The Black Dog was originally a trio of English electronic music producers, made up of Ken Downie, Ed Handley, and Andy Turner, also known at the time as Black Dog Productions. Ed Handley and Andy Turner continued under the name Plaid, leaving Ken Downie with the name Black Dog for his productions. Spanners, originally released in 1995, is Black Dog's first album released on WARP. In 2017, it was selected by Pitchfork as one of 'The 50 Best IDM Albums of All Time'.