• INKYBLACKNESS

    Biog Discog
  • If you entered New York’s twilight clubland in 1981,
  • hardly an hour would pass without hearing the sonic
  • seduction of the new Yello Bostich 12” remix.
  • The track was the first studio offering from
  • Leeds-born producer Ian Tregoning in collaboration
  • with the band. It was an effective combination
  • resulting in many of Yello's 12” classics including
  • I Love You, Lost Again, Base for Alec, Oh Yeah,
  • Vicious Games, Goldrush and The Rhythm Divine along
  • with the albums : You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess,
  • Stella, The New Mix In One Go and One Second.

  • Yello were signed to DO-IT Records in London,
  • an independent label started by Ian and his brother
  • with producer Robin Scott. In 1978 they launched
  • M Pop Muzik - one of the first global electronic hits
  • of the 70s. One year later DO-IT followed with the
  • ground-breaking Adam & The Ants album Dirk Wears
  • White Sox which dominated the independent charts for
  • 18 months. In 1982, DO-IT ceased trading and Ian
  • joined the Yello management team working out of London
  • and New York but continued working in the Yello studio.
  • He organised the sync for Oh Yeah in the 1986 John Hughes
  • film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

  • After 6 years abroad it was time to get back to
  • London where he met Kid Batchelor who ran Warriors
  • Dance - one of the first UK House labels, based at Addis
  • Ababa Studios. They created an interesting signature
  • sound on Bang The Party, No Smoke, Robert Owens and the
  • Land Of Plenty project - a surreal fusion of funk, electro
  • and sampling. Moving to Orinoco and Strongroom studios,
  • Ian worked with a host of distinguished projects. As
  • producer, engineer and mixer you’ll find his name on :
  • Boris Blank, Fela Kuti, Orbital, Joe Strummer, Murk
  • Productions, Propaganda, Republica, Test Department,
  • The Grid, Underworld, Yellow Magic Orchestra and the
  • late Billy Mackenzie.

  • In 1993 he formed Inky Blacknuss with Alex Knight and
  • Andrea Parker and released two dark and dirty 12”s on Andrew
  • Weatherall’s label. In 1995, he went solo and produced
  • the Stranger project, releasing the Volcano and Partly Cloudy
  • 12”s for the revered Plink-Plonk imprint. This
  • culminated in the double-album Rolling Thunder which
  • featured contributions from Karl Hyde (Underworld),
  • Dieter Meier (Yello) and Chicago DJ Derrick Carter. It was
  • described by DJ magazine as ‘an intriguing album of
  • electronica, dense soundscapes and an abounding sense
  • of malevolence set over travelling rhythms’.

  • Since then he’s concentrated on writing music for
  • TV/Film with over 150 songs for the Extreme Music Library. His
  • dark ambience has been used in : CSI Miami, CSI New York,
  • Homeland, Horizon, Nextworld, Parks and Recreation, Sex
  • and the City, Star Trek, Top Gear and the first
  • Transformers film.

  • Between 2005-2012, Ian collaborated with the visionary
  • drummer Jaki Liebezeit (CAN) to produce the Magnetik North
  • Evolver album - it’s a fusion of live drums, acoustic
  • instruments and analog sequencing. The results are a hypnotic
  • blend of krautrock, industrial and Detroit electro.
  • Kris Needs described it beautifully as ‘like listening
  • to a raga in an earthquake’. Sadly, after a short illness,
  • Jaki passed away in 2017. To celebrate Jaki’s lifefong influence,
  • Ian play live with Jono Podmore at the Köln Philharmonie
  • along with Irmin Schmidt, Drums Off Chaos, Jochen Irmler,
  • Michael Rother, Jah Wobble and many more.

  • In 2014 he teamed up again with Boris Blank to produce
  • the Electrified box-set. A magnificent collection of unreleased
  • solo tracks from 1977-2014. In 2016, Ian finally persuaded
  • Yello to play live and helped produce the four sell-out shows
  • at KraftwerkBerlin. Later that year, he hosted the Yellosphere
  • event at Ministry of Sound in London with Yello, Carl Craig
  • and Andrew Weatherall. Along with Andrew, he remixed the
  • Yello Frautonium 12” released on Blank Media.

  • In 2018, Boris and Ian launched a custom music production
  • service for Film and TV, more details at Blank Media.

  • Ian plays piano though his first instrument was trumpet
  • in a really atrocious school orchestra in Leeds.
  • He read Physics at the University of Salford in Manchester.




