Alan Abrahams, the man behind Portable and Bodycode, grew up in an impoverished Cape Town township, tagged 'Beverly Hills' by the locals. Inspired by the first batch of Chicago house records, he experimented with ways of combining traditional African rhythms with the 4/4 sound of house. In 1997 Abrahams relocated to London, completing numerous projects for German label Background Records before starting up his own label, Süd Electronic in 2002. His characteristic sound of deep, techno-influenced vocal house and melancholic electronica has received high accolades since and has further appeared on labels such as ~scape, Yore, and, most recently, Perlon.