HOAX, Winslow, Hybrid Minds, High Contrast, Metrik, Lens, Fred V, London Elektricity, Bryan Gee, Nu:Tone, Makoto, and Charli Brix (UK)

Strongly influenced by the film soundtracks of Wendy Carlos’ “A Clockwork Orange” and Vengelis’ “Blade Runner”, it was later J Majik’s “Arabian Nights”, which inspired the young Welshman to start crafting drum and bass music. After working in a local electronic record shop and honing his skills in his spare time, Barrett was offered residency at the drum and bass night Silent Running, where he would play alongside artists such as Grooverider and London Elektricity.

The producer released his debut album “True Colours” in 2002 on Hospital Records in the UK and Breakbeat Science in the U.S. The album spawned the singles “Return of Forever” and “Global Love” both of which ended up charting in the UK singles chart. Following a feature on BBC Radio 1’s “Essential Mix” show in 2003, High Contrast released his sophomore album “High Society” in 2004.

Having started his own label The Contrast in 2005, Barrett self-released the single “Days Go By” / “What We Do” in November of that year. Featuring heavy promotion from BBC Radio 1 DJs Annie Mac, Zane Low and Jo Whiley, High Contrast’s third album “Tough Guys Don’t Dance” was issued in October 2007, and reached No. 1 on the UK drum and bass chart. An album of remixes was released in 2009, with mixes of the singles “Hometown Glory” by Adele, and “Pjanoo” by Eric Prydz of those featured.

After playing 2011’s Coachella Music Festival and earning residency at Matter in London, Aperture at Club Ifor Bach, and Roxy in Prague, Barrett helped curate the music for the Athletes Parades for the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. Also in 2012 High Contrast released the album “The Agony and The Ecstasy”, which reached No. 45 in the UK albums chart, and the EP “The Road Goes On Forever”.

Hailing from London, England, Mundell began making music in 2007, debuting with the track “Your World” released on Intrinsic Records. Following the release, the producer formed a relationship with the Liverpool-based drum and bass label Viper Recordings who would release all of his music until 2013. In 2008 Metrik issued the singles “Moving On / Stranger” and “Technicolour / Zero Gravity”, and a year later the singles “Sunset / Forward Approach” and “Time To Change”, which despite proving popular in some circles failed to raise the profile of the young musician.

The following year however, with the release of the EP “The Departure” Mundell enjoyed his greatest success to date. Led by the recognisable single “T-1000”, the record hosts contributions from techno producers Christian Smith and John Selway as well as the Welsh electronic artist Jan Burton. 2010 also marked the the start of Mundell’s remixing career, notably crafting remixes of Funkstar Deluxe’s “Do You Feel” and Skepta vs. N-Dubz’s “So Alive”.

In 2011 the producer issued his sophomore EP “Between Worlds” featuring the singles “T-2000” and “I See You”, the latter of which with vocalist Kathy Brown. The free-download EP “Flightwave” followed in 2012, spawning the single “Engine Room” and “Freefall / Drift”, which marked Mundell’s final releases on Viper Recordings. In November 2012, the producer signed with independent drum and bass heavy weight Hospital Records, who issued his fourth, self-titled EP in 2013. The musician subsequently collaborated with Camo & Krooked on the track “Aurora”, before returning to the studio to record his debut full-length album.

Ahead of his highly-anticipated debut, Metrik issued the single “Want My Love” featuring Elisabeth Troy. It was Mundell’s first charting single, peaking at No. 61 on the UK Single Chart and No. 31 on the UK Dance Chart. The full-length “Universal Language” was released in September 2014, peaking at No. 13 on the UK Dance Chart and spawning the subsequent hit “Human Again” with vocals from Jan Burton.

Though Chris Colman’s name has now become synonymous with London Elektricity, this project was once more than a one man act. This outlet started out as a two piece, consisting of Colman and Chris Gross. Apart from forming London Elektricity, the two are also noted for founding the record label, Hospital Records. It was through this label that they released their studio debut “Pull the Plug”. This release featured both acclaimed jazz pianist/vocalist Liane Carroll and founding Fugees‘ member John Forte.

Gross left the project in 2002 to focus his attention on managing Hospital records. Coleman continued to perform as London Elektricity, but frequently recruited the help of session musicians, including double bassists, guitarists, brass instrumentalists, string players etc...

Colman released his 2nd studio album “Billion Dollar Gravy” in 2003. The album is praised for its elaborate use of live instrumentation and is also noted for marking a step further into the genre liquid funk. Coleman functioned so well with this group of hired musicians that he decided to take them on tour. One of their shows was actually turned into the live DVD “London Elktricity: Live Gravy”, which saw release in 2004.

The 3rd London Elektricity album, “Power Ballads” came out on 11 October 2005. While this album features virtually the same line up used on the previous album and still draws heavily upon liquid funk, it stands out in the sense that it displays a predominant integration of the Drum and Bass style. The snarky album cover, which features Coleman standing on water, while holding an omnichord perfectly captures the light, quirky nature of this release.

The next album “Medical History” did not feature a live band, but rather exclusively consisted of Coleman’s DJ work. London Elektricity was awarded best live act by BBC 1Xtra Xtra Bass in 2007 and a year later issued it’s 6th album “Syncopated City”. In 2011 Coleman put out his 7th studio album “Yike’s”, which peaked at No. 143 on the UK charts.

Given Coleman’s eclectic style it comes to no surprise that he lists influences as diverse as Led Zeppelin, Kraftwerk, Talking Heads, and Brian Eno; however, in spite of the many sounds these artists‘ encompass their are certain parallels that can be made amongst them and this act of finding similarities in apparently disparate musical forms seems to be at the very core of Colman’s music.