Producer and visual artist Hungry Man steps out of the production shadows this month to release his debut album, See With Your Ears.
Out on Jump Music, the long-player arrives alongside a pioneering audio-reactive live show, set to launch at The Vault in Bournemouth on 22nd May 2026. After 27 years operating within the electronic music circuit, this project from Hungry Man serves as a culmination of the producer’s multi-genre expertise, anchoring his vast technical knowledge firmly in the traditions of UK sound system culture.
The roots of this album stretch back to the late 1990s, heavily influenced by London’s pirate radio broadcasts and the visceral physical impact of the Notting Hill Carnival. For Hungry Man, those early encounters with towering speaker stacks defined his approach to low-end frequencies and communal dancefloor energy. This reverence for the raw, unpolished spirit of the free party era drives the core ethos of the record.
“I just love sub-bass and that unique feeling you get when you stand in front of a stack and itโs playing music with plenty of 20 Hz,” Hungry Man explains. “The genres of house, bassline, drumโnโbass and dub would not exist without sound system culture and itโs important to recognise the Black Caribbean heritage at its origin. My tunes โBassline Rudeboyโ and โCliff Edge Dubโ are sound system devotion music. Itโs my dream for this to come full circle and to hear this song played on a carnival rig.”
In the studio, See With Your Ears is a masterclass in hardware integration and analogue workflow. Rejecting artificial intelligence entirely, Hungry Man opted to play the majority of the instruments himself, seamlessly switching between a Prophet Pro 2, a Roland 303 clone, bass guitars, and a Vermona drum synth. The production process focused on capturing long, live takes that were later edited with a surgical ear, rather than meticulously programming MIDI from the start. On tracks like ‘Polly Molly’, the foundation was laid via a 30-minute live jam on a King Korg synthesiser, manipulating the arpeggiator, filters, and delays by hand.
“When I make music, I turn off my conscious logical mind and treat my body as the instrument,” he notes. “I just write whatever comes out and keep writing until thereโs no more to write and the next phase is to edit it down and structure it. When I feel like Iโve captured the essence of the song or the tune, I start to become more critical and more surgical and I look closely at the arrangement.”
The narrative arc of the album also leans into cinematic grit. Tracks such as ‘Barrel-load of Funk’ and ‘Scams’ pull heavy influence from the cult British films of Hungry Man’s youth, specifically Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The result is a storytelling approach to dance music, where sampled vocals and distorted guitar riffs create a distinctly narrative-driven club experience.
However, the album is only half of the equation. The project was initially born from a challenge set by DJ Krust during a mentoring programme, pushing Hungry Man to create a truly unique live offering. Drawing on his background as a festival VJ and lighting designer, he built an audio-reactive visual system designed to combat the digital isolation of modern arena shows. Utilising Ableton Live, Beam for Live, and MadMapper, the setup maps audio waveforms and frequency spectra directly to robotic lights and lasers, creating a cohesive visual unit that reacts in real-time without the use of timecoded video clips.
“As society becomes disconnected, digital, remote and virtual, this experience uses digital tools to bring people together and promote social cohesion,” he states, discussing his aversion to crowds staring passively at 4K screens. “I think lights and visuals and audio really need to be in bed with each other. I thought it would be awesome if all the big changes and relationships in the music are visually represented, so everything visual is literally dancing to the music.”
With the launch event transforming The Vault into an immersive multimedia space complete with vertical LED panels and a four-laser installation, Hungry Man is finally delivering his “euphoric dream” to the masses. It is a digital art project requiring no explanation – only a willingness to step onto the dancefloor and see the music for yourself.
View this post on Instagram
Grab tickets for the event here
Check out all our latest articles here
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where is the Hungry Man album launch?
โผ
The album launch takes place on 22nd May 2026 at The Vault in Bournemouth. It is a co-promotion with local promoters Southbound, featuring a diverse range of bass music including jungle, house, and UK garage.
What is the core concept behind the See With Your Ears live AV show?
โผ
The live show is a fully audio-reactive experience where all lights, lasers, and visuals are directly controlled in real-time by the audio from the live set. It utilizes no pre-programmed video clips or timecoding, meaning if the audio stops, the visuals stop instantly too.
How did mentoring with DJ Krust influence the creation of the album?
โผ
While in a mentoring programme run by DJ Krust, Hungry Man was challenged to create a unique live offering to bring to the world. Developing this audio-reactive AV show subsequently inspired him to produce the album to accompany it.
What musical influences helped shape the eclectic sound of this record?
โผ
Early influences include listening to The Prodigy’s ‘Music for the Jilted Generation’ and ‘The Experience’ on cassette at age 16, as well as watching the film Blues Brothers repeatedly during childhood summers. Specific artistic influences span from Orbital and Chemical Brothers to DJ Krust, Scientist, and King Tubby.
How did London’s pirate radio culture affect the album’s multi-genre DNA?
โผ
Growing up in London, Hungry Man immersed himself in unmoderated pirate radio broadcasts. The sheer diversity of genres played on those stations inspired him to maintain an eclectic, multi-genre approach instead of playing to the masses.
Were any AI tools used in the production of See With Your Ears?
โผ
No AI tools were used at any point. Hungry Man played almost all the instruments himself, including the Prophet Pro 2, a Roland 303 clone, bass guitar, and a Vermona drum synth, favouring live hardware jams over automated programming.
What hardware was used to create the tracks ‘Polly Molly’ and ‘Robots with Guns’?
โผ
‘Polly Molly’ was built from a 30-minute live hardware jam using the arpeggiator and filter sweeps on a King Korg synthesiser. ‘Robots with Guns’ was an analogue session using a Roland 303 clone run through a Big Muff bass pedal alongside a Vermona drum synth, both sequenced via an Arturia hardware MIDI sequencer.
What software applications power the audio-reactive visual system?
โผ
The live setup runs through Ableton Live as the DAW, which sends real-time data out via VSTs. It utilises Beam for Live for lighting programming, Imaginando Visual Synth and MadMapper for generative visuals, and MadMapper for detailed laser programming.
