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This week I'm delighted to bring you 3 artists that I'm quite fond of. There's been a lot of talk recently of the man known as Luciano (www.lucien-n-luciano.com). So, I set out to find a piece of his work that is fresh and will clue you in to his magnificent style. Give this one a listen and you will be schooled on how a set should be built. Such a shame that it's only an hour long because I could listen to this one for days. Luciano will be performing: Oct. 29 in Bucharest, Nov. 2 at Unit in Tokyo, Nov. 3 at Keith Black in Fukoaka, Nov. 4 in Kyoto, and Nov. 5 at Tsuro No Ma in Osaka before returning for a few dates in Europe. Check (www.cadenzarecords.com) for further information.
There was a discussion recently about James Holden so I dug deep to find a recent mix from him. I don't think that this one will disappoint you at all. It's spotless mixing and showcases a wonderful array of sounds like only James can bring. This one gets pretty eery so it might be a good one to put on while the kids in the neighborhood come over trick-or-treating in a week or so. Check James out at 'Technique' in Leeds on Oct. 29; and in South America: 'Creamfields' in Santiago on Nov. 11, 'Creamfields' in Buenos Aires on Nov. 12, and 'Lima Festival' in Peru on Nov. 18. Check (www.jamesholden.org) for more details.
Lastly we're featuring a very recent mix from none other than King Unique (www.kingunique.com). The boys were given a guest spot on Triple J's 'The Club' show. King Unique mixes always go off when we put them up for download and this one will undoubtedly top them all. The Matt's have really outdone themselves as far as the dirtiness of their music. Catch them in Brisbane on Oct. 28 & Sydney on Oct. 29; in Lithuania & Argentina in November; and The Hague on New Years Eve. Check their website for further details.
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Luciano
www.lucien-n-luciano.com
Born in a small village in the heart of St. Croix, Luciano aka Lucien-n-Luciano spends his first years in Switzerland, which he departs in the summer of 1998 to follow his mother's roots to Santiago, Chile. Not only the distance in miles, but the distance in music cultures between these two continents intrigues and seduces the twelve year old and soon he starts to play what was going to be his very first instrument and a critical influence in his musical career - the Spanish guitar.
Luciano used the guitar as a tool to learn the fundamentals of melody and rhythm, his self learnt skills were practiced in local bands. Surrounded by Latin rhythms and rich melodies, he develops a strong curiosity for a diversity of musical styles and soon after, in one of his trips back to Europe, experiences the machine sounds of techno as it made waves across Europe during the early years of rave culture and acid house movement.
Soon enough, he began to fuse both worlds thousands of miles apart and incorporate the sound into his own style. When a small electronic scene began to rise in Chile in 1994 and at the age of 16, Luciano and other Chilean friends, Ricardo Villalobos, Dandy Jack (aka Martin Schorf), and Adrian Schorf organized and promoted several events in Chile. Due to the slow development of the scene in Santiago and the lack of elements that would support the scene such as music magazines and the appropriate clubs to play in, he decides to return to his native Switzerland in 2001 and expand and explore his fascination with electronic music and sound engineering.
A year after, Luciano begins to travel widely playing as a DJ and live act, and ever since one can hear his melodies in clubs throughout the world. He has released on labels such as Perlon, Klang, Transmat, Mental Groove, Max Ernst, Bruchstuecke and Peacefrog - not to forget Cadenza, his own label. His project name Lucien-n-Luciano is used to portray the slower downbeat productions while the productions under his own name Luciano are aimed towards pleasure on the dance floor.
Luciano's music is widely appreciated because of its graceful melodies, love for detail, and colorful patterns merging into an amazing rhythm one can enjoy at home or in a club.
Rhythms rise and fall like a gentle tide of bubbly ocean, big string arrangements spread across vast expanses of air, while a micro burst of sound pour out from under the smooth, textured grooves.
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James Holden
www.jamesholden.org
James Holden is far from your average DJ-producer. With his can?t-be-arsed-to-make-an-appointment-with-my-hairdresser shaggy hair and vintage Judas Priest t-shirts (with authentic holes) he sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the clean-cut short-haired bloke?s bloke DJs whose unremarkable faces adorn the pages of the dance music press. (?I don?t trust anyone who is cleaner than myself!? jokes James).
Musically he is also a million miles from the faceless repetitive beats mentality of so many of his peers, much more likely to be listening to leftfield albums from the likes of Mogwai, Four Tet or Boards of Canada than the latest essential mix CD. James Holden is a young man plotting a course through the music world all of his very own, putting some personality back into dance music and refusing to stay in the pigeonholes where other people seem so keen to shove him.
If an artist like James hadn?t been into music from an early age you?d be seriously worried, so we shan?t bore you with the details, suffice to say it involved his dad teaching him piano, a man called Mr Draycott teaching him violin, an (un)healthy appetite for the music of Queen, early dabblings on his first proto-computer and the unlikely musical guidance of his A-level physics teacher towards all things electronic.
