California Sounds

What are the odds that the first name of a musician is the exact adjective one would use to describe his work? Well, for Sunny Levine, who grew up in Los Angeles and now makes his home in Venice, this is just the case. Levine's music seems to soak up the temperature, color, and landscape of California's southern region a with the kind of fervor characteristic to only a native.

“People say my music has a California sound, a new California sound, and I think definitely geography has a big influence over me,” said Levine. “I think the music sounds sort of easygoing - stuff that would work outside in the sunshine and late at night with the palm trees blowing.”

Growing up as the grandson of the iconic Quincy Jones, son of music producer Stewart Levine (Simply Red, Joe Cocker and B.B. King, to name a few) and nephew of QD3, who has produced albums for rappers Tupac Shakur and Ice Cube, Levine was destined for a career in the industry.

Q&A: (Matthew Herbert)

To say that Londoner musician Matthew Herbert is unhappy with England's Prime Minister Tony Blair is an understatement. So it's no surprise that he channels his protests - the war in Iraq, corporate globalization, the western world's dependence on oil, to name a few - into his music that began around 2000 and includes his most recent album, “Scale.”

Herbert, a classically trained pianist, is a true darling within the electronic music world and has remixed songs by artists like REM, Björk and Serge Gainsbourg. Herbert began playing both the violin and the piano at age 4, and began singing and performing in orchestra at 7. The son of a BBC sound technician, Herbert studied theater at Exeter University and later made the 1998 work “Around the House” which is a collection of household sounds - the toaster, washing machine and a toothbrush - that he sampled and transformed into actual songs with grooves.

A Slice of Revolt

For many musicians, the idea of recording five albums in five years can seem daunting or, for some, insane. But for San Francisco-based artist John Vanderslice, it’s just one of those things.

“Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking. I must have low self-esteem,” explained Vanderslice about this five-year effort.

In his latest work, “Pixel Revolt,” Vanderslice recorded songs that touch upon issues such as the war in Iraq from the perspective of a Western journalist and a soldier, a musical love letter to an ex and the fascination with the Golden Gate bridge as a well-known locale for suicidal jumpers.

“For me I kind of have to have an idea of what the song will be about before I write it,” said Vanderslice. “I’m not very good at sketching out ideas on my guitar. For better or for worse, I wish I didn’t necessarily have to do that.” Vanderslice began writing songs for the album last September and finished in March. So the first batch of songs were deemed as highly political, a way for Vanderslice to work out his feelings stemming from the 2004 election and beyond.

“The record started out really political. I wanted to write a whole war record, but other things happened to me that became more important than writing abstract narratives, so I steered away from writing songs about politics even though I’m very interested in American imperial involvement,” added Vanderslice. “It’s hard to ignore and it fascinates me on a lot of levels.”

The lyrical tides changed when Vanderslice experienced a rough year of touring and fell deeply in love that later dissolved into a break-up. He said he usually doesn’t put his personal life on record, as the thought of it is not all that exciting to him.

“I would much rather not write about my life,” he said. “I don’t think people are necessarily that fascinating. Marcel Proust is fascinating. Oscar Wilde is fascinating. I live in a one-bedroom apartment and I walk to get a burrito every day. I’m not some workhorse. I have a very mundane life, by choice.”

Vanderslice is a quirky experimental pop solo musician who has made fans out of indie-rockers like Bright Eyes and Death Cab for Cutie. He enlisted the talent of friend and longtime collaborator John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats who acted as a co-writer for “Pixel Revolt.”

Q&A: (Mocean Worker)

Adam Dorn, known to his fans as Mocean Worker, has been involved in the music business in one form or another since he was a teen.

Son of legendary producer Joel Dorn, who has worked with the likes of Roberta Flack and saxophone virtuoso John Coltrane, Mocean Worker left high school at the age of 16 to work as an assistant to bassist/producer Marcus Miller, a producer to jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and singer Luther Vandross.

