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John B
John B
The last 12 months have seen John B'sworldwide Djing schedule take off, with tours of Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and the USA. He's also released high-profile singles on Fabio's Creative Source label (A perfectly judged piece of soulful Drum & Bass 5 stars MUZIK), Renegade Hardware, and more recently completed 3 tracks for Goldie's Metalheadz label. The single 'Up all Night' will be released on June 25th, and is receiving a fantastic response from the press: A record I will savour for the rest of my dayz 5 Stars (DJ Magazine), MUZIK Magazine D&B single of the Month July 2001, John B has become one of the most essential producers of the moment (Jockey Slut Magazine SINGLE OF THE MONTH, June 2001) . 'Diversify' will feature on the forthcoming Platinum Breakz 3 compilation, is also getting fantastic reviews, and is widely regarded as a standout track on the album.
Recently John Bs music has been commissioned for films in America and has lead to some prestigious remixes: Fiction originally by the US Rock band 'Orgy' (F-111/Warner Bros) which featured on their album 'Vapor Transmission', a series of remixes of Mos Def, Paroahe Monch & Nate Dogg's current hit 'Oh No' for Rawkus records in NYC, a remix of London Elektricity's 'Superstructure' for the Hospital Records 'Plastic Surgery 2' compilation, and hes just finishing off a remix of Blames classic Music Takes You for Moving Shadow.
John started piano lessons at the age of six, and was initially involved in much more conventional music than drum & bass. However, he soon found that computers, synthesizers and samplers enabled him to experiment with a wider variety of musical styles and to be more adventurous with his music production. He went on to study Cell Biology at Durham University, and since graduating 3 years ago hes been concentrating on making music, Djing all over the world and running his labels Beta Recordings, & Tangent Recordings, with a third, Chihuahua starting soon.
John initially picked up on Drum & Bass through hearing Fabio and Grooveriders Radio show on London's Kiss FM. His first tracks were collaborations with SDR & Subsonic, two friends from Maidenhead who ran Shoe Box Records and went on to release them as 12 s. A few months later Johns next demo tape attracted the interest of several of the main labels of the moment including Formation Records, Metalheadz, Reinforced and Moving Shadow. DJ SS was setting up New Identity Recordings at the time, and wanted similar material for it, so Sight Beyond b/w Fermats Theorem emerged as his first release under the John B name. John went on to record 'Secrets' for Grooverider's 'Prototype Years' Compilation, and followed with other projects for Renegade Hardware and Formation.
In March 1998 John released the critically acclaimed debut album 'Visions', "an all-time classic LP" (UK Wax Magazine), a double CD combining an 'organic' jazz influenced live-feel set, with a 'synthetic' collection of more dance floor oriented, electronic tunes "...dazzling...crackling electric funk...Absolutely essential weapons in any DJ's box" (UK Mixmag magazine.) He contued with a run of massive singles like Pressure, Jazz Session and Salsa! (Mixmag 'big tune' August '99 - "It goes Arriba! Salsa! Buenos Noches!, Senorita! Wobble wobble").
His second album 'Catalyst' was released in 1999 - a massively diverse collection of modern breakbeat and D&B, which reflected John's many influences and musical interests. The triple CD version (32 tracks) received glowing reviews in the Press, and heavy rotation on the world's best dancefloors: "Wicked!" - DJ Magazine (UK), "Raw Fury... Fukin' 'Ell!" - Mixmag (UK), "Purpose built for the Cafe Del Mar" - Muzik (UK), "The sound of Drum & Bass being shown the time of it's life" - Knowledge Magazine, "If you want to sample the different spectrums of Drum 'n' Bass, then this is the album for you" Touch. Catalyst was followed in 2000 by a remix album Redox: Catalyst Reprocessed. Quality throughout is superb&Excellent (Album of the Month, WAX, June 2000). John B is a real musician with many flavours up his sleeve (Breaking Point). All styles of music from Classical to Electro, Jazz to Music Concrete, Industrial to Indie have interested and inspired John B. Some of the major influences have been: Beethoven, Stockhausen, Herbie Hancock, Kraftwerk, Throbbing Gristle, Walter Carlos, Cabaret Voltaire, Nirvana, Buddy Rich, Tito Puente, the Cure, and Magazine. At the moment John is concentrating on completing a series of future album projects working with DVD and surround sound technology, running this label and continuing with his busy DJing schedule.
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