The stuff everyone is really interested in begins aged 19, with a track called ?Horizons?. Written during his summer holidays from his maths degree at Oxford University on a ?500 PC and a piece of revolutionary music software called Buzz (a freeware internet download), this crossover anthem of the summer of 1999 propelled young James and his bedroom set-up into the top flight of dance music production. The rest, as they say, is history.
To this day, James? DIY studio set-up remains largely unchanged since those early efforts, bar a few computer upgrades here and there. Despite initial whispers throughout the establishment about ?analogue warmth?, the days of the twenty grand studio entry level into the world of production were numbered. James had already opened the door for a new generation of talented young bedroom producer-punks who bolted after him, whilst those very same doubters are left scrambling to catch up to the digital revolution which threatened to pass them by. Meanwhile, James has taken his computer production to a whole other level, exploiting the full potential which the new software opens up and unleashing a life of its own where others merely try to recreate what you could do on conventional studio equipment.
?There?s always going to be these people who are going to say, ?You just don?t get that sound unless it?s analogue?,? explains James. ?And it?s just complete rubbish. You just get a different sound. And I personally prefer the sound out of a computer to the sound out of a load of rotting analogue equipment. You just need to know where to inject the life into it, and how to, and then the computer can become an instrument just like any other. Where I?m at now is trying to make my music feel less like a cheesy sequencer Lego building and more like I?m playing the computer like it is a guitar or something? more human and raw.?
What James has created with this trusty PC is an edit-heavy hybrid sound all of his own, which crosses traditional genre boundaries and has found him fans in almost every scene. Holden tracks slot seamlessly into the sets of techno, trance, progressive and electro DJs alike. From pixie-trance to leftfield dance music, new wave house to melodic techno, the genre-classifiers have yet to find a label which accurately captures the unique yet universally appealing nature of Holden?s music. And although he has spawned many an imitator, Holden?s constantly evolving sound and rigorous attention to detail has been equalled by none.
To a music world overly obsessed by scenes, the James Holden success story reads like a catalogue of contradictions. 2003?s collaboration with vocalist Julie Thompson, ?Nothing?, was picked up by legendary UK house label Loaded, yet proclaimed by trance legend Tiesto to be his tune of the year. James has remixed everything from Crosstown Rebels electro-house to Positiva dance-pop; New Order to Britney Spears; Timo Maas dirty breaks to System 7 psy-trance; fast-rising young upstart Nathan Fake to Kirsty Hawkshaw?s timeless classic ?Fine Day?. Meanwhile ?A Break in the Clouds?, the debut release on his own Border Community label, has become an underground European techno classic, still selling by the thousand a whole year after release, making its way onto compilations from Luke Slater and Monika Kruse, and winning Holden a firm following amongst the ever forward-thinking German dance fraternity.
More recent developments on the studio front include new Holden & Thompson track ?Come To Me?, scheduled for release next year, and, after a couple of years respite from remixing, a fistful of new Holden remixes: the nintendo acid and tripped out vocal mixes of Britney Spears? ?Breathe on Me?; a psychedelic electro-trance version of Nathan Fake?s ?The Sky Was Pink?; the dancefloor dub of System 7?s ?Planet 7?; and the frantic animals of Andre Kraml?s ?Safari? for Crosstown Rebels. Also poised on the horizon is an EP worth of new Holden tracks and, following on from 2002?s ?Bloodlock? co-write on none other than Sasha?s ?Airdrawndagger? album, a couple of collaborations with scene stalwarts Ashley Casselle and Slacker.
James? own DJ sets embrace the same spirit of eclecticism as his productions, uniting his own tracks and remixes with acid house, techno, electro and downtempo melodies, as demonstrated on last year?s groundbreaking Balance 005 mix CD. ?Aphex Twin doing Ferry Corsten up the bum? is James? current (rather unsavoury) description of choice. On the borders of everything yet at the same time accessible enough to be slap bang in the middle of it all, Holden?s own steadfast musical vision and his often unorthodox fusion of tracks which the purists have traditionally grouped into distinct genres have won him dedicated followiers the world over. One of a handful of young DJs who have been allowed to rise up the ranks in recent years whose age bears more relation to that of the majority of club punters, the coming year promises business as usual, taking in every corner of Europe, a tour of Australia and Asia and regular trips to the USA.
James? sets are always topped off with a huge helping of previously unheard fresh young production talent, many of whom have found a home on his Border Community label. In just one year the label has gained a reputation as a breeding ground for similarly free-spirited genre-benders, with every release fusing solid dancefloor rockers with leftfield ambient interpretations and handy dj tools. ?Border Community is my favourite thing that I do at the moment,? says James. ?It is really rewarding seeing the young artists we release go on to do great things.? Names like Nathan Fake, Petter and The MFA are now following James? lead and already beginning to leave their own unique indellible imprints on the production world. James is also keen to take his troop of multi-talented live acts and DJs on the road with him, bringing the Border Community roadshow to a town near you.
