DISCLAIMER: These won’t be proper reviews -as if I could write those- or have interesting technical tidbits on them. These are more of a “ah, that song reminds me of…” thing. Like the part you skip on a recipe. So it goes.

Album: Carboot soul.

Release date: April 12, 1999.

Track: 2.

Moods: Chilling out. Downtempo after a long week.

If Notorious BIG was the soundtrack of my first days in Nottingham, then Nightmares on Wax was the score for my leaving do. A late discovery, maybe about a week or so before I had to leave on March of 2004, Nightmares on Wax haphazardly arrived via Spaced, the sitcom that gave us Edgar Wright.

Besides the amazing editing work and the nerdy references, Spaced had a magnificent soundtrack, full of electronica and downtempo music. I originally wanted to talk about Fader Gladiator’s Battle of the planets, but I think Nightmares on Wax is the better song.

Coming back to Mexico from Nottingham was a slight disappointment. I genuinely thought I could “make it”, but things just don’t work the way we want, I guess. I did try again with Sheffield, but results were the same. In another world, I’d be living in the UK. In this world, I’m not.

Nightmares on Wax’s Morse is the sound of quotidian life. Arrive from work, maybe after a pint or two. Clean up, have dinner, a cuppa, and doze off to whatever the beeb has. On Sunday’s, a good walk on the park, and a roast. It’s a routine that’s drab to some, but it’s what I wanted from life, what I got from Spaced.

Best laid plans. If it didn’t happen, then, so be it. Can’t base my life on a sitcom, as great as it was.

—Sam J. Valdés López