Hidden Agenda began as the drum and bass partnership of brothers Mark and Jason Goodings. Their recordings brought jazz references and inventive breakbeat production into the Metalheadz catalogue during the 1990s. Following Mark’s death in 2016, Jason, also known as Nos, continued making music under the Hidden Agenda name.
Their early Metalheadz recordings included Pressin' On/Get Carter, Get Carter, Is It Love?, and Swing Time. In an interview with Fifteen Questions, Jason recalled that the groove for Is It Love? grew from the brothers trying their own approach to Tom & Jerry’s Maximum Style. Their early label sessions relied on an Emax 2 sampler.
The brothers established Dispatch Recordings in 2001, continuing a numbered series that had begun with Hidden Agenda releases on Metalheadz. The label revisited that early history in its 2021 remastered collection, gathering recordings from 2001 to 2003 and crediting Jason as writer and producer. It also explicitly documented his continuation of the project.
The 2022 One Time release on Tempo Records presented three new Jason Goodings productions, alongside Just Me and Something Nu?. The label described their combination of urban breakbeats, old-school jazz, and unusual samples as characteristic of Hidden Agenda. Jason’s own account of production emphasises playfulness, experimentation, and following the sound that feels right.
