sonic Soul Orchestra to delve a little deeper into his backstory, as he shares 5 little-known facts about himself and 5 tracks that hold memories…
5 Facts
1. My day job is a Tour Director/Manager for major pop and rap artists. I’ve toured the world over with likes of Rihanna, Drake and Kehlani.
2. I used to work on the production line making Ford tractors in the late Eighties.
3. I attended Obama’s inauguration party in Washington with Rihanna.
4. I bum rushed the stage at a Jungle Brothers gig at Colchester Uni back in the mid Eighties.
5. I took Steve Raine from Hard Times to WMC to sign everyone up for the infamous bagels party Down and Out in London.
5 Tracks
1. The Style Council – You’re The Best Thing
This is from my time as a rude boy wearing DM’s, a Fred Perry shirt, a shaved head, and kissing Becky behind the bike sheds!
2. Trouble Funk – Still Smokin
I saw these live at the Astoria, London, back in the mid Eighties at the wonderful Delirium night with the awesome Noel and Maurice Watson.
3. The Specials – Too Much Too Young
Still in my rude boy days, but I progressed to kissing Becky behind the under eighteens disco.
4. The Jackson Sisters – I Believe In Miracles
From the Breaks & Beats era – I was getting into early hip hop and the breaks that made it. Music Power Ilford!
5. Sueno Latino with Manuel Gottsching – E2 E4
Aah, this brings back memories of the Summer Of Love when I was going to M25 raves like Sunrise and Biology, along with legendary parties like Shoom and Paul Oakenfold’s Spectrum night at Heaven in London.
Sonic Soul Orchestra Ft Kathy Brown ‘Good Inside’ (Incl. S.K.O.D. Edit) is out now on Traxsource exclusive / Full release on May 8th 2026 on People Watching. Get it here!
