The Plump DJs
Encyclopedia
Plump DJs are a DJ and producer team in electronic dance music. Early pioneers of the breakbeat genre in electronic music, the Plump DJs have diversified in recent years to incorporate new styles such as electro, house and bass music. Their sound is still widely thought to maintain a breakbeat aesthetic, but their productions and DJ sets have become stylistically broader. Throughout the 2000s, they released a string of singles and remixes of well-known dance music names such as Fatboy Slim
, Orbital
, Deadmau5
and the Stanton Warriors
.
Lee Rous and Andy Gardner met at proto-breakbeat label Freskanova
in west London in the late 1990s. Gardner was making music with Matt Cantor from The Freestylers, and Rous was DJing at and promoting the Passenger nights in Kings Cross
.
Their first release together, "Plump Chunks/Electric Disco", came out on Finger Lickin' Records
in 1999. When they released the "A Plump Night Out" album – basically a live DJ mix featuring their own original music – they really began to achieve international notoriety.
The Plump DJs were asked by dance music culture magazine Mixmag
to mix their February 2001 cover CD, which they called Elastic Breaks. Soon after, in May, they released a two-CD mix compilation called Urban Underground and in February 2003 they produced the eighth album in the FabricLive series for the acclaimed London venue.
Their artist album Eargasm was released in July 2003 and featured synthesizer pioneer Gary Numan
and Lamb
chanteuse Louise Rhodes. They began a quarterly residency at Fabric
, running their own Eargasm nights at the London club, and secured placings in the DJ magazine Top 100 DJs list and won a multiple Breakspoll awards.
In 2008, they rebranded their Fabric night, calling it Headthrash after their latest album and opening up the music policy to other styles apart from breakbeat. Their DJ sets and productions began changing accordingly, and the four-deck live DJ show they developed allowed them to pull off more creative mixes in clubs and at festivals such as Coachella
, Glastonbury
, and Skolbeats.
In 2009, their contract ended with Finger Lickin' Records and they signed to release a double-CD post-breaks compilation on the Global Underground
series. They released the "My Hi Tops" single on the Global Underground imprint, too.
In 2010, the Plump DJs began releasing material on new London-based label Grand Hotel. They have also become one of the label's new residents at events held at Fabric and Matter nightclubs. Their recent remixes have been more eclectic with artists such as Deadmau5
, Dave Spoon
, and the Stanton Warriors
.
Note: Elastic Breaks and Breakbeat Annual were both released as free CDs in separate issues of Mixmag
.
Singles:
Remixes:
Fatboy Slim
Norman Quentin Cook better known by his former stage name Fatboy Slim, is a British DJ, electronic dance music musician, and record producer. He is a pioneer of the big beat genre that achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s...
, Orbital
Orbital (band)
Orbital are a British electronic dance music duo from Sevenoaks, England consisting of brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll. Their career initially ran from 1989 until 2004, but in 2009 they announced that they would be reforming and headlining The Big Chill, in addition to a number of other live shows...
, Deadmau5
Deadmau5
Joel Thomas Zimmerman , better known by his stage name deadmau5 , is a Canadian progressive, electro, and house producer based in Toronto...
and the Stanton Warriors
Stanton Warriors
Stanton Warriors are the breakbeat duo Dominic Butler and Mark Yardley. They are a DJ and producer team. Originally from the West Country, the pair now play sets at nightclubs such as Fabric and Ciros in the UK, and travel the globe with international work in Europe, Canada, America and Australia...
.
Lee Rous and Andy Gardner met at proto-breakbeat label Freskanova
Freskanova
Freskanova was the record label responsible for the Freestylers, Mad Doctor X and many other UK breaks artists but shut down in April 2002.-Artists:*2 Fat Buddhas*Agent Sumo*Bill and Ben*Bowser*Clubfoot*Cut La Roc *Cut And Paste...
in west London in the late 1990s. Gardner was making music with Matt Cantor from The Freestylers, and Rous was DJing at and promoting the Passenger nights in Kings Cross
Kings Cross, London
King's Cross is an area of London partly in the London Borough of Camden and partly in the London Borough of Islington. It is an inner-city district located 2.5 miles north of Charing Cross. The area formerly had a reputation for being a red light district and run-down. However, rapid regeneration...
