Juju & Jordash - Tattoo's Island

More than a decade ago in the seaport city of Haifa, Juju & Jordash met. They had very different lives going on at the time, but found one another through their weekly be-bop jams. Throughout the 1990s, Juju & Jordash each played in and composed for various jazz and experimental combos by day. Meanwhile by cover of night, they were both experimenting with electronic dance music - something they would soon come to do together.

In 2003, Juju & Jordash officially joined forces. Two years later, they started releasing music as a duo starting with 'The Hush' EP on Reggie Dokes’ legendary Detroit label Psychostasia, Followed by a string of EPs and LPs on a myriad of international labels including Real Soon, Aesthetic Audio, Underground Quality, Deep Explorer, Ropeadope, Uzuri, Philpot, and Dekmantel. (full discography: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Juju+%26+Jordash )

Their musical influences range from Thelonius Monk to Ryuichi Sakomoto, from Can to Mr. Fingers and from Cabaret Voltaire to Ornette Coleman. Yet it's hard to describe Juju & Jordash's own sound. One might venture to say a unique fusion of electronic and acoustic, Detroit-flavored techno, Chicago House and free jazz - or, more poetically, music from the future gazing deeply into the past. To hear the music for yourself and for more information, please visit www.jujujordash.com.

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The Orb feat. David Gilmour - Metallic Spheres - 2010

The Orb are an English electronic music group known for spawning the genre of ambient house. Founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and KLF member Jimmy Cauty, The Orb began as ambient and dub DJs in London. Its early performances were inspired by ambient and electronic artists of the 1970s and 1980s, most notably Brian Eno and Kraftwerk. Because of its trippy sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. The Orb has maintained its drug-related and science fiction themes despite personnel changes including the departure of Cauty and other Orb members Kris Weston, Andy Falconer, Simon Phillips, and Andy Hughes. Paterson has been the only permanent member, continuing to work as the Orb with the Swiss-German producer Thomas Fehlmann and, later, with Killing Joke's Martin "Youth" Glover and Tim Bran of Dreadzone.

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The Orb - Earth

Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld 9 ( 1991 )

Little Fluffy Clouds / Earth (Gaia) / Supernova at the End of the Universe / Back Side of the Moon / Spanish Castles in Space / Perpetual Dawn / Into the Fourth Dimension / Outlands / Star 6 & 7 8 9 / A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld

It's 1991 and the house boom is in full swing, rave parties up and down the country - 1988, a 'year zero' for the new generation. But, what do you do when the party finishes, or is winding down?? The Orb defined the stuff called chillout or comedown music, 'Ambient House' - they practically invented it. Before Aphex Twin, Orbital. Before anybody else was really spoken of in the music press, there was The Orb. Comprising of Alex Paterson and a changing group of collaborators, 'Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld' does something clever, and it's still clever today, over ten years on. It mixes Pink Floyd, Eno, Ambient, samples - the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Alex Paterson, a former Killing Joke roadie, a former A and R man for Brian Eno's record label. That last job must have been quite interesting. I mentioned Pink Floyd, and Orb fans at the time were generally 18-24 years of age, so not 'original' Pink Floyd fans, although many of this youthful set did love classic Pink Floyd. The Orb stepped into a place in their hearts, how many of these fans imagined a 21st Century Pink Floyd should sound like. Song titles such as 'Back Side Of The Moon' were a dead giveaway, but the album doesn't need such touches or reminders, the music here is blissful, otherworldly. A masterpiece, basically.

