Tomcraft
Encyclopedia
Tomcraft is a German
DJ
and producer
. He is specialized in progressive house and progressive trance and is better known for having created the tracks "Loneliness
" and "Prosac", working alongside Eniac
.
Tomcraft began working as a DJ in Munich
in 1994, shifting between techno and the emerging progressive trance style. The following year, he released his first track, "This Is No House". He first met Eniac in 1996, and the two immediately started producing music together, beginning with "Viva". The same year yielded the track "Prosac", but this did not achieve success until it was re-released in 2001. For a decade or so, he worked alongside fellow German producer Eniac as an explosive studio team, steadily building hype and acclaim with regular releases on the country’s famous Kosmo Recordings amongst others.
2002 was also the year Tomcraft released "Loneliness
", a progressive vocal track that eventually reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart
. Following his breakthrough hit, they parted ways following some disagreements, and Tomcraft set about building his reputation in the underground scene further – with the launch of Great Stuff and subsequent signings of huge talents like Lutzenkirchen
, Coburn
, Oliver Koletzki, The Egg and Ramon Tapia
.
2005 saw the launch of Craft Music, a new outlet for his productions with all other signed releases treated to a remix by the man himself – with the label undergoing a major relaunch in 2010 to bring it back to the forefront of house and techno music.
In the interim, he released several other big club smashes, including Prozac and Overdose, with regular releases ensuring his name remained in the collective consciousness and an impressive 4 artist albums released across the space of 6 years showing that he was no mere 12” artist. Having resolved their differences, he is now once again working with Eniac on new material, with A Place Called Soul one of their first reunited efforts and a new artist album promised for 2011. “It’s always something special when we work together” he beams of his colleague,who has moved back from Berlin to Munich so that they can work on new music day in, day out. Meanwhile, he’s also been working regularly with English talent Tim Healey (formerly of Coburn fame), staying with his family in Brighton for a week at a time and working solidly on new material. His collaborations with vocalists over the years have seen him work with the likes of Bloodhound Gang singer Jimmy Pop, German soul sensation Xavier Naidoo
, the USA’s venerable Tommie Sunshine and local rapper Sido
, his mind always open to new and disparate influences and styles and his studio forever expanding with new bits of kit and vintage machinery.
Naturally his DJ career exploded upon the mega-success of that single, with highlights over the years including playing to 1.3 million people at Berlin’s Love Parade
, Japan’s famous Fujirock Festival, major festivals in Brazil, and some of the coolest clubs in Singapore, Tokyo, Los Angeles, São Paulo, Rio, Cape Town, San Francisco, all over Europe, Poland, Germany, France, Italy, the UK and Russia (where he remains a regular fixture). His sound has morphed over the years from trance into electro house and now since 2007 into a balance of those influences with a progressive house backbone, returning to the melodic sound that he came from originally.
Tomcraft has released four album
s to date, All I Got (2001), MUC (2003), HyperSexyConscious (2006) and For The Queen (2007), all on Kosmo Records.
His latest album, For The Queen, was a collaboration with Tobias David Lützenkirchen
from their Great Stuff label, and while similar in style with previous Tomcraft releases, it is distinctive in a more narrative way, with less of the dance floor dimension of his previous works; he calls it a "feature album" and it is rich with collaborations and two covers.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. He is specialized in progressive house and progressive trance and is better known for having created the tracks "Loneliness
Loneliness (song)
Loneliness is a song written by Andrea Martin, Edmund Clement, Ivan Matias and Eniac and produced by Eniac and Tomcraft. It was released as a single in 2002 worldwide and in 2003 in the United Kingdom...
" and "Prosac", working alongside Eniac
Eniac (record producer)
Eniac is a German record producer, specializing in techno house electro. He is the writer and co-producer of several progressive house and progressive trance tracks, working collaboratively with other artists...
.
Tomcraft began working as a DJ in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
in 1994, shifting between techno and the emerging progressive trance style. The following year, he released his first track, "This Is No House". He first met Eniac in 1996, and the two immediately started producing music together, beginning with "Viva". The same year yielded the track "Prosac", but this did not achieve success until it was re-released in 2001. For a decade or so, he worked alongside fellow German producer Eniac as an explosive studio team, steadily building hype and acclaim with regular releases on the country’s famous Kosmo Recordings amongst others.
2002 was also the year Tomcraft released "Loneliness
Loneliness (song)
Loneliness is a song written by Andrea Martin, Edmund Clement, Ivan Matias and Eniac and produced by Eniac and Tomcraft. It was released as a single in 2002 worldwide and in 2003 in the United Kingdom...
", a progressive vocal track that eventually reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. Following his breakthrough hit, they parted ways following some disagreements, and Tomcraft set about building his reputation in the underground scene further – with the launch of Great Stuff and subsequent signings of huge talents like Lutzenkirchen
Lützenkirchen
Lützenkirchen is a German DJ and producer. He is specialized in techno and electro, and is best known for having created the 2008 song "3 Tage Wach" which reached the German Top 40 Charts....
, Coburn
Coburn
Coburn may refer to:* Coburn , an electronic music band from the United Kingdom* Coburn, California, an unincorporated community in Monterey County, California, USA* Coburn, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place in Centre County, Pennsylvania, USA...
, Oliver Koletzki, The Egg and Ramon Tapia
Ramon Tapia
Ramón Tapia Zapata was a Chilean boxer, who won the silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia...
.
2005 saw the launch of Craft Music, a new outlet for his productions with all other signed releases treated to a remix by the man himself – with the label undergoing a major relaunch in 2010 to bring it back to the forefront of house and techno music.