.
Their first release together, "Plump Chunks/Electric Disco", came out on Finger Lickin' Records
Finger Lickin' Records
Finger Lickin' Records is an independent left field dance record label. Founded by Justin Rushmore and Jem Panufnik in 1998, Finger Lickin' is solely dedicated to dance music, mainly covering Breakbeat, electro and hip hop, elements of disco and funk can be found throughout these genres.- Artists...
in 1999. When they released the "A Plump Night Out" album – basically a live DJ mix featuring their own original music – they really began to achieve international notoriety.
The Plump DJs were asked by dance music culture magazine Mixmag
Mixmag
Mixmag is a British dance music and clubbing magazine. It styles itself as "the world's biggest selling dance music magazine", with an Audit Bureau of Circulations audited circulation of approximately 21,250...
to mix their February 2001 cover CD, which they called Elastic Breaks. Soon after, in May, they released a two-CD mix compilation called Urban Underground and in February 2003 they produced the eighth album in the FabricLive series for the acclaimed London venue.
Their artist album Eargasm was released in July 2003 and featured synthesizer pioneer Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
and Lamb
Lamb (band)
Lamb is an electronic music duo from Manchester, England, whose music is influenced by trip hop and drum and bass. The duo consists of producer Andy Barlow, who also produces under the pseudonym Hipoptimist, and singer-songwriter Lou Rhodes...
chanteuse Louise Rhodes. They began a quarterly residency at Fabric
Fabric
A fabric is a textile material, short for "textile fabric".Fabric may also refer to:*Fabric , the spatial and geometric configuration of elements within a rock*Fabric , a nightclub in London, England...
, running their own Eargasm nights at the London club, and secured placings in the DJ magazine Top 100 DJs list and won a multiple Breakspoll awards.
In 2008, they rebranded their Fabric night, calling it Headthrash after their latest album and opening up the music policy to other styles apart from breakbeat. Their DJ sets and productions began changing accordingly, and the four-deck live DJ show they developed allowed them to pull off more creative mixes in clubs and at festivals such as Coachella
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley...
, Glastonbury
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
, and Skolbeats.
In 2009, their contract ended with Finger Lickin' Records and they signed to release a double-CD post-breaks compilation on the Global Underground
Global Underground
Global Underground is a music label founded in 1996 by Andy Horsfield and James Todd. The label symbolizes the international explosion of dance music during the 1990s and first manifesto for high-end DJs such as Sasha, Paul Oakenfold, John Digweed, Danny Tenaglia, Nick Warren, Dave Seaman, Darren...
series. They released the "My Hi Tops" single on the Global Underground imprint, too.
In 2010, the Plump DJs began releasing material on new London-based label Grand Hotel. They have also become one of the label's new residents at events held at Fabric and Matter nightclubs. Their recent remixes have been more eclectic with artists such as Deadmau5
Deadmau5
Joel Thomas Zimmerman , better known by his stage name deadmau5 , is a Canadian progressive, electro, and house producer based in Toronto...
, Dave Spoon
Dave Spoon
Simon Neale, better known as Dave Spoon, is a radio DJ and dance music producer. He is part of the line-up on BBC Radio 1's 'In New DJs We Trust' feature, which runs Thursday night/Friday morning 2am to 4am...
, and the Stanton Warriors
Stanton Warriors
Stanton Warriors are the breakbeat duo Dominic Butler and Mark Yardley. They are a DJ and producer team. Originally from the West Country, the pair now play sets at nightclubs such as Fabric and Ciros in the UK, and travel the globe with international work in Europe, Canada, America and Australia...
.
