London Elektricity
Encyclopedia
London Elektricity is the DJ and stage name of musician Tony Colman who is best known as a recording artist of five albums, international DJ and formerly a live drum and bass
act "London Elektricity Live".
record label, to which London Elektricity are currently signed.
In 1999, they released their debut album Pull the Plug on Hospital Records
. Although session musicians contributed a wide range of live instruments (double bass, electric guitar, brass section, flute, strings), and jazz singer Liane Carroll
provided vocals on two tracks, the LP was essentially a studio work, under the control of producer/DJ duo Colman and Goss.
In 2002, Chris Goss departed to concentrate on managing Hospital Records, leaving it a solo project of Tony Colman. The second album Billion Dollar Gravy
was released in 2003. During the making of the album, the session musicians began to coalesce into a band, and Colman decided to take the band live. The line-up included Colman, Andy Waterworth, Landslide
, MC Wrec, the Jungle Drummer
, Liane Carroll and Robert Owens
, amongst others. In 2004 they released a live DVD
entitled London Elektricity: Live Gravy.
2005 saw the release of their third album, Power Ballads, using the same line-up as the live band. London Elektricity announced at Pressure (the University of Warwick
's drum and bass event) on 2 December 2005 that they had no plans to play live in future. They were joined on stage for the announcement by former member Chris Goss. Tony Colman now DJs drum and bass
solo under the name of London Elektricity. Liane Carroll was awarded Best of Jazz Award at the BBC
Jazz Awards 2005 and is now pursuing a successful solo jazz singing career. The band's new mixer as of 2007 is Ben Nguyen .
Colman presents the Hospital Records podcast
produced by Matt Riley at Hospital HQ. It generally features many releases from Hospital Records, and a wide spectrum of drum and bass from around the globe. The podcast recently won 'Best Podcast' at the BT Digital Music Awards, and has over 30,000 downloads a show. The podcast regularly involves special guests who are signed to Hospital records such as Logistics
.
In 2007, London Elektricity won the BBC 1Xtra Xtra Bass
award for best live act despite not having played live with the band for two years.
London Elektricity's fourth album, Syncopated City was released in September 2008. The month before this marked his Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1. London Elektricity's fifth album, Yikes! was released in April 2011.
, Fela Kuti
, Kraftwerk
, Brian Eno
, Led Zeppelin
, and others. Jazz
, Soul
, Latin, Dub
, Rock
, and even Punk are obvious in many of London Elektricity's songs, such as "Rewind", "Attack Ships on Fire", "South Eastern Dream", "Do You Believe" (and its Dub version, "Dub You Believe"), "Main Ingredient", "Remember the Future", "Round the Corner", and "Song in the Key of Knife" (featuring an Acoustic bass line).
and compilations such as Out Patients, London Elektricity has been known to experiment with other genres, including Acid jazz
and Breakbeat
, on songs such as "Incurable", "Round the Corner (Acid Jazz Version)", "Theme from the Land Sanction", and "The Land that Time Forgot".
and occasionally on other labels, the most notable two being acid jazz
group Izit and House music
group Future Homosapiens. Both Colman and Goss are also part of the Peter Nice Trio and Dwarf Electro.
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
act "London Elektricity Live".
History
The first incarnation of London Elektricity was the duo Tony Colman and Chris Goss. Colman and Goss are also founders of the Hospital RecordsHospital Records
Hospital Records is an independent record label based in South London. Primarily releasing Drum and bass, the label was started in 1996 by Tony Colman and Chris Goss, and has grown in recent years to become one of the most well known labels within UK dance music...
record label, to which London Elektricity are currently signed.
In 1999, they released their debut album Pull the Plug on Hospital Records
Hospital Records
Hospital Records is an independent record label based in South London. Primarily releasing Drum and bass, the label was started in 1996 by Tony Colman and Chris Goss, and has grown in recent years to become one of the most well known labels within UK dance music...
. Although session musicians contributed a wide range of live instruments (double bass, electric guitar, brass section, flute, strings), and jazz singer Liane Carroll
Liane Carroll
Liane Carroll is an English pianist/vocalist who grew up in a musical family. She has played professionally since she was 15....
provided vocals on two tracks, the LP was essentially a studio work, under the control of producer/DJ duo Colman and Goss.
In 2002, Chris Goss departed to concentrate on managing Hospital Records, leaving it a solo project of Tony Colman. The second album Billion Dollar Gravy
Billion Dollar Gravy
Billion Dollar Gravy is a drum n bass album by London Elektricity released in 2003. The album is known for its usage of live musicians, such as the Jungle Drummer , Liane Carroll , Andy Waterworth , Robert Owens , and others, much like London Elektricity's debut, Pull the Plug.-Track...
was released in 2003. During the making of the album, the session musicians began to coalesce into a band, and Colman decided to take the band live. The line-up included Colman, Andy Waterworth, Landslide
Landslide (musician)
Tim Land, better known as Landslide, is a dubstep, Broken Beat UK garage, 2-step, drum and bass, and future jazz musician , previously signed to Hospital Records, from London, England. Originally a drummer for bands, he was introduced to Tony Colman and Chris Goss through a sound engineering job...