Still only 25 years old, James Holden now finds himself exactly where he wants to be. As the digital producer par excellence he is blazing a trail through as yet unchartered territory, showing those who follow in his wake how it can, and should, be done. As a DJ he gets to travel the world, surprising and delighting in equal measures, and enlarging his band of followers at every port of call. And at the helm of his own buzz label Border Community he is proving himself to be quite the A&R man, discovering like-minded souls to help turn his musical vision into reality and peddling something a little different to the record-buying public. Underlying the three components of the James Holden recipe for success is an unerring belief in his own vision and a refusal to do things the way others tell him they always have been done. He is well into the process of carving out a niche all of his very own, and is not about to let anyone stop him now.
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King Unique
www.kingunique.com
King Unique are two guys called Matt who make rough-edged dirty house music, Matthew Roberts and Matt ?Watkins? Thomas, a pair of studio junkies with a taste for bulldozer beats and sick synthesizers.
Over the last four years their records and remixes have hit home with house-heads, nu-ravers and electro-rockers alike, being championed by everyone from Sasha to Danny Howells, Carl Cox to Tiesto, and Pete Tong to Zane Lowe. Their music has turned up everywhere from Hollywood soundtracks to mobile ringtones, not to mention countless compilations and mix albums.
Their Decks?n?FX DJ sets have made them regulars in some of the world?s most respected clubs and biggest festivals, turning heads with both the music they play and the way they play it.
King Unique hit the floor running in 2001, claiming the title of Undisputed Remix Champs by scoring five Essential New Tunes in five months on Pete Tong?s BBC Radio 1 show. The King Unique sound has been in constant demand since, appearing on dozens of remixes including King Dong sized floor-fillers such as Underworld?s ?Two Months Off?, Planet Funk?s ?The Switch?, Mutiny?s ?The Virus?, Jamiroquai?s ?You Give Me Something?, Luke Slater?s ?Nothing At All?, Foremost Poets? ?Moonraker? and Baz?s ?Believers?. Most recently King Unique have reworked Las Vegas rockers The Killers? ?Somebody Told Me?, Dirty Vegas? ?Walk Into the Sun? and Chable and Bonicci?s ?Ride?.
The productions make for an equally impressive line-up; ?Obscene, dirty, filthy, immoral? set out the King Unique agenda on ?Dirty? by Dirty, the first of a series of singles released on Junior Boys Own. Next they raised the stakes with ?Sugarhigh?, a track dreamt up in a tiny techno bar in Tokyo whilst under the influence of too much vodka and too little sleep. A melodic powerhouse of a track that fused classic house and melodic Detroit vibes, ?Sugarhigh? gave KU a sixth Essential New Tune. The next King Unique single ?Lighters/Music Please? followed in early 2003 and saw KU experimenting with new sounds. ?Lighters? poured out a relentless cascade of slow and heavy electro-house that ?sound like it?s raining synthesizers on your head? (Mixmag), while the DJ-friendly ?Music Please? delivered a slice of psychedelic breakbeats favored by Danny Tenaglia and James Zabiela.
On the very few days that they aren?t locked in the same studio both Matts have found time to release their own solo productions and remixes. Ubu (Matthew Roberts with brother Leon) got completely twisted with the drug?n?bass sound of ?Pixels? and ?Ride The Snake?. Matt Thomas re-emerged as Watkins with emotional vocal-house classic ?Black a.m.?, and remixes for Frou Frou and Telepopmuzik. Not content with one pseudonym Matt T also unleashed several tracks in his Mainframe alter ego, including remixes of Pete Heller?s ?Sputnik? and Tomy or Zux?s ?The Music Makes Me Happy? which scored yet another Essential New Tune.
At a King Unique show you may well know some of the records, but you?ll never have heard them sound like this before; by packing their whole studio into a pair of laptops, King Unique are able to re-edit, remix and re-fix any track on the fly, serving up the killer dirty sound of their studio work all night long - live. This four-armed, twin-headed, single-minded mash up of vinyl, CDs, custom made re-edits and live samples has made it?s mark at all the best UK clubs; Cream, Tribal Sessions, Ministry Of Sound, Renaissance, The End, Turnmills, Lush and Progression. Worldwide demand for the King Unique sound has seen them playing in Tokyo, Paris, Amsterdam, Moscow, Athens, Bucharest, Singapore and the huge Skol Beats (Brazil) and Exit (Serbia) festivals, as well as filling guest radio slots for The Essential Mix, Kiss 100 and Annie Nightingale.
So what are King Unique cooking up for 2005?
King Unique = Dirty House
That?s all you need to know.
Is it my download or does the Holden set cut out here and there?
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