Nathaniel James Clarkson
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| Nat (NJC) Clarxon | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Nathaniel James Clarkson |
| Born | March 8, 1978 |
| Origin | Ipswich, England |
| Genre(s) | Drum and bass, Reggae, R&B, alternative rock, Dance |
| Occupation(s) | Producer, sound engineer |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Label(s) | NJC Music, DML, Just Another Label, Sonoton Music (Germany), Ambiel Music |
| Website | NJC Music |
British born Nathaniel James Clarkson, aka Blox, NJC and more notably as Nat Clarxon, started his career as a record producer in 1998.
Contents |
[edit] History
In the beginning Clarkson worked from his bedroom studio in Ipswich, England and co-produced a number of tracks with local Hip Hop crew Don Congregation aka Don Con alongside Krie (Carl Herbert). Don Congregation was a collective of young Producers, MC's, Artists, Vocalists, Film makers, Skaters and Graffiti artists who all came together to make the crew. Carl Herbert the founder of Don Con went onto start British clothing label Don Wear UK.
Clarkson debuted in the year 2000 with a mainstream remix from Edel Records by Wyclef Jean and Brian Harvey, a track called "Olé Olé Olé" which was completed with collaborators Jay Funk (Jamie Coldron) and Danny J (Daniel Adams) from the then jointly owned Finesse Recordings. During the time working on the Finesse project the collective promoted club nights in and around East Anglia with the highlight being a Garage Nation event at the Ipswich Corn Exchange seeing over 1000 people attend. Finesse Recordings first and only 12" release featured the vocals of Cat Knight and London Garage MC 'MC Munchie'. Another singer that Clarkson worked with during and after the Finesse project was Shelley D (Shelley Debenham) aka Deeizm. Nat produced a number of tracks which featured her vocals although none were released.
In 2002 Clarkson was introduced to UK reggae artist YT, whose real name is Mark Hull, once known as 'Whitey' which is a Jamaican slang word for a white person. Nat co-produced YT's debut album Straight Outta Britain which took 3 years to complete. During 2002 Nat was introduced to Gordon Mulrain, another producer on the album and DJ Digital. It was the meeting with DJ Digital that proved to be the catalyst which started his career as a serious recording artist. Nat went onto produce various Drum & Bass singles; his debut release was in 2002 on UK label L.Plates.
From the meeting of DJ Digital Clarkson was introduced to 'Ola' from the then Stage One Music publishing company in London. Clarkson put together a show reel and sent it to Stage One Music for consideration. After some initial meetings Clarkson was presented with a publishing agreement and signed for a 3 year term.
2003 and Dholi Runner was released on Function Records which received several plays on BBC Radio 1 from Bobby Friction and Nihal and later by Steve Lamacq on his pre-Glastonbury show in June of the same year. It was alongside DJ Digital that Nat remixed a track from New Zealand based Salmonella Dub (Virgin Records in Australia). The original track "Nu Steppa" was taken from the album One Drop East; the remix was put out on Mercy (Salmonella Dub remix album) in 2004 by EMI.
Later on in 2003 Nat and YT were approached by Indian percussionist Dharam Singh to collaborate and the song called "Feel The Buzz" was born; this track featured a vocal sample from Bollywood star Lata Mangeshkar. The track was picked up by Bobby Friction & Nihal on BBC Radio One and put forward as 'break-through tune of the year', and, was also selected by the late John Peel as a must-have vinyl in one of his last shows on the station. Feel The Buzz was later released on Moviebox in 2006.