Growing up listening to jazz and Motown records shaped not only his life in an organic sense but in a technical sense as well. Since then, this electronic wizard has established his own record label and recently finished work on an album that took four years to complete. Dorn collaborated with musicians like guitarist Bill Frisell, flutist Franck Gauthier of the French rock group Rin™�/r™se, members (including trumpeter Steven Bernstein) of the avant garde jazz group Sex Mob, keyboardist Les McCann and jazz singer Jane Monheit. Dorn also incorporates the talent of a few artists who are no longer with us like Nina Simone and Rahsaan Roland Kirk in samples and entire songs taken from older recordings.

Dorn's latest work entitled, "Enter the MoWo," comprises 12 songs and spans 49 minutes which was partly inspired by single pieces of vinyl that had an "A" and "B" side. It begins with the work's most rowdy grooves up in front ("A" side) and winds down with its calmer pieces placed at the end ("B" side).

Among the dozen tracks, Dorn remixes Simone's heart-wrenching version of "Blackbird" with such sophistication and simplicity as only to augment the song's mood which exhibits his obvious admiration for one of jazz's greatest singers.

Q&A: (Ulrich Schnauss)

As a native of a small fishing port in Northern Germany, DJ Ulrich Schnauss made the life-changing decision to relocate to Berlin in the mid-1990s in the hopes of pursuing a career in music.

Schnauss, who was born in Kiel in 1977, moved to Berlin in 1996 with an impressive repertoire of work under his belt. He came to the realization that the big city would offer him much more opportunity in the music industry than his small hometown.

By the time he arrived on the scene, Schnauss had already caught the attention of the Berlin-based electronica label CCO, and recorded the album "Far Away Trains Passing By."

In 2001, he recorded the popular "A Strangely Isolated Place" on the independent label Domino Records, which has also brought listeners works from bands like Clinic, Four Tet and Franz Ferdinand.

Schnauss, who will perform at the Knitting Factory April 29, spoke to The Beach Reporter about this new album and his perspectives on the world of electronica.

From Student Union to Music Stage

A few years back, from a dorm room at Temple University in Philadelphia, sophomore student and aspiring singer Shareese Renee Ballard called her childhood friend Santi White. White was a songwriter and guitarist living in New York and working as an A&R assistant for Epic Records.

Ballard, known by her fans as Res (pronounced Reese), started singing for White over the telephone. The songwriter was impressed by her old friend's vocals, and Res was soon on her way to New York to record a demo of Santi's original compositions.

"We went over the songs together; I sang and Santi played the guitar," Res remembers. "She had just started writing songs at the time and so I went to New York where she hooked me up with my manager."

Subsequent to the recording session, several music labels including Epic Records approached Res with offers. She hesitated, waiting for the right deal. She finally signed with MCA in 1999 - at the age of 21. She packed her bags for New York and soon recorded her debut album, "How Do I."

Born and raised in the Philly suburbs, Res, now in her mid-20s, attended an all-girls Catholic school from kindergarten through her senior year of high school. A classically trained vocalist, she began singing Italian arias at the age of 14 and continued with her formal training until she was 19.

"For the first six months, all I sang were scales - I never sang a song," she said. "I remember when I was 12, I wanted to make a record. But the way that I actually got my record deal had to do with me being bored at school one day and calling my friend."

Prior to signing with MCA, Res knew of the music industry only what she saw on MTV, heard on the radio and read in magazines: Fame. Fortune. A catered life. But the reality of a career in music presented itself almost immediately.

"Just like everybody else, I bought records, I watched MTV and I thought it was a life of signing autographs, a life of glitz and glamour," she recalled. "A part of it is, but people don't see the time you put in at the studio, the time for interviews.

"What people can't see is that it's a job like any other job in this world. It can come with the same s**t - long hours, bosses or employees you may not like, and hanging in the studio nonstop. Right now I hate the studio and I can't wait for the next thing, which is performing on stage."

Complementing Res' fiery vocal style, "How Do I" features the talents of drum 'n' bass innovator Doc, and hip-hop beat originator A Kid Called Roots. The album melds dissonant musical styles from reggae, rock and hip-hop to folk and electronica.

"A lot of people have asked me what I'm trying to accomplish with my music, and right now I'm having fun and enjoying myself," Res explained. "I'm enjoying my life and I'm lucky that I am accomplishing what I am. I love my band; they're all dope and we've been playing really well from the jump."

