After their rave-friendly club anthem ‘Not Forgotten’ was released in 1990, Leftfield became pioneers of British electronic music production. The duo’s Mercury Music Prize-nominated first albums Leftism (1995) and Rhythm & Stealth (1999) were key recordings of their era, featuring guest appearances from the Sex Pistols’ John Lydon, Roots Manuva and others.
Until they parted ways in 2002, Leftfield was a double act made up of founder Neil Barnes and Paul Daley. The latter was not involved in Leftfield’s return in 2010 following an eight-year hiatus. Barnes now collaborates with Adam Wren, with guest vocalists on last year’s fourth album This Is What We Do including Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten.
Between live dates with Leftfield — including a UK tour this spring and summer festival appearances at Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party and Bluedot — Barnes returns to his first love: DJing. He discovered it in 1979, drawing influences throughout the early 80s from American groups and producers playing electro and hiphop, including D Train, Larry Levan, Grandmaster Flash and Soulsonic Force.
“Mixing records was primitive in those days,” says Barnes. “I remember first seeing people doing it — taking a vocal beat and keeping it going — in London in around 1986. As soon as we realised what we could do with vinyl, it changed everything. Until then, we just mixed records into the beginning of the last one on Pioneer DJ decks; there was no thought of putting something over the top until hip-hop came along and minimised the beats.”
The art of DJing has undergone phenomenal change since those early days, as Barnes reveals below.
How did you move from DJing into music production?
この記事は Rolling Stone UK の June/July 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Rolling Stone UK の June/July 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
BACK TO THE GRIND
The Clipse broke up when a spiritual path called to one of the brothers from Virginia. Now, one of the greatest duos in rap returns
THE SCREAM QUEEN NEXT DOOR
In just a few short years, Hunter Schafer has gone from small-town North Carolina to global runways, Euphoria stardom, and her first lead role, in the horror flick Cuckoo
Together in Electronic Dreams
Raphaella Lima of video game publisher Electronic Arts brings music to her childhood love of gaming to spotlight many of the most exciting emerging acts of the past two decades in the hit football game EA SPORTS FC
JAMIE XX WAVE AFTER WAVE
Nine years after his decade-defining debut album In Colour, Jamie xx returns with In Waves, a darker and broodier follow-up that saw him fall back in love with making music
"You can feel trapped when people perceive you as one thing"
On their career-best fourth album, Fontaines D.C. have shed their skin of old to deliver something more fantastical. Grian Chatten tells us the story behind their evolution
IN COMPLETE CONFIDENCE
Confidence Man's Janet Planet and Sugar Bones go bigger and wilder than ever before on 3AM (LA LA LA), an album made about partying, while partying, and perfect for partying to
Collective consciousness
Ezra Collective return with Dance, No One's Watching, the roaring follow-up album to last year's boundary-moving Mercury Prize win
DAYDREAM BELIEVER
Welsh techno-pop artist Kelly Lee Owens is the first signing to Dirty Hit's new dance label, dh2. She talks \"transcending my bullshit\" on the euphoric, thumping club tunes of fourth album, Dreamstate
A BUNCH OF (PRI)MATES
From the story of 'Gary', the title track of Stockport band Blossoms' fifth album inspired by a fibreglass gorilla, to breaking new ground with their own record label and staying friends after 10 years, the tightknit band tell Rolling Stone UK all about it
RULE OF LAWTEY
Stepping up to play a comic-book icon in the big-budget sequel Joker: Folie à Deux could prove a life-changing moment for Industry star Harry Lawtey. But he's trying not to think about it...