Squarepusher
At this time, Tom was becoming obsessed with bringing a "dark psychedelia" to Drum and Bass (which would eventually reach its zenith with "Go Plastic" from 2001).
During this period Tom also made a remix for Ninja Tune's DJ Food, which featured on the e.p. "Refried Food". The remix led Ninja Tune to offer Jenkinson a record contract, which along with an offer from Belgium's R&S records he declined in favour of a contract offered by Warp Records, which was partially instigated by Richard D. James.
Correspondence between Richard D. James and Tom Jenkinson sprung up after meeting at The George Robey. The resulting meeting led to Tom's first hearing of the "Hangable Auto Bulb" e.p. which Richard had brought with him. But the meeting also facilitated Richard's initial selection of Tom's tracks that went on to form the "Feed Me Weird Things" album released on Rephlex Records in 1996.
Tom Waits
It was at the Troubadour that Waits came to the attention of Herb Cohen, who signed him to a publishing contract; that Cohen did not give him a recording contract suggests that he was interested in Waits only as a songwriter rather than a performer. Quitting his job at Napoleone's to concentrate on his songwriting career, in early 1972 Waits moved to an apartment in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, a poor neighbourhood known for its Hispanic and bohemian communities.
He continued performing at the Troubadour and there met David Geffen, who gave Waits a recording contract with his Asylum Records. Jerry Yester was chosen to produce his first album, with the recording sessions taking place in Hollywood's Sunset Sound studios. The resulting album, "Closing Time", was released in March 1973, although attracted little attention and did not sell well. Biographer Barney Hoskyns noted that "Closing Time" was "broadly in step with the singer-songwriter school of the early 1970s"; Waits had wanted to create a piano-led jazz album although Yester had pushed its sound in a more folk-oriented direction. An Eagles cover of its opening track, "Ol' 55", on their album "On the Border", brought Waits further money and recognition, although he regarded their version as "a little antiseptic".