As a black artist, Res hopes to continue defeating stereotypes common in the music industry - primarily, that all black artists are hip-hop or R&B.
"The industry has to label everything in order to sell it," she said. "There is all this talk of black artists who are doing something other than R&B, but the truth is black artists have been playing different types of music since I was young. Look at people like Tina Turner - she was singing rock."

The Logic of a DJ

A few years ago, I had the chance to catch my first Medeski, Martin and Wood concert in which the avant-garde jazz trio played at the House of Blues - a venue on Sunset Boulevard designed to resemble a dilapidated dwelling that could fit in right along the riverbanks of the Mississippi River yet stood amid a throng of twinkling West Hollywood lights.

On tour promoting its most recent album, "Combustication," MMW came onstage beneath the supernatural blue stage lights to an audience of crowd of jam-band junkies, straight-laced jazz aficionados, dreadlock hippies and urban funk dancers. The place erupted in applause when Chris Wood plugged in his electric bass, John Medeski plunked out a few notes on his organ keys and Billy Martin slid behind his drumkit. While a buzz came over the audience, my attention shifted to a figure leaning over a set of turntables, clutching a pair of headphones between his cheek and collarbone.

His name was DJ Logic (born Jason Kibler), and to MMW fans, he was the secret weapon in the making of "Combustication," with his spinning and scratching that meshed with the trio's impressive "grooved out" trademark sound. Logic's live improvisation that night was so magical it forever changed my opinion of electronic sampling from somewhat of a vague distaste to outright fascination.

Since then, Logic has ventured into solo artistry, forming the appropriately named Project Logic. He has already released his sophomore effort entitled "The Anomaly"; is now finishing up work on his next album; and is currently on tour with some of pop music's sweethearts, John Mayer and Maroon 5.

"I've always looked at my turntables as an instrument," Logic explained. "On the album with Medeski, Martin and Wood, our vibe was real tight. We just had that connection and I just tried adding a little color to the music. Playing with them has always made sense."

Logic, in his late 20s, discovered the art of DJing at an early age. At a community function in his Bronx neighborhood, he watched a local DJ in awe and knew immediately what he was to do with his life. Soon after, Logic unwrapped a Christmas present that forever altered his future: a set of turntables.

He quickly became recognized as an up-and-coming talent, performing at parties and catching the eye of noteworthy drummer Richie Harrison. Logic joined Harrison's group, Eye and I, which featured Melvin Gibbs and Gary Pulson on bass, and DK Dyson on vocals. The band signed with Sony Records and promoted its debut album by opening a tour for Living Colour. It was during this time that Logic coined his DJ name, which was inspired by a computer magazine and the dictionary.

"I was sitting with DK, and she said every DJ had to have a cool name," Logic recalled. "I wanted something that stood out, but I didn't want it to be too long. I think the name is a way to explain what I do and how I try to find what makes sense to me in mine (sic) and others' playing."

Gibbs tutored Logic in the varied forms of jazz, which Logic began applying to his playing. At first, he remembered many people found the combination of electronica/hip-hop and live instrumentation awkward, but he continued with his experimentation, recording with jazz artists like Graham Haynes and Don Byron.

"Melvin got me into jazz and the improvisational jazz scene by doing jazz hits and playing in the clubs like CBGB," said Logic. "A lot of people didn't understand what I was doing. I knew I always wanted to be a part of music -- music makes sense. Finding the right colors, and applying those colors to the bridge and chorus, is always a new thing for me each time I play."

It was at CBGB that Billy Martin approached Logic; asked him to check out Medeski, Martin and Wood; and asked if perhaps Logic might even want to join the group on a collaboration. Logic eventually recorded with MMW on a remix track called "Dracula-Mix" and on "Combustication."

Logic has also performed with guitarists John Scofield and Marc Ribot, saxmen Josh Redman, Karl Denson, DJ Spooky, banjo wizard Bela Fleck and singer/ songwriter Chris Whitley. Nowadays, however, he spends most of his time and energy directing Project Logic, a five-piece band. Logic has also enlisted the talents of special guests, including John Medeski, Gibbs, Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno and Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid.
"I never thought I'd have my own band," Logic said. "Being the leader is a whole different thing. I love what I'm doing and I love playing in front of people."

