A new music-led storytelling platform puts the people behind the records in the spotlight, launching with a deeply personal portrait of Scottish DJ and producer Robot84.
In underground music, the records often do the talking. But what about the people behind them? The lives, relationships, missed opportunities and moments that shape an artist long before their music reaches the dancefloor?
That’s the thinking behind The Afters, a new culture-first, music-led studio dedicated to telling the stories behind the music, in the artists’ own words, at their own pace, and without losing sight of the records that brought them here.
Rather than another stream of content competing for attention, The Afters is taking a more considered approach: long-form portraits that get beneath the surface, alongside shorter stories that always lead back to the artist and their music. Its ethos is simple: not louder. Clearer.
The platform launches with ‘Robot84: Finding the Rhythm Again’, a 53-minute audio portrait of Scottish DJ and producer Scott Ferguson, whose journey through the underground dance scene spans 35 years, from Edinburgh to London and Ibiza, and into a new chapter shaped by recovery, renewed confidence, and a determination to stop holding back.
It’s a story that goes far beyond the usual artist profile.
Producing as Robot84 since 2012, Ferguson has built a catalogue of edits and productions released through labels including Nervous, Paper Recordings, Midnight Riot and Secret Life. His music has found support from international selectors including DJ Harvey, The Blessed Madonna, Gerd Janson and Greg Wilson, while his edits have also earned backing from Colleen Cosmo Murphy.
Yet, despite decades spent making music for other people’s dancefloors, Ferguson had never experienced the moment of hearing one of his own records played in a club.
That changed in an unexpected way.
On Boxing Day 2022, while on holiday with his family in Gran Canaria, Ferguson suffered an ischaemic stroke. Following seven and a half weeks in hospital, he faced the long process of learning to walk again. From his hospital bed, he sent out an edit he had been sitting on: Robot84 vs The Raff, ‘Get It Right Next Time.’
In January 2023, Jon Sa Trinxa played the track at Café Mambo in Sydney and continued to champion it. As Ferguson worked towards recovery, the music travelling back into the world became something more than a release. It offered a renewed sense of confidence, purpose and connection to the thing he had spent much of his life building.
It’s this intersection between music and lived experience that gives ‘Finding the Rhythm Again’ its weight. Through Ferguson’s own account, alongside contributions from Bill Brewster, Colleen Cosmo Murphy, Pete Gooding, Jon Sa Trinxa, family and lifelong friends, the portrait traces the relationships, rooms, records and personal turning points that have shaped his life.
Crucially, Ferguson’s own productions, edits and remixes provide the soundtrack. The result is a portrait in which the music isn’t simply discussed. It becomes part of the storytelling itself.
There’s also a sense of unfinished business. As Ferguson reflects on the difficulty of knowing when a track is finished and ready to be heard, the portrait reveals a producer who has often kept music under wraps for years. That mindset is beginning to change, with Ferguson finding a new way of working and releasing more music since 2025.
As his wife Samantha Ferguson puts it, “unreleased productions can feel like paintings sitting unseen in a loft. Now, the intention is to let them out into the world.”
For The Afters, this is precisely the kind of story worth telling: not just a catalogue of releases and career milestones, but an honest look at the person behind the records, and the experiences that give the music its meaning.
Founded by Heath Tyldesley, The Afters aims to create a space for deeper conversations and stories from underground music culture. The Robot84 portrait is the first instalment, establishing a format built around artists’ voices, their music and the people who have shared their journeys.
In a landscape that often rewards immediacy, ‘Finding the Rhythm Again’ makes a case for slowing down and listening a little closer. It’s about underground dance music, certainly, but also resilience, friendship, identity and the unexpected ways music can help us find our way forward.
And for Robot84, the next chapter is already underway.
Listen to ‘Robot84: Finding the Rhythm Again’ here
Listen to Robot84’s accompanying collection here