!SOOKS & J'SOMETHING / THABO TONICK / ALEXKID / ATJAZZ / HILL, CLARA - [V10] STAY TRUE CUTZ VOL 10

There are at least two artists with the name Alexkid. 1. A French multi-instrumentalist, composer, re-mixer, DJ and sound engineer (active from 1997 to present) 2. A British instrumental post rock band (active from 2003 to 2006) 1. Born French from a Spanish mother in 1975, Alexis Mauri aka Alexkid is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, re-mixer, DJ and experienced sound engineer. His growing reputation of first class artist/producer and his knowledge of the dance floors made him a requested DJ. He originally got hooked to music at the age of fifteen, playing guitar in numerous funk school bands. It's only a few years later that he started getting involved in electronic music while learning sound engineering . Signed to French leading electronic label F-Communications in 1997, Alexkid will release a series of 4 Eps, until 2000, all to critical acclaim. Always on a Deep tip, his productions are mainly influenced by movie soundtracks and show an amazing diversity of styles from jazzy nu-house to Drum & Bass and abstract hip-hop. Bienvenida - his long-awaited first album released in 2001 - confirms the creativity of a composer exploring new musical fields while bearing his original trademark of joyful and grooving electronic mood. Here, technology is transparent, serving feelings rather than inducing them even in the most electronic pieces such as Strawberry Lane or Bienvenida. Including edited and remastered versions of previously released tracks, Bienvenida also contains two remixes from his first EP, the cinematic "Maybe" and the reconstruction of "I Think" by Richard Dorfmeister. Five new pieces complete the album two of which featuring guest vocalists and co-writers Ursula Rucker (4Hero/King Britt/The Roots), who gives a brilliant reading of her poetry in "Fear In Flight", and Hanifah Walidah (Brooklyn Funk Essentials) whose soulful performance illuminates "Not Every Angel". Mint, his second album is released in August 2003 to much critical acclaim from the European press. Back in studio with Hanifah Walidah (Pick It Up), he also calls in Cuban singer Lissette Alea and Scottish singer Ian James Whitelaw for the vocals of some brilliant electronic pop songs (Come With Me, Turn It Round Again). Very special guest is Jon Hassell, the legendary trumpet player who co-writes the title track of the album. Playing various instruments all along, Alexkid also knows how to gather perfect teams of excellent musicians among them Stéfane Goldman (guitars), Jean-Philippe Rykiel (keyboards, reknown for his pioneering works with the likes of Salif keita and Youssou N'Dour), label mate Ready Made, Christian Lechevretel and Renaud Pion (wind instruments, (both with impressive credits from Peter Gabriel to Dead Can Dance), Yvo Abadi, Philippe Monrose (percussions) or DJ Seep. It is with some of them that Alexkid has toured all over Europe from September 2003 till July 2004. While working as a solo artist, Alexkid is involved in various studio and live projects and has formed two bands : the electronic dub trio Dubphonic ("Class 84"/Guidance recordings 2000, “Smoke Signals”/Hammerbass 2003), and VeoVeo ("Safe&Sound"/Set Foundation 2002) where guitar based pop meets electronic. Caracol the 12’ released earlier this year (2006) was a clear announcement of Caracol the album, Alexkid’s new and surprising solo effort three years after the highly successful MINT (of which « Come with me » and « Don’t hide it » were best selling singles in Europe). Caracol - snail in Spanish - is a love letter to clubbers worldwide, a series of infectious tracks made to measure for the dance floors delight as well as living room hifi systems, such is the talent of Alexkid whose producer’s skills are based on a profound knowledge of the recording studio (he has engineered an impressive list of projects, remixed many artists like Llorca, King Britt, Tosca, Phonique, Freestyle Man & Kiki or George Michael among others) and whose accurate perception of the club scene comes from almost ten years of constant touring all over the planet. His credits as remixer include Llorca, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, Robert Miles, Fetile Ground, George Michael, Astor Piazzolla, Lullabies (for Missive), Clément (for Tropism), Hector Zazou ("The Long Voyage" featuring Suzanne Vega & John Cale), Muriel Moreno (from Niagara's fame), Nova Nova, and, with Dubphonic, Richard Dorfmeister (Suzuki in Dub/G-Stone) among others. His own tracks have been remixed by Jori Hulkonen (Bienvenida), Llorca, Brett Johnson, Tiga, DJ Seep (Come With Me), Riton, Jack Lahana, Blackstrobe (Pick It Up), Josh Wink (Don't Hide It). Writing collaborations include Hector Zazou, Ursula Rucker ("Supa Sista"/Studio K7), Jérôme Badini ("Trip Do Brasil #2" /Sony), Dubphonic ("Smoke Signals"/Taktic Music/Hammerbass), Veo Veo... 2. Alex Kid were an instrumental post rock band formed in 2003 in Sheffield consisting of Simon Long (drums), Ian Roberts (electric guitar), Jack Fabian (electric guitars) and Dan Spence (bass guitar). Their sound was a combination of technical guitar work, regimental drum beats and dynamic crescendos combined with wall-of-noise effects. The band split in 2006 having recorded two EPs. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Martin Iveson moved from the North-East of England to the Midlands city of Derby in 1991 to take a position as in-house musician for the then fledgling video games company that went on to produce the Tomb Raider series of games. Not content with sound tracking one of the world’s biggest computer games, Martin’s passion for music saw him set up his own studio and record label, from which he could give a free rein to his personal music aspirations. Martin became Atjazz and Mantis Recordings’ first release was his Story EP. The positive reactions to Story inspired his debut album That Something, which was released in 1998, and established the Atjazz name, going on to be licensed in Italy by Irma Records and Japan by Sony. Mantis Recordings moved onwards building a solid catalogue of releases from mainly local artists, and the Atjazz albums Labfunk and Labresults followed. While tracks on his debut album hinted at a particular Atjazz sound, it was these following albums that cemented his reputation as a world class producer with a distinctive yet diverse method to his sound, and making him an in demand producer, remixer and DJ. For Mantis he played a big role in the sound of Brooks debut album You, Me & Us, produced the album That Day for Magic Number, and works closely with Mantis’ jerkbeat master Clyde. His vast studio knowledge isn’t limited to just dirty disco, techno soul and hip hop beats either; he’s turned his hand to twiddling the knobs for everyone from acoustic soloists to post hardcore indie rockers. His brand new album Full Circle sees Atjazz working with many superb artists. Peter Wraight, who played a big part of the sound of Labfunk brings his skill and knowledge once again, while singers Ernesto, Clara Hill, Sarah-Jane Morris, Dawne B, Amalia, and Mr J all deliver stunning performances, plus there’s some mighty word wielding from Cee Rock and Hernandez. Superproducer Charles Webster is also joining forces with Atjazz, on a project called Version. They already have several remixes in the bag and a EP’s coming soon for both Miso and Mantis. While for Jazzanova’s prolific Sonar Kollektiv label, Atjazz has produced songs for the new Clara Hill album, and released the massive track For Real on their sub label Innervisions. A busy man indeed, and there’s plenty more coming from his studio in the shape of a collaborations album which will see Atjazz hooking up with some big guns of house music. http://atjazzrecordcompany.bandcamp.com Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.