DJ Andy Smith Likes Our Record Shops

Since venturing into the underground hip-hop scene as a teen-ager, the English DJ Andy Smith has honed his knack for spinning and scratching records all his own that has thrust him into the thriving club culture across America and Europe.

In the early 1980s, Smith first explored his craft at parties in his hometown of Portishead, England. Intrigued by hip-hop artists such as Kurtis Blow and Grandmaster Flash, Smith started to record hip-hop compilations, which he sold to kids at the local bus stops. Smith soon had enough cash for his first set of turntables; he spent the rest augmenting his then-scanty vinyl collection, which has since grown to monstrous proportions.

"I have a one-bedroom flat in London which is three stories and my collection sits on all three levels," Smith said. "I've never counted them, but there are probably thousands. Unfortunately, I have to throw out the old stuff because the new stuff is coming in."

Smith met fellow turntablist Geoff Barrow during a hip-hop jam session in a club in Bristol.

"At the time, Geoff had a sampler and turntable but few records," Smith recalled. "I would take crates of records over to his house and we would go through them to find samples -- as we still do it to this day, only in the studio."

Barrow was a member of the band Portishead and he soon recruited Smith to be the band's DJ guru. Smith traveled throughout the world opening shows for Portishead, exposing crowds to a medley of jazz, funk, hip-hop and rock music.

"For these shows, I set the scene for Portishead, trying to give the crowd an idea of the band's musical heritage," he said, "playing everything from the 1960s and 1970s soundtracks, jazz, funk, original breaks and even the odd rock record. I wanted people to hear Hendrix in the same performance as hearing reggae and ska. I wanted different styles of music coming together for one night of entertainment."

In 1999, Smith recorded "The Document," an album which earned him well-deserved fame as a solo artist, and looks to the future with "The Document II," set for release in September. "I thought it was time to move on and create my own name," he said of the record. "It has been an uphill struggle because so many people still see me as the assistant to Portishead."

Smith recently joined talents with fellow DJ Scott Hendy in a partnership called Dynamo Productions.

"We met each other and we were really into the same records, and really enjoyed the same music, so we decided to hook up," Hendy said. Hendy, also a hip-hop aficionado, lives in Bristol and exchanges ideas with Smith through the mail. "We live quite a bit away from each other, so we send mini-discs to each other and it works quite well."

As a member of the hip-hop collaboration Purple Penguin, Hendy has acquired his own worldwide acclaim as a DJ, and his own sizeable collection. He and Smith hope that one fringe benefit of their U.S. tour will be the opportunity to accumulate more records for their collections.

"America is a great place to buy records," Smith said. "It's exciting because you are able to share the records and reinvent yourself every night. When I buy a record, I go through it and I note certain points in my head where I might double up. I try to know the record inside and out."
The format of a Dynamo Productions performance features alternate spinning sessions from Smith and Hendy. The two then team up for the show's conclusion.

"The reception in America has been pretty good -- except when we played at a club in Chicago which was completely empty ... I couldn't quite fathom that," said Smith.

He and Hendy agree that one of the main differences between U.S. and English audiences is that Americans tend to lump widely varied music into a single category. "We play a lot of different and obscure stuff, and people ask us to play Puff Daddy. I think people automatically assume (that) because we play hip-hop we will have Puff Daddy."

Zero7 Falls Into Its Groove

If you're an avid watcher of shows like "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," "Sex and the City" or "Six Feet Under," chances are you have probably heard the music of Zero 7.

The British duo - Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker - and its freelance group of collaborative singers - including Sia Furler, Sophie Barker and Tina Dico - recently followed up 2001's well-received debut album, "Simple Things," with its sophomore work, "When it Falls."

Binns and Hardaker's latest work is a bit more on the folk side but still retains the slow- to mid-tempo electronic atmospheric and soulful grooves that have made their songs so popular among mainstream audiences.