A cock crows to start this double CD album. The nineteen minute long closing track mixes in this cock crowing, 'loving you' by Minnie Ripperton and lots else besides. For these two tracks alone, this album is stunning and I shall explain. 'Little Fluffy Clouds'? "Over the past few years, to the traditional sounds of an english summer.... What were the skies like when you were young.... the skies were always like little fluffy clouds..." etc, etc. The beats come in and 'Little Fluffy Clouds' is perfect. The 'Flash Gordon' movie is sampled for the beginning of 'Earth', the beats are cool and... I don't know. How do you describe 'beats' anyway?? The mixing in of samples, not just Flash Gordon, but birdsong, various other noises - throughout the track?? It really adds to it. The use of samples, new-age samples alongside various trivia and real life voices - is masterful, across the album as a whole. "And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt", repeated and repeated, onwards and onwards - then funk over the ambient, noises and spookiness and glorious, fantastic music. The entire album is a trip. I don't want to sound like some drooling old hippie, but Al Brooks should love this stuff. Hiya Al. Don't know who Al Brooks is?? Read some pages on the site apart from this one, his name will pop up in places. But seriously, yeah, this album is a trip.

The thing that gets me, that really gets me, is that every single track here is strong. It's not just about 'Little Fluffy Clouds' and 'Huge Ever Growing Brain', although those two are clear highpoints. The bits inbetween are just as fine, and how many ambient/dance/house records can you say that about?? The songs/tracks weave together, flow into one another, each one usually begun with samples or spooky atmospherics. It works. A wash of sea opens the closing track. Spooky sounds and heavenly vocal noises, an atmosphere is built up. When the 'loving you' vocal comes in, it just sends shivers all over me. When the cock crows you're winded right back to the beginning, to the opening of 'Little Fluffy Clouds' and it plays with your mind. You don't even need drugs, this is music for people that don't want to take drugs, music enabling them to experience the same pyschedelic acid-dream thrills. Floating beautifully - listen to this, it will take you somewhere.

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The Cinematic Orchestra - All That You Give

The Cinematic Orchestra is a British jazz and electronic outfit, created in the late 1990s by Jason Swinscoe. The band is signed to Ninja Tune independent record label. In addition to Swinscoe, the band includes PC (former DJ Food member Patrick Carpenter) on turntables, Luke Flowers (drums), Tom Chant (Saxophone), Nick Ramm (piano), Stuart McCallum (guitar) and Phil France (double bass). Former members include Jamie Coleman (trumpet), T. Daniel Howard (drums), Federico Ughi (drums) and Alex James (piano). The most recent addition to the band is Mancunian guitarist Stuart McCallum.

The Cinematic Orchestra's sound, in both live and studio contexts, employs a live band which improvises along with a turntablist and electronic elements such as samples provided by Swinscoe. In their studio releases Swinscoe will often remix the live source material to produce a combination of live jazz improvisation with electronica, such that it is difficult to tell where the improvisation ends and the production begins.

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Danny Howells Landing on Planets

There are very few DJs who stand out in the world of dance music today, but Danny Howells is without doubt one of them. From his early years of DJing at Bedrock nights in his home town of Hastings, to the 10+ hour sets in New York today, one thing remains the same - a complete love of all music. It's this passion and plenty of hard work that has helped Danny to get where he is today. It's no coincidence that he's been placed in DJ Magazine's top 20 DJs in the world for the last 3 years. Danny has a unique, eclectic sound which as been described as "deepsexyfuturistictechfunkhouse" and it's this sound which which is shaking floors worldwide. With over 12 years of experience, Danny has become truly international. His hectic schedule regularly takes him all over Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia. He's DJed in the world's coolest clubs and held residencies at Renaissance, Twilo and Home. With 2002 came the announcement of an exciting monthly residency at Vinyl in New York, where Danny's 10 hour marathon sets are fast becoming legendary.

It's not just in the club where Danny has made a name for himself, he's also been busy in the studio. Albums for Global Underground, Renaissance and his own Nocturnal Frequencies series have been the highlights in a continually growing back catalogue of acclaimed mixes. As a producer his main focus is with co-producer Dick Trevor and vocalist Erire as "Science Dept.". Last year they released the highly successful single "Breathe" and fans can expect more to follow in 2002. Danny's infectious personality and individual style is what really puts him a cut above the rest though. You can really sense his connection with the crowd wherever he plays, and he has fully earned the label "the clubbers DJ".

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