Ex-Black Grape and Ruthless Rap Assassins MC Kermit (aka Paul Leveridge) is back with a new project - a collaboration with electro-funk pioneer and edits-maestro DJ Greg Wilson.

Greg fills us in on the BLIND ARCADE MEETS SUPER WEIRD SUBSTANCE IN THE MORPHOGENETIC FIELD project below:

"Throughout the 80s Kermit was one of the ubiquitous faces on the Manchester scene. He was always where it was happening, be it The Reno, Legend, The Gallery, Berlin, The Playpen, The Hacienda, The Kitchen or Konspiracy.

I first knew him as a teenage Jazz-Fusion dancer, part of a highly rated crew called The Scorpions. This was before he became one of the first wave of youths in this country to embrace Hip Hop, initially as part of the breakdance crew Broken Glass, who were pretty much one of the foundation stones in the evolution of the the British Hip Hop movement, before he cemented his place in UK Hip Hop folklore later in the decade, as a member of the Ruthless Rap Assassins.

Kermit achieved major chart success in the 90s working alongside Shaun Ryder in Black Grape, but, given Shaun's Happy Mondays legacy, Kermit's role was somewhat overshadowed, many regarding him as Shaun's rapper sidekick, rather than his writing partner and co-frontman. The high water mark was when Black Grape topped the chart with their debut LP, but it all went wrong for Kermit from there, with his heroin addiction almost costing him his life, having contracted septicaemia as a result of injecting with a dirty needle.

With Black Grape imploding, and his next project, Big Dog, failing to take off, Kermit would spend the next decade dealing with worsening health and the inevitability of a major heart operation hanging over him, resulting from damage called by the septicaemia. He completely separated from the music industry, living a tucked out of the way existence in Monmouth and nowadays Chester. The day of reckoning eventually arrived, and the heart op was thankfully a complete success. Tigger got his bounce back.

Given this second lease of life, Kermit, like a man possessed, launched into whole new round of largely good vibe material, informed by the themes of redemption and faith. He embarked on this undertaking with writing partner, EVM128, with whom he formed a new project, Blind Arcade. He then approached me to get involved as producer, and, having heard what he was doing, impressed by the quality of the demos, I suggested that I work into them, whilst bringing some new track ideas to the table, constructing a mixtape that would bring Blind Arcade's music to wider attention before I look to finish the recordings and gear towards an official album release.

The result is 'Blind Arcade Meets Super Weird Substance In The Morphogenetic Field', and we believe we've created something really special here. It's been quite a trip for Kermit, but one that elevates him into the Manchester pantheon, for he is surely overdue recognition as one of the city's great recording artists, given his legacy with the Rap Assassins and Black Grape, and now via this inspired new work.

Those who hold the Manchester's musical heritage sacred will surely agree."

Hear the mixtape here:

https://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/blind-arcade-meets-super-weird-substance-in-the-morphogenetic-field/s-hIkzN