"It's a refreshing break from hearing them on home makeover shows; we get bombarded with that back in the U.K." said Binns. "But we had some good ones. My girlfriend watches 'Sex in the City' and that was funny hearing the end sequence to 'Waiting in Line.' Sam is big fan of 'Six Feet Under' and I don't watch much TV but I'm told it's really good and so that was a big privilege. So yeah, the good ones are good ones and the rubbish ones are just, um ... the rubbish ones."

Binns and Hardaker are currently on tour in the U.S. and with them the singers on the album. The time on the road has solidified the group's dynamic, shifting its state from two Englishmen playing electronica with guest singers to a group of musicians touring together like a close-knit rock band.

"Everyone's come on tour so we have all of our singers and we wouldn't dream of doing it without them," said Binns. "It's just about not making us look like a talent show. It kind of feels like Fleetwood Mac, (laughs) no, not quite like that, but you know what I mean? We've all worked to make the show flow and in doing that the personalities have come out more. It's something that's pleasing because I think it's something we should harvest and use for the next record; the band thing has more of an impact."

Both Binns and Hardaker, who went from studio producers to popular musicians, met each other in the late 1980s as interviewees for the same tape operator job at a studio where Binns' childhood friend, producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead and Beck) was employed.

Binns eventually got the job but Hardaker, who stayed on to work on four studio tracks, was hired later. The studio then became the scene for the "Simple Things" sessions, which went on to sell 800,000 copies worldwide with hit singles like "Destiny" and "In the Waiting Line" that have made their way onto dozens of television shows in both the U.K. and in America.

Binns and Hardaker have once again created a soundscape of soulful melodies and basslines that intertwine string arrangements and the distinct voice of each singer.

"I've always had quite a soft palette when it comes to music I suppose. I mean don't get me wrong, I do sometimes listen to all sorts of music, but when I was a kid everyone was kind of into hip hop and I was listening to Teddy Pendergrass," said Binns. "Although we don't set out to make what they call 'chill out' records, they do come out the way they do. Nevertheless, it is I suppose, quite mellow and soothing (laughs) which I don't know if we aim for but it's something we end up with."

Much of what was recorded on "When it Falls" was inspired by what Binns refers to as emotional upheaval and the duo's record shop experiences in the States. Both Binns and Hardaker were much more involved in the songwriting process this time around, writing lyrics and melodies that at the time, Binns hoped, turned out to be "half decent."

"It's clearly different in that 'Simple Things' in its approach started off as remixes so it was kind of a hodgepodge of music and we put the songs in like a crossword - almost like on top, which can work," said Binns. "But this one we definitely sat down and said we are going to write some songs on 'When it Falls' which is a different approach, really. It's a reflection of that time so it's got all of those elements to it."

Binns and Hardaker met with each singer to fine-tune the lyrical content and this effort more resembled a product that reflected the varying personalities of each artist involved.

"We write the songs with the singers so it's just as much an expression of them as it is us, in a way, although we put our 3 cents-worth in," said Binns. "I think it's hard to do stuff that we feel is good. For instance, the first song on the album, 'Wants Out,' we kept on coming back to it, lord knows why, and it's come out really good, so I'm glad that we persevered. But songwriting is a whole new venture for us, really. We did it on this album and the last but it's not like we've been songwriters for ages like some bands. It kind of strangely comes from a remix approach in a way. You need somebody to sing the words you're writing in order to see how those words are going to sound and I think the song 'Home' is a bit of a departure from what we've done before, personally."

Zero 7 is performing June 4 at the John Anson Ford Theater in Los Angeles.

Q&A: (Kid Koala)

Born in 1974 in Vancouver, Canada, Eric San, a.k.a. Kid Koala, has always exhibited a devoted affinity to the world of music.

Following years of classic piano training that began at the age of 4, San discovered the wide world of turntables at the age of 12.

San migrated to Montreal in the early 1990s to study early childhood education at McGill University and began DJing in nightclubs during his spare time.

In 1995, Jon More, the co-owner of the UK record label Ninja Tune, discovered San and signed him as the label's first North American artist.

Since then, San has toured with the likes of Beastie Boys and Radiohead, and cut his debut album for Ninja Tune in 2000 entitled "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome."

The label released San's second full-length album "Some of my Best Friends are DJs" earlier this month.