In the interim, he released several other big club smashes, including Prozac and Overdose, with regular releases ensuring his name remained in the collective consciousness and an impressive 4 artist albums released across the space of 6 years showing that he was no mere 12” artist. Having resolved their differences, he is now once again working with Eniac on new material, with A Place Called Soul one of their first reunited efforts and a new artist album promised for 2011. “It’s always something special when we work together” he beams of his colleague,who has moved back from Berlin to Munich so that they can work on new music day in, day out. Meanwhile, he’s also been working regularly with English talent Tim Healey (formerly of Coburn fame), staying with his family in Brighton for a week at a time and working solidly on new material. His collaborations with vocalists over the years have seen him work with the likes of Bloodhound Gang singer Jimmy Pop, German soul sensation Xavier Naidoo
Xavier Naidoo
Xavier Kurt Naidoo is a German singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actor. Born and raised in Mannheim, Naidoo worked in several jobs in the gastronomy and the musical industry before relocating to the United States in the early 1990s, where he released his first full-length English...
, the USA’s venerable Tommie Sunshine and local rapper Sido
Sido
Sido may refer to:* Sido , stage name of Paul Würdig, a German rapper* Sido , a South Korean island*Sido, Mali* Sidoh , the final boss monster of the NES and Game Boy Color video game, Dragon Warrior II...
, his mind always open to new and disparate influences and styles and his studio forever expanding with new bits of kit and vintage machinery.
Naturally his DJ career exploded upon the mega-success of that single, with highlights over the years including playing to 1.3 million people at Berlin’s Love Parade
Love Parade
The Love Parade was a popular electronic dance music festival and parade that originated in 1989 in West Berlin, Germany. It was held in Germany annually between 1989 and 2003 in Berlin, and then from 2006 to 2010 in the Ruhr region...
, Japan’s famous Fujirock Festival, major festivals in Brazil, and some of the coolest clubs in Singapore, Tokyo, Los Angeles, São Paulo, Rio, Cape Town, San Francisco, all over Europe, Poland, Germany, France, Italy, the UK and Russia (where he remains a regular fixture). His sound has morphed over the years from trance into electro house and now since 2007 into a balance of those influences with a progressive house backbone, returning to the melodic sound that he came from originally.
Tomcraft has released four album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s to date, All I Got (2001), MUC (2003), HyperSexyConscious (2006) and For The Queen (2007), all on Kosmo Records.
His latest album, For The Queen, was a collaboration with Tobias David Lützenkirchen
Lützenkirchen
Lützenkirchen is a German DJ and producer. He is specialized in techno and electro, and is best known for having created the 2008 song "3 Tage Wach" which reached the German Top 40 Charts....
from their Great Stuff label, and while similar in style with previous Tomcraft releases, it is distinctive in a more narrative way, with less of the dance floor dimension of his previous works; he calls it a "feature album" and it is rich with collaborations and two covers.
Albums
- 2001 All I Got
- 2003 MUC
- 2006 HyperSexyConscious
- 2007 For The Queen
Compilation albums
- 2003 Tomcraft - The Mix (Remix album (of other artists), with two exceptions, where other artists have remixed his tracks)
Singles
- 1995 "This Is No House"
- 1995 "Rollercoaster"
- 1996 "Viva"
- 1996 "Unicum"
- 1996 "Prosac"
- 1997 "The Circle"
- 1997 "Mind"
- 1998 "Gothic"
- 1998 "The Mission"
- 1998 "Powerplant"
- 1998 "Flashback"
- 1998 "The Lord"
- 1999 "Punk Da Funk"
- 1999 "Ezekiel 25.17"
- 2000 "Versus"
- 2000 "Silence"
- 2001 "Prosac" (re-release)
- 2001 "All I Got"
- 2001 "Overdose"
- 2002 "Bang Bang"
- 2002 "LonelinessLoneliness (song)Loneliness is a song written by Andrea Martin, Edmund Clement, Ivan Matias and Eniac and produced by Eniac and Tomcraft. It was released as a single in 2002 worldwide and in 2003 in the United Kingdom...
" #1 UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
(2003 release) - 2003 "Brainwashed (Call You)" #43 UK
- 2003 "Into The Light"
- 2003 "Great Stuff"
- 2004 "Another World" (by "SoniqueSonique (artist)Sonia Clarke , known more commonly by her stage name Sonique, is a British singer, musician and disc jockey. She is well known for her successful career in dance music. She was the lead vocalist on two S'Express singles. She won the 2001 BRIT Award for British female solo artist...
On Tomcraft") - 2005 "Dirty Sanchez"
- 2005 "Sureshot"
- 2005 "Quelle Heure Est Il"
- 2006 "Da Disco"
- 2006 "Sureshot 2006" (featuring SidoSido (rapper)Paul Hartmut Würdig , better known as Sido, is a German rapper.The name "Sido" is an abbreviation which stands for "superintelligentes Drogenopfer" or "Scheiße in dein Ohr" in earlier times.Würdig distinguishes himself by using provocative and aggressive lyrics...
and Tai Jason) - 2006 "Katowice"
- 2006 "Broadsword Calling Danny Boy" (feat. Jimmy PopJimmy PopJimmy Pop is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, main songwriter, and founding member of the band Bloodhound Gang.-Biography:After graduating from Perkiomen Valley High School in 1990, he studied mass communication and history at Temple...
) - 2007 "People Like Them" (feat. Xavier Naidoo)
- 2009 "Naked on Clouds"
- 2009 "Disco Erection Pt.1"
- 2009 "Disco Erection Pt.2"
- 2010 "Room 414 (Can't Get Away)"
- 2010 "A Place Called Soul"
- 2011 "Written High"
- 2011 "I Need Love"