Swayzak
The Medicine Label
James Taylor and David Brown (Broon to his friends) met while working together at the Virgin Records headquarters in London. Spurred on by a shared penchant for Patrick Swayze and a disdain for cheesy dance music, they went on to form Swayzak. Their '97 debut release, "Bueno/Fukumachi," was well-received by London's burgeoning tech-house underground, most notably Terry Francis, Nathan Coles, and Mr. C. A few releases later and Swayzak had secured an album deal with both Pagan Records in the U.K. and The Medicine Label in the U.S. Snowboarding In Argentina, released in May of '98, was well-received critically by the dance music press on both sides of the pond and even chosen as Album of the Year by the U.S. dance publication Mixer.
Their follow-up full-length project, Himawari (released through The Medicine Label), is the result of eighteen months of hard graft. It forges elements of deep minimal house, silky smooth tech-house, straight-up techno, and even modern dub. The duo drafted dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah for his wise words as well as former Opus III nymph Kirsty Hawkshaw and JB Rose for their respective vocal talents. The result is an album that is both rich in its musical influences and cutting-edge in its production. "Kensal Rising," taken from Himawari, has the dance floor qualities of a Loaded release coupled with the technical depth of a Perlon output. If any underground techno house act is able to cross over into the mainstream, it will be Swayzak.
Luke Magnuson
last updated:
08/10/01
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