, MC Wrec, the Jungle Drummer
Jungle Drummer
Chris Polglase , known professionally as The Jungle Drummer, is a live drum n bass drummer. He is most noted for his work with DJ Fu and live drum and bass act London Elektricity...
, Liane Carroll and Robert Owens
Robert Owens (musician)
Robert Owens is an American contemporary R&B and house-music vocalist best known for his work with the Chicago house group Fingers Inc. in the mid-1980s...
, amongst others. In 2004 they released a live DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
entitled London Elektricity: Live Gravy.
2005 saw the release of their third album, Power Ballads, using the same line-up as the live band. London Elektricity announced at Pressure (the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
's drum and bass event) on 2 December 2005 that they had no plans to play live in future. They were joined on stage for the announcement by former member Chris Goss. Tony Colman now DJs drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
solo under the name of London Elektricity. Liane Carroll was awarded Best of Jazz Award at the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Jazz Awards 2005 and is now pursuing a successful solo jazz singing career. The band's new mixer as of 2007 is Ben Nguyen .
Colman presents the Hospital Records podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
produced by Matt Riley at Hospital HQ. It generally features many releases from Hospital Records, and a wide spectrum of drum and bass from around the globe. The podcast recently won 'Best Podcast' at the BT Digital Music Awards, and has over 30,000 downloads a show. The podcast regularly involves special guests who are signed to Hospital records such as Logistics
Logistics (artist)
Logistics is the stage name of Matt Gresham, a drum and bass music producer and DJ from Cambridge, England. He is signed to Hospital Records and has been releasing music since 2004, which he creates using the Reason 3 and Cubase sequencers...
.
In 2007, London Elektricity won the BBC 1Xtra Xtra Bass
Xtra Bass
Xtra Bass is a free week long drum and bass tour of the UK hosted by the BBC's digital radio station 1Xtra.2007 is the fifth year of the tour and features appearances by well established drum and bass djs such as Bailey, L Double, Fabio & Grooverider and Crissy Criss among others.The tour covers 7...
award for best live act despite not having played live with the band for two years.
London Elektricity's fourth album, Syncopated City was released in September 2008. The month before this marked his Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1. London Elektricity's fifth album, Yikes! was released in April 2011.
Influences
According to his myspace page, Tony Colman's influences include a large array of musicians, such as Talking HeadsTalking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
, Fela Kuti
Fela Kuti
Fela Anikulapo Kuti , or simply Fela , was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.-Biography:...
, Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
, Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, and others. Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, Soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, Latin, Dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
, Rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, and even Punk are obvious in many of London Elektricity's songs, such as "Rewind", "Attack Ships on Fire", "South Eastern Dream", "Do You Believe" (and its Dub version, "Dub You Believe"), "Main Ingredient", "Remember the Future", "Round the Corner", and "Song in the Key of Knife" (featuring an Acoustic bass line).
Studio albums
- 1999 - Pull the Plug
- 2002 - The Waiting Room
- 2003 - Billion Dollar GravyBillion Dollar GravyBillion Dollar Gravy is a drum n bass album by London Elektricity released in 2003. The album is known for its usage of live musicians, such as the Jungle Drummer , Liane Carroll , Andy Waterworth , Robert Owens , and others, much like London Elektricity's debut, Pull the Plug.-Track...
- 2005 - Power Ballads
- 2006 - Medical History
- 2008 - Syncopated CitySyncopated CitySyncopated City is fourth studio album and sixth album overall by liquid funk act London Elektricity. It was released on LP on September 1, 2008, on CD on the September 26, 2008, and via digital download a day later...
- 2011 - Yikes! (UK chart peak: #143)
Singles
- 2000 - Round The Corner
- 2000 - Round The Corner (Landslide Remixes)
- 2003 - Different Drum Remixes 01
- 2003 - Different Drum Remixes 02
- 2003 - Different Drum Remixes 03
- 2005 - Hanging Rock
- 2006 - Remember the Future
- 2006 - Remember the Future (Remixes)
- 2008 - Attack Ships On Fire / South Eastern Dream
- 2008 - All Hell Is Breaking Loose
- 2011 - Elektricity Will Keep Me Warm / The Plan That Cannot Fail
- 2011 - Meteorites (Remixes) [Feat. Elsa Esmeralda] - EP
Other genres
On albums such as Medical HistoryMedical History
-Release history:...
and compilations such as Out Patients, London Elektricity has been known to experiment with other genres, including Acid jazz
Acid jazz
Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Grant Green are...
and Breakbeat
Breakbeat
In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...
, on songs such as "Incurable", "Round the Corner (Acid Jazz Version)", "Theme from the Land Sanction", and "The Land that Time Forgot".
Other projects
London Elektricity has created several side projects, usually released on Hospital RecordsHospital Records
Hospital Records is an independent record label based in South London. Primarily releasing Drum and bass, the label was started in 1996 by Tony Colman and Chris Goss, and has grown in recent years to become one of the most well known labels within UK dance music...
and occasionally on other labels, the most notable two being acid jazz
Acid jazz
Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Grant Green are...
group Izit and House music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
group Future Homosapiens. Both Colman and Goss are also part of the Peter Nice Trio and Dwarf Electro.