Studio albums
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2000 | A Plump Night Out |
| 2003 | Eargasm |
| 2005 | Saturday Night Lotion |
| 2008 | Headthrash |
Mix albums
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2001 | Elastic Breaks |
| 2001 | Urban Underground - INCredible |
| 2003 | FabricLive.08 |
| 2005 | Breakbeat Annual |
| 2009 | Global Underground |
Note: Elastic Breaks and Breakbeat Annual were both released as free CDs in separate issues of Mixmag
Mixmag
Mixmag is a British dance music and clubbing magazine. It styles itself as "the world's biggest selling dance music magazine", with an Audit Bureau of Circulations audited circulation of approximately 21,250...
.
Singles:
- Take The Weight
- Y2K (white)
- Plumpy Chunks/Electric Disco (Finger Lickin')
- The Push/Remember My Name (Finger Lickin')
- Scram/No Way (Finger Lickin')
- War + * I'll Get You (Finger Lickin')
- Big Groovy Fucker/TB Reality (Finger Lickin')
- In Stereo/Mantra/Nylon Radar/Squeaks & Bleeps (Finger Lickin')
- In Stereo/Squeaks & Bleeps (Finger Lickin')
- The Gate / The Funk Hits The Fan (Finger Lickin')
- Pray For You feat. Gary Numan (Lee Coombs Mixes) (Finger Lickin')
- Pray For You (Plump DJs Dub)/How Much Is Enough (Finger Lickin')
- Soul Vibrates/Bullet Train (Finger Lickin')
- Creepshow/Weighed Down (Finger Lickin')
- Get Kinky/Pressure (Finger Lickin')
- Creepshow (Soul Of Man/Freestylers Mixes) (Finger Lickin')
- Album Sampler 1 - The Rub Off / Acid Hustle (Finger Lickin')
- Album Sampler 2 - Lee Coombs - Shiver (Plump DJs Remix) / Madox Smells Like Naples (Finger Lickin')
- Dr. Dub / Blackjack (Finger Lickin')
- Redshift (Finger Lickin')
- Electric Disco (D.Ramirez Remix) (Finger Lickin')
- Mad Cow (Finger Lickin')
- Listen To The Baddest (Finger Lickin')
- System Addict / Doppler (Finger Lickin')
- Torque Of The Devil / Take The Weight (Finger Lickin')
- Torque Of The Devil (The Subs Remix) (Finger Lickin')
- Snake Eyes / Disco Unusual (Finger Lickin')
- Shifting Gears (Stanton Warriors Remix) / Rocket Soul (Finger Lickin')
- Beat Myself Up (Plump DJs Night Mix) / London Street Music
- Plump DJs - My Hi Tops (Global Underground)
Remixes:
- Freestylers - Here We Go (Freskanova)
- War - Galaxy (RCA)
- Elektronauts - Bumper (Lacerba)
- Arthur Baker - Breakers Revenge (Freskanova)
- Alien - Frankie-The Pranker (Blue Room)
- Soul Hooligan - Sweat Pea (Freskanova)
- JDS- Nine Ways (London)* Brothers Love Dubs - The Mighty Ming (Decode)
- BT - Smartbomb (Nettwerk)
- Dee Jay Punk Roc - Blow My Mind (Airdog)
- Freestylers - Push Up (Against The Grain)
- Frisky featuring Vee - I Like The Way (Positiva)
- Stakker - Humanoid (Jumpin' & Pumpin')
- Lee Coombs - Shiver (Finger Lickin')
- Mint Royale - Take It Easy (Faith & Hope)
- Mr Velcro Fastener - Electric Appliances (Air Recordings)
- Orbital - Funny Break (ffrr)
- Rennie Pilgrem - Some Place Funky (Mob)
- Pucker Up! - Pucker Up!
- War - Galaxy (Finger Lickin')
- Fatboy Slim - Everybody Loves a 303 (Skint)
- Stanton Warriors - Precinct (Punks)
- Dave Spoon - Lummox (Televizion)
- Deadmau5 - Strobe (EMI)
- Viro & Rob Analyze - WannuB (Noiseporn Records)