The Beach Reporter recently sat down with San, known by most fans as Kid Koala, and talked about his new record, and the samples and experiences that inspired it.

The Beach Reporter: The title of your new album is 'Some of my Best Friends are DJs.' Is that actually true?

San: Yeah, but it's also kind of a retort to the silly fact that it's so surprisingly unfashionable to be a DJ now, but those of us who have been unfashionable all our lives, it feels pretty cool. I realized it wasn't necessarily a cool thing to do, but it was that special outlet for me when I was 13. You're already trying to grasp on to something and trying to figure things out at that age, and for me it was turntables. I would just practice for hours a day for no reason since I wasn't playing shows and I didn't really have any prospects for the future since there weren't any scratch DJs making a full-time living at it. So no one was listening and I was kind of in my isolated world where I did it for the love, I guess.

It seems like there are a lot of obscure samples used on this album. How much of your time is dedicated to searching for new music and new samples?

For the recording, I usually use early takes, usually first or second. So the actual process doesn't take that long, but finding the bits that you want to use and other bits that you want to use to fill up other parts of a song later on takes months and months. For this record, I probably spent about two years digging for stuff. Then I would practice with it, learning how to get certain melodies and tones out of the cut. The actual recording of this record took about eight months.

So when you're on tour, are you in record stores looking for new material?
Yeah, I kind of always have one eye open for that. I feel compelled to stop to have a look through record bins since you never can tell just by looking at it. That's the fun thing about records, there is always something that surprises you.

Are you using other forms of media such a television or movies?

No, it's most all from vinyl really. That's the jumping point for most of the things on this record. I start from hearing a little clip from a record and thinking, 'Oh that could be cool for a song.' For instance, "Elevator Hopper" was a song inspired from a record that had the voice of an elevator operator on it. He says, 'First floor, step backward.' It just got me into the whole elevator mode and I started thinking, 'What kind of music is played in elevators?' I then started to look for characters to be in that elevator to see if they could react to each other. It's just about creating a little, fun audio playground for a bunch of these random samples from different records that coexist and have a conversation with each other or in this case, pick up on each other. So that's usually how things start for me is just hearing a little bit on a record and creating a story around it.

Do you have another example in mind?

Well, the song "Basin Street Blues," (originally written by New Orleans trumpeter Louis Armstrong) started with the intent to do a turntable version of it and that started with a horn line. I visited New Orleans for the first time three years ago and I've been a fan of jazz music for so long that it was my time to go see where it all came from. I spent all of my time in those clubs down there. On the plane home, I didn't know how my new album was going to sound, but I promised myself I was going to try and do a version of "Basin Street Blues" and see what it would sound like. I didn't know how long it would take, but it was just one of those things where I wanted to see if I could do it.

It turned out well and in listening to it I kept thinking, 'This is so jazzy.'

It's jazzy in the sense that it was a study for me, a turntable study because if it was really jazzy then I'd have 18 DJs and we'd do it in one take. I don't have the budget for that, so in the meantime, I make music of the lonely-hearted.

So, is that considered the DJ equivalent to jazz?

Yeah, jazz is about playing together and when I was putting "Basin Street Blues" together I had to do each layer by itself so you don't get that same vibe as if everyone was playing together at the same time. I wanted to see if I could do turntable renditions of each instrument. So the bass line was this silly thing that turned into a hell project. I skatted a bass line because I didn't want to sample one, I actually wanted to use an original one and I knew the chords to "Basin Street Blues" so I skatted one with my voice. But then I went back and found all of these single notes, single bass hits off different records, a lot of classical records. Then, I scratched those notes in, in key and bent the notes so I had all of the notes that I skatted and then I took the skat out. It's such a tedious way of doing things and most people don't care. I don't even know if I care, but I just wanted to see if I could do it at the time.

What do you think this record is about, musically?

For me, this record is an exploration of what a range of turntables can do. Scratching can sound like a lot of things to me and it also has a mode of qualities that I hadn't really tried to go for in the past. The thing about scratching is that when I'm happy, sad or angry I can go scratch and so for me it's always been a meditative process. When I'm in those moods I play off different records and scratch different things. This album is about going there to those places and seeing if I can accomplish really bold, angular cuts or really atmospheric layered cuts.