[edit] 2004 to present
After many productions with and without YT but mostly for Library companies, Nat and Gordon joined together as NJC & Innerheart, they went onto produce 7 of the 13 tracks on the YT album which was eventually released in June 2006 on Poptones Records (Creation Records). During the early stages of the YT project Nat, YT, Innerheart and DJ Digital created Sativa Records, they released exclusive 7" YT tracks and garnered support from BBC 1Xtra's Reggae DJ Robbo Ranx and, BBC Radio 1's 'In New Music We Trust' DJ Ras Kwame. Throughout the years working on the YT project the Sativa crew made visits to BBC's Maida Vale Studios, Radio 1 and 1Xtra promoting the various YT releases and artists on the Sativa label. The Maida Vale recording featured the Innerheart Band and was played on Ras Kwame's 'In New Music We Trust' show. Clarkson also attended the mastering session for the Straight Outta Britain album at Abbey Road Studios and sat in with Geoff Pesche. Clarkson left Sativa Records in 2007 to pursue his own projects whilst YT and Digital continued to run the label.
Also in 2004 Clarkson composed 'Dogs Life' which was used for a Playstation 2 promo for a game of the same name, this was then used on the cover-mount DVD in Europe for Playstation 2 Magazine. Dogs Life the game was later released around the world and the musical composition was reported to have been used in the Southern Hemisphere for terrestrial TV adverts.
When not in the studio Clarkson works as a freelance sound engineer and in 2005 he made his debut as head engineer for Ipswich based band 'The Marvelous' whilst they toured the UK. He worked in many London venues including Mass - Brixton, Shepard's Bush Empire, Dublin Castle - Camden, Hope & Anchor - Islington, The Garage - Islington (home of club night from Alan McGee), Sound - Leicester Square (formerly Sound Republic), The Water Rats - Kings Cross and other venues around the UK including Liverpool Academy, the University of Leeds and The Waterfront - Norwich. Clarkson has worked for several event co-ordinators: Gofer Ltd, VW Whitenoise, Judgeday, IMG & Mean Fiddler.
2006 was another year spent on the YT album but in between that Nat hooked up with the then owner of Base Records, Ben Allen. Allen started Gettin Funky Records that Clarkson produced the first single, it was put out on a limited run of 12" vinyl.
[edit] 2008
2008 sees Clarkson producing albums for DML (Dance Music Library) on various dance genre based concepts for use in film, TV and the web, mainly composing tracks for Sonoton Music (Germany) and Extreme Music. Clarkson continues to establish himself as a serious recording artist and is actively working on a number of new projects, currently producing the debut albums with Voodoo Browne and British band The Marvelous.
[edit] Awards
- Straight Outta Britain - Album nominated for 'Best Album' at Urban Music Awards 2006 up against Lily Allen and Lemar to name a few.
[edit] Bands and pseudonyms
- NJC & Innerheart
- Nat Clarxon
- NJC
- Blox
- Nat Clarkson
- The Marvelous Inc
- Sat Nav Studios
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- Straight Outta Britain (2006) (Producer) Artist album of YT - Retail CD and Digital downloads
- Real Musician (2007) (Producer) Artist album of Bongo Chilli - Retail CD and Digital downloads
- Substance & Rhythms (2007) (Producer) Unreleased album of British band The Marvelous
[edit] Singles
- Dispatches on L.Plates Records - 2003 (Drum and Bass)
- Feel The Buzz on White Label -2003 (Bhangra / Hip Hop)
- Dholi Runner on Function Records - 2004 (Drum and Bass) 12" Vinyl
- Gangsters Life on Cosmic Web Records - 2004 (Drum and Bass) 12" Vinyl
- Lets Go on Gettin' Funky - 2004 (Funky House) 12" Vinyl
- Take Me Higher - 2004 (Drum and Bass) 12" Vinyl
- H2o/The Roof Party - 2004 (Breakbeat) 12" Vinyl
- Makaton/Lose It on Function Records - 2005 (Drum and Bass) 12" Vinly
- Shakedown/Never Too Late - 2006 (Indie Rock) Retail CD - Producing Role only
[edit] Remixes
- Frontline - 2004 (Drum and Bass) 12" Vinyl
- Nu Steppa - 2004 (Drum and Bass) 12" Vinyl
