Paul Hammond is a London-based producer and founder of the label Real Soon. He has been making records since 1984 originally with industrial avant-funk group A Primary Industry and then from 1989-1998 as Ultramarine in partnership with Ian Cooper. Paul’s musical roots were established in the early 1980s listening to the new wave funk & electronic experiments of A Certain Ratio, 23 Skidoo, Cabaret Voltaire, The Pop Group, New Order, Gang of Four, The Slits, The Raincoats and the broader independent scene of the time typified by labels such as Factory, Rough Trade and Les Disques du CrŽpuscule. Ultramarine’s early output was on the seminal Brussels-based label Les Disques du Crepuscule. The group first gained serious attention with the album ‘Every Man and Woman is a Star’ (Rough Trade, 1992) and this led to Ultramarine signing to Warners sub-label Blanco Y Negro under the A&R control of Rough Trade founder Geoff Travis. Ultramarine recorded two albums for Blanco - United Kingdoms (1993) and Bel Air (1995) - and during this period toured widely in Europe and the US including the ‘Communion’ tour of the US in 1992 with Orbital and Meat Beat Manifesto and a support slot on Bjšrk’s ‘Debut’ US & European tour in 1993. Ultramarine parted company with Warners in 1997 and recorded the album ‘A User’s Guide’ (1998) for New Electronica. Since ceasing operations with Ultramarine in 1998, Paul established the label Real Soon in late 2002. The label was primarily an outlet for his own material but quickly developed to include other artists from Europe and the US, taking in various flavours of deep and adventurous House and Techno music.