Techno visionary battles near-fatal allergic reaction, reveals a new musical universe
Ibrahim Alfa Jr., the veteran beatmaker who defined a generation of underground techno, is pulling through a harrowing ordeal – a cascade of anaphylactic shock and pulmonary embolisms nearly ended his life, forcing him into a three-month self-imposed exile.
A face that failed recognition sparks a fight for survival
It began with a simple phone glitch: Alfa Jr.’s facial recognition software abruptly stopped working, a jarring disruption that revealed the terrifying extent of his illness. A visit to his sister in 2022 triggered her immediate concern, leading to a trip to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with a severe allergic reaction and a life-threatening pulmonary embolism – a condition he likened chillingly to the fate of Andy Weatherall.
From rave icon to isolated creator
Following treatment, Alfa Jr. was sent home, but his recovery was far from complete. A second pulmonary embolism emerged the following weekend, followed by a heart attack just days later. He soon discovered he’d developed a baffling “allergy to everything,” even water swelling his face, forcing him into a three-month lockdown, surviving solely on porridge and lettuce leaves. “You just don’t know what you can eat,” he recounts, “it was that visceral.”
A torrent of sound from the brink
Trapped within his room, Alfa Jr. unleashed a furious creative torrent – “at least 500 tracks,” he estimates – transforming his isolation into an audio diary. The music, notably distinct from his celebrated work with Cristian Vogel, Surgeon, and Regis, explores uncharted territory: jazz-influenced abstractions, weighty beats, and moments of unsettling quietude. “I think that once I accepted the fact that I might not live, the walls sort of came down,” he stated. “I’ve never really made regular music anyway, but I feel I’ve found a home in my head now, in a way.”
A life re-defined by constraint
Now, with a “really rigid medical regime” – involving “a vast amount of medications, sometimes four or five doctor’s appointments a week” – Alfa Jr. is cautiously emerging from his seclusion. Social interactions are carefully planned, acknowledging the “price to pay of having a rest afterwards.” His extraordinary career, rooted in a childhood spent between Nigeria and England, fueled by his father’s political activity and his mother’s nomadic lifestyle, stands in stark contrast to his current reality. He recounts a childhood marked by paranoia and a constant awareness of his father’s potential danger, a stark reminder of the world he’d grown up in.
Prison as a crucible
His journey took a devastating turn when he served two and a half years for drug offences, an experience that paradoxically reignited his passion for music. Imprisonment, he describes, fostered a unique studio in his mind, a space for visualizing tracks and composing melodies, providing a vital anchor during his confinement. “It’s hard to explain it without sounding really strange, but I kind of made a little studio in my head,” he says. “It was so viscerally brought home to me that none of these people really have a way to express themselves and that’s probably a massive driving force behind their behaviour.”
A resurgence of sound and spirit
Released with just $50 in his pocket and a salvaged laptop, Alfa Jr. posted his first track online, swiftly attracting attention from Black Catalogue. Today, he’s embracing a more open future, planning new albums, a return to label ownership, and incorporating live instrumentation – a departure from his previously uncompromising techno stance. “It’s such a cliche, but I’m kind of smugly amazed about it,” he admits. “Before, with music, I was always trying to get to the centre of the maze, but now I’m just happy appreciating its beauty and how it’s constructed. And yeah, I just love it.”