  • ADAM+THE ANTS CARTROUBLE 1+2 (Remix) DO-IT
    ARNOLD JARVIS THE WAY YOU Mint Condition
    BANG THE PARTY BACK TO PRISON Warriors Dance
    BIG BUDDHA BIG BUDDHA Concrete
    BORIS BLANK ELECTRIFIED Blank Media
    BUSHWACKA! THE EGYPTIAN Plank
    CABARET VOLTAIRE CONFORM TO DEFORM Virgin
    CARLOS PERON FRIGOREX EP K422
    CAROLYN CAN'T GET IN XL
    FELA KUTI O.D.O.O Eurobond
    FELA KUTI C.B.B. Eurobond
    GUIDED MISSILE GUIDED MISSILE Suck It+C
    HEADRILLAZ SPECTOR V2
    INKY BLACKNUSS BLACKNUSS EP Sabrettes
    INKY BLACKNUSS DRUMULATOR EP Sabrettes
    IJAKK THIS IS DEM Malawi
    IJAKK KASM/IJAKK Skunk
    INTERLOPER HE'S GONE AWAY EP Inky Blackness
    INTERLOPER SIX DRAGONS Inky Blackness
    INTERLOPER BITCHSLAPPER EP Plank
    JOE STRUMMER + THE MESCALEROS ROCK ART & THE X-RAY STYLE Hellcat
    KALIMA SHINE Factory
    LAND OF PLENTY KID'S AURA Warriors Dance
    LAND OF PLENTY CHECK THIS MEGA Warriors Dance
    LAYO+BUSHWACKA! FEELS CLOSER Olmeto
    LAYO+BUSHWACKA!/MAGNETIK NORTH DJEMBE (REMIX) Olmeto
    MAGNETIK NORTH EVOLVER Inky Blackness
    MANTRAC COASTER Plink Plonk
    MEGALON SORCEROR Plink Plonk
    MEGALON ASTEROID EP Plink Plonk
    MEGALON PANDORA'S BOX Plink Plonk
    MESSIAH DESIRE Warner Bros
    MICHAEL JACKSON GONNA BE STARTING SOMETHING Ministry Of Sound
    NO SMOKE ABELE DANCE Warriors Dance
    NO SMOKE INTERNATIONAL SMOKE SIGNAL Warriors Dance
    ORBITAL BELFAST ffrr
    ORBITAL SATAN ffrr
    PARIS ANGELS SLIPPERY MAN Virgin
    REPUBLICA REPUBLICA Deconstruction
    ROBERT OWENS JOY Warriors Dance
    ROBERT OWENS WINDS OF CHANGE Warriors Dance
    ROBERT OWENS GOTTA WORK Freetown
    ROMEO'S DAUGHTER ROMEO'S DAUGHTER Jive
    SAFFRON ONE LOVE Warner Bros
    SALT TANK ORINOCO SESSIONS 4 Real Comms
    SHAMEN HEAL One Little Indian
    SHAMEN PRO-GEN One Little Indian
    SHAMEN MAKE IT MINE One Little Indian
    SHAMEN HYPERREAL One Little Indian
    SHAMEN EN-TACT One Little Indian
    SHAMEN BOSS DRUM One Little Indian
    SHAMEN DIFFERENT DRUM One Little Indian
    SHAMEN AXIS MUNDI One Little Indian
    SLAVE RAIDER TAKE THE WORLD BY STORM Jive
    SPECTRAL EMOTIONS VOLUME 1 Labworks
    STRANGER VOLCANO Plink Plonk
    STRANGER PARTLY CLOUDY Plink Plonk
    STRANGER SHAZBAT EP Octopus
    STRANGER ROLLING THUNDER Octopus
    STRANGER/C-RELL ft JOCELYN BROWN DRUM WHISPERS Subwoofer
    TEST DEPARTMENT BEATING THE RETREAT Some Bizzare
    TEST DEPARTMENT COMPULSION Some Bizzare
    THE BIG BANG/LUV 1 YOU CAN RUN Big Bang
    THE BIG BANG/MURK PRODUCTIONS BUGGED OUT Solid Pleasure
    THE GRID FLOTATION REMIX BMG
    THE GRID NOD TO N2O Warner Bros
    THE WOODENTOPS STOP THIS CAR ROUGH TRADE
    THE WOODENTOPS STAY OUT THE LIGHT Hyperactive
    THE WOODENTOPS BEFORE DURING AFTER One Little Indian
    WOODENTOPS/BANG THE PARTY TAINTED WORLD Hyperactive
    THOMAS MAPFUMO VARUMBUKO EMI (SA)
    TOKAMAK SETUP Plank
    TOKAMAK SETUP (BUSHWACKA) Y2K
    UNEMPLOYED MINISTERS UNEMPLOYED MINISTERS Warner Bros (Germany)
    UNMEN ALSO WITH YOU Some Bizzare
    VARIOUS ARTISTS ACID TRAX Warriors Dance
    VARIOUS ARTISTS TUFFEST OF THE TUFFEST Warriors Dance
    VARIOUS ARTISTS PARASOLS 1 Plink Plonk
    VARIOUS ARTISTS PARASOLS 2 Plink Plonk
    WILLIAM ORBIT WATER/VINE LEAF (UNDERWORLD EDIT) IRS
    YELLO BOSTICH 12" DO-IT
    YELLO BASE FOR ALEC DO-IT
    YELLO I LOVE YOU 12" Phonogram
    YELLO LOST AGAIN 12" DO-IT
    YELLO PUMPING VELVET/NO MORE WORDS 12" Phonogram
    YELLO OH YEAH 12" Phonogram
    YELLO VICIOUS GAMES 12" Phonogram
    YELLO DESIRE 12" Phonogram
    YELLO PINBALL CHA CHA Phonogram
    YELLO CALL IT LOVE (TREGO SNARE) 12" Phonogram
    YELLO SANTIAGO 12"
    YELLO YOU GOTTA SAY YES TO ANOTHER EXCESS Phonogram
    YELLO STELLA
    YELLO ONE
    YELLO THE NEW MIX IN ONE GO
    YELLO SPACE ADVENTURE COBRA Manga
    YELLO ESSENTIAL Phonogram
    YELLO POCKET UNIVERSE Phonogram
    YELLO TOY Polydor
    YELLO FRAUTONIUM 12" Blank Media
    YELLO/BILLY MACKENZIE THE RHYTHM DIVINE Phonogram
    YELLO/SHIRLEY BASSEY THE RHYTHM DIVINE Phonogram
    YELLO JUNGLE BILL Phonogram
    YELLO FRAUTONIUM Phonogram
    YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA FIRECRACKER Internal/ffrr