Leftfield

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For other uses, see Leftfield (disambiguation).
Leftfield

Background information
Origin London, England
Genre(s) Electronica
Dance
Progressive House
House
Years active 1990 – 2002
Label(s) Outer Rhythm / Rhythm King (1990-1992)
Hard Hands / Chrysalis Music (1992-2002)
Website Official Site
Former members
Paul Daley
Neil Barnes

Leftfield were a duo of electronica artists and record producers, Paul Daley (formerly of A Man Called Adam and the Brand New Heavies) and Neil Barnes, formed in 1989 in London, England. The name Leftfield was originally used simply by Neil Barnes for the first single Not Forgotten but after this Paul Daley was involved firstly in remixing songs and then in the creation of following music[1]. The pair were pioneers in the fields of intelligent dance music and progressive house, being the first to fuse house music with dub and reggae [Release the Pressure (1995)]. They furthermore were among the first electronic musicians to incorporate live guest vocalists, along with The Chemical Brothers and Underworld. Ultimately the duo have been influential on the electronic genre as a whole, with The Crystal Method's Scott Kirkland referring to them in 2005 as "The best Electronic band period."

Their downtempo music style has inspired a genre which has been recognised as simply leftfield, with several charts appearing in magazines such as DJ magazine and Mixmag. The genre is also known as "Chillout".

Contents

[edit] Releases

Still from Guinness Surfer advert projected onto Paul and Neil
Enlarge
Still from Guinness Surfer advert projected onto Paul and Neil

Leftfield are well-known to the mainstream UK audience for their track "Phat Planet", which soundtracked the "Surfers" TV advertisement for Guinness, ranked number one in Channel 4's Top 100 Adverts list in 2000. "Phat Planet" was a song used in the TV series Beast Machines and the video game f1 2000. In addition their song "Release the Pressure" was used on adverts for the O2 mobile phone network at its launch and "A Final Hit" was featured on the Trainspotting soundtrack. They also released a series of singles and two acclaimed albums before breaking up in 2002 to focus on solo projects.

[edit] Leftism

Their first major hit was "Open Up", a collaboration with John Lydon; soon followed by their debut album, Leftism in 1995, blending dub, breakbeat, and techno especially called "UK-dub". It was shortlisted for the 1995 Mercury Music Prize but lost-out to "Portishead – Dummy". In a 1998 Q magazine poll, readers voted it the eightieth greatest album of all time, while in 2000 Q placed it at number 34 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. The album was re-released in 2000 with a bonus disk of re-mixes.

[edit] Rhythm and Stealth

Their second and final album, Rhythm and Stealth (1999) maintained a similar style but with a harder, bleaker techno edge, and featured such artists as Roots Manuva, Afrika Bambaataa, and MC Cheshire Cat from Birmingham. The album was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize in 2000 but lost-out to "Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of Bewilderbeast". It reached #1 in the UK album chart. The album featured the song "Phat Planet" which featured on Guinness' 1999 advert Surfer [1], but the song was never released as a single.

[edit] Live performances

At the very first Leftfield gig, in Amsterdam, the Dutch police were close to arresting the sound-man due to the sound system reaching illegal volumes. At the next concert, in Belgium, thirty people were given refunds after complaining that the sound level was too high, leading to a newspaper headline reading "Leftfield Too Loud". In June 1996, while the group was playing at Brixton Academy, the sound system caused dust and plaster to fall from the roof; subsequently, the group was banned from ever returning to the venue.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Leftism
(30th January 1995)
#3 UK
Rhythm and Stealth
(20th September 1999)
#1 UK
Stealth Remixes
(29th May 2000)

[edit] Compilations

Backlog
(1992)
A Final Hit: Greatest Hits
(3rd October 2005)
#10 UK

[edit] Singles

[edit] Soundtracks

"Shallow Grave" (Feat. Christopher Eccleston)
"Release The Dubs"
"Open up" (Feat. John Lydon)
"A Final Hit"
"A Final Hit" (Full Length Version)
  • From the Go soundtrack
"Swords" (Feat. Nicole Willis) (Original Version)
"Snakeblood"

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "More Than I Know", Leftfield Online. Retrieved on 2006-10-17.

[edit] External links

Leftfield
Neil Barnes | Paul Daley
Discography
Studio albums: Leftism | Rhythm and Stealth | Stealth Remixes
Compilation Albums: Backlog | A Final Hit - The Greatest Hits
Singles: Not Forgotten | More Than I Know | Release the Pressure (1992) | Song of Life | Open Up | Original | Afro-Left | Release the Pressure (1996) | Afrika Shox | Dusted | Swords
Collaborating Artists
Earl Sixteen | Papa Dee | Djum Djum | Toni Halliday | Danny Red | John Lydon | Lemn Sissay | Roots Manuva | Cheshire Cat | Afrika Bambaataa | Nicole Willis | Rino | Dave Clarke | Nick Rapaccioli
Electronica
Big beat • Bitpop • Chip • Downtempo • Folktronica • Glitch • Indietronica • IDM • Leftfield • Nu jazz • Post-rock • Trip hop • Uptempo
Other electronic music genres
Ambient | Breakbeat | Dance | Drum and bass | Electronica | Electronic art music | Hard dance | Hardcore | House | Industrial | Synthpop | Techno | Trance
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