Global Goon's Johnathon Taylor is a former programmer from Lydiate who earned a recording contract with Rephlex Records before moving to London and being Richard D. James' (aka Aphex Twin) housemate for a time. He had been making electronic music using SoundEdit 16 while supporting himself with various programming jobs. After moving into a shared house with James, he released his first untitled album (known as Goon) on Rephlex in 1995. Rumors that Goon actually was an alias for Aphex Twin persisted even after the release of Cradle of History two years later. After releasing Vatican Nitez four years later, he left the Rephlex label and started releasing his albums on his own label J-HOK records, as well as Upitup, Audio Dregs and WeMe.