Squarepusher's Spirit of Adventure

Even among the most avid electronica addicts, the music of Squarepusher (a.k.a. Tom Jenkinson), the 26-year-old DJ prodigy from England, can be described as nothing short of epic.

The reason Squarepusher's original compositions -- heavy with noteworthy beats, samples, scratches and improvised instrumentation -- are thought to be the next wave in electronic sounds is because they are thought-provoking and musical, unlike much of the redundant and boring sounds which give the genre a negative reputation.

"I just do what I do; I do think if I compared what I do to what other people do, I do think that my stuff is and will be historically important music," he said. "But I don't care, that's not my aim. My aim is just to do stuff to carry on the spirit of adventure that I've had since I was a kid. When that runs out, then I'll pack it in. For me, music has been the one continuum. It's been the part of my life, which has remained solid. Music is the best part of my life."

Squarepusher has spent years behind a turntable and his work is a product derived from a need to make music for one simple reason: to continue with his experimentation of a craft that defines his life.

"I can't describe what I do musically; it just sort of answers the question for me," he said. "I do what I do because if I didn't, I just wouldn't be a person. What I'm trying to do is create a five-second or a 10-minute epic to provoke some chain reaction of thought. Maybe it's futile, but what else can I do?"

Squarepusher, who currently lives in East London, is now in the U.S. for his first seven-date tour this month promoting his latest album, "Go Plastic" (Warp Records).

"I like gigs because for a fraction of time you see people who are really banging to what you're doing," he said. "On the other hand, you waste however many months that you are on the road, and you can't make any new tracks. So you're shooting yourself one way in order to benefit the other."

The work samples music from a wide array of genres, including jazz and hip-hop with drum and bass beats, along with interestingly arranged instrumentation.

Squarepusher set out to create the most contrived and fake music he could with this album, hence the title, and succeeded at doing so.

"The one thing that distinguishes 'Go Plastic' from anything else I've done is that it's done using an entirely new setup," he said. "I'm now using a lot more modern equipment. Up until this record, I was using what I would say was outdated, old-fashioned equipment, but I wanted to get the most I could from it. I have a really emotional relationship with technology. Even if I've had this old drum machine for five years, I can't retire that drum machine until I feel like I've done everything with it. It's crazy, but that's the way my mind works."

Squarepusher, who's thought to be a recluse of sorts, has been around music ever since he can remember. As a kid, he recalled listening to Motown, soul and pop music his father would play on one of the many old radios he liked to collect. He first picked up an instrument, the bass, at the age of 10 and recorded his first electronic project at 12 by playing bass lines along a prerecorded drumbeat.

"It's the earliest incarnation of what I was doing now to this day," he said. "I suppose it's been a relatively smooth transition really, because music is so familiar to me. It's not like I suddenly got into it when I was a teen-ager. I think a lot of people do that. They suddenly take an interest in it and most start playing music when they are 16 or whatever. But it's literally just been there all my life."

Squarepusher's Warp Records' discography began with the 1996 debut album "Feed Me Weird Things" with the help of Richard James of Aphex Twin who expressed an interest in Jenkinson after hearing his earlier work.

Jenkinson followed up "Feed Me Weird Things" with his 1998 work entitled "Music is Rotted One Note" that contains a vibe reminiscent to the work of Miles Davis in the 1970s where Jenkinson is able to show off his chops on the upright bass. In 1999, Squarepusher then released "Selection Sixteen" which serves as an abstract interpretation of both the conscious and subconscious thoughts floating around in Jenkinson's head.

"I'm basically into contrast and music is a holistic thing for me," he added. "It has to cover all bases. In that sense I love music that covers all those different things. I have urges for different things. I have urges that nobody else really satisfies, so I have to do everything that I want to hear within my own stuff."

Gomez: A Worldly Band

For the English blokes of Gomez, careers as famed trans-Atlantic musicians have turned out beautifully so far.

With four albums under its belt, the quintet's eccentric conglomeration of rock, blues, electronica, jazz and soul continues to attract fans from both Europe and America.

"When we first went over to America, like anywhere, we were still kind of quite naive in terms of what was going on and how the reaction would be. We just got on with stuff and played as well as we could at the time," recalled Gomez drummer Olly Peacock. "It was a little bit daunting at first but it was just great. It ended up being people of all ages with all different backgrounds, which is still the case."

While awaiting the start of their North American tour, the members of Gomez -- Tom Gray, Ian Ball, Ben Ottewell, Paul Blackburn and Peacock -- are spending time rehearsing and recording bits and pieces of their next album due out in 2004.

"It's hard to say if there is really any kind of concept at all to our new album. We kind of do stuff and think about it later," said Peacock. "We've been writing tunes for this album for a long time here and there just at home individually. We'll probably end up with about 30 tunes to make something like a 12-track album."

Formed in 1996, Gomez sprouted up in Southport, England, just outside of Liverpool.

"Southport is a fairly large town on the coast, and it's generally full of old people with a lot of golf courses and a lot of cheesy clubs," said Peacock.

Ball (Gomez singer and guitarist) and Peacock, born just two days apart, have known each other their whole lives.

"It's interesting from the point of view to see how we progress musically at the moment," explained Peacock. "I'll hear him do certain things that he's not done before and I'm doing things I haven't done before, and it's interesting to step back and actually look at each other for the first time in a long time and really to see yourself maturing. "

In their late teens, Ball and Peacock, now 27, joined musical forces with Blackburn (singer and bassist) and Gray (singer, guitarist, keyboards) in Southport.

Away at school in the city of Sheffield, England, is where Ball found Ottewell (singer and guitarist), a native of Matlock Bath in Derbyshire, England, who rounded out the group.

"It's funny that we were kids jamming in the garage and it's now gotten to the stage where we are doing it professionally," added Peacock. "It's strange to say the least, but it's good and we have always gotten along really well while still doing our own thing at the same time. We've always given each other space and so it's a good healthy vibe."

Early in their career, Ottewell and Ball commuted between Southport and Sheffield to jam and record on a four-track in a garage with the rest of Gomez. Ball, Ottewell and Gray rotated on the lead vocals of each tune and the method of creating music took on a form of egalitarianism. The sounds of Gomez reflect such a process, and represent the band's divergent and sweeping musical tastes.

"As friends, it just helps in most situations. You're more sympathetic and patient with each other, and it becomes a communal kind of thing rather than being in a band for the sake of being in a band," explained Peacock. "There are times when we are on tour, somebody wakes up and they're already pissed off at everybody else, then we tell them to 'shut up' and everything later on gets kind of chilled out."

After recording a seven-track demo, Gomez signed with the British label Hut Recordings and eventually released its debut album, "Bring It On," in the UK. In 1998, Mercury Music nominated and later presented the band with the best album of the year award. Later that year, Gomez won the "Q" Award for best new artist. It also garnered nominations for best British group, album and newcomer in the 1999 Brit Awards.

The band completed work on its sophomore album, "Liquid Skin," in 1999 which entered the UK charts at No. 2. Gomez then took to the road for a U.S. tour.

In 2000, Gomez released the compilation project, "Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline," and its latest work, "In Our Gun," in 2002.

For "In Our Gun," the group rented out a manor in Gloucester, England, and recorded there over a two-month period. As in the past, Gomez achieved a delicate balance of its symphonic preferences by creating a consonant blend of dissimilar styles thriving in commune.

Gomez also integrated the world of electronica -- usually associated with tones and textures defined as cold and esoteric -- as a way to augment the warmer elements of its compositions.

As far as Peacock's musical tastes, he said it's usually related to his mood at any given time. Lately, he's been into the weird, mysterious band Kraftwerk from Germany along with several contemporary pop bands.

"Kraftwerk is coming from a very intellectual background in terms of what they were trying to do and they're so far ahead of the game. It's kind of one of those things where over the last 20 years of music, they've inspired everybody," added Peacock. "There are a few good pop songs around. The White Stripes have some good stuff out at the moment. Massive Attack sounds great. It's kind of like if I'm feeling this mood, I'll put this on. If I'm feeling pissed off, maybe Slayer will go in the stereo or something. So, it's all over the shop."