| Leftfield | |
|---|---|
Leftfield playing live at Brixton Academy, London in December 2010. From left to right: Earl 16, Djum Djum, Neil Barnes, Sebastien Beresford, Cheshire Cat and Kes Sway. |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | Progressive house Electronic Dub music |
| Years active | 1990–2002, 2010–present |
| Labels | Outer Rhythm / Rhythm King (1990-1992) Hard Hands / Chrysalis Music (1992-2002) Columbia/SME Records |
| Website | Official Site |
| Members | |
| Neil Barnes Paul Daley |
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Leftfield are a British duo of electronica artists and record producers, namely Paul Daley (formerly of The Rivals, A Man Called Adam and the Brand New Heavies) and Neil Barnes, who formed in 1990 in London, England. The name Leftfield was originally used simply by Barnes for its first single with editing/arranging and additional production added by Daley "Not Forgotten", but after this, Daley was involved in remixing "Not Forgotten" and then in the creation of all Leftfield's music. The pair were pioneers in the fields of intelligent dance music and progressive house, being among the first to fuse house music with dub and reggae. 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!"[1]
As with many of their contemporaries such as The Chemical Brothers and Underworld Leftfield pioneered the use of guest vocalists throughout their career. Among the more prominent were Toni Halliday, who sang on Original, Djum Djum on Afro Left and Earl 16 and Cheshire Cat on Release the Pressure. As of December 2011, Neil Barnes continues to tour with the band while Paul Daley is focusing upon his solo career.
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Leftfield's first major career break came with the single "Open Up", a collaboration with John Lydon that was soon followed by their debut album, Leftism in 1995, blending dub, breakbeat, and techno. It was shortlisted for the 1995 Mercury Music Prize but lost out to Portishead's Dummy.[2] 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 disc of remixes.
Their second and final album, Rhythm and Stealth (1999) maintained a similar style, and featured 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's The Hour of Bewilderbeast. It reached #1 in the UK Albums Chart.[3] The album featured the song "Phat Planet" which featured on Guinness' 1999 advert, Surfer,[2] and "6/8 War" featured on the Volkswagen Lupo Advert 'Demon Baby'. The track "Double Flash" featured in the PlayStation software game Music 2000.
Leftfield is 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 also used in the animated television series Beast Machines, the simulation racing games F1 2000 by EA Sports and Racedriver GRID by Codemasters. In addition, their song "Release the Pressure" was used on advertisements for the O2 mobile phone network at its launch, and "A Final Hit" was featured on the Trainspotting soundtrack;[2] the b-side "Afro Ride" was also featured on the soundtracks to both wipE'out" and wipE'out" 2097 although it did not appear on the album of the first game.
They also released a series of singles and two albums before breaking up in 2002 to focus on solo projects.
At the debut 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;[4] subsequently, the group was banned from ever returning to the venue.[4] The ban however was taken by the band as a ban on the sound system and not themselves,[4] which was confirmed when Leftfield played Brixton on 20 May 2000. Apart from this their gig at Ilfracombe Barrolands in 1996 was received with rapturous and stunned guests.
In November and December 2010 Leftfield did a series of dates around the UK and Ireland. Friday 3 December's gig saw more plaster fall from Brixton Academy's ceiling[5]
Leftfield headlined Creamfields in Cheshire in August 2010, RockNess in Scotland in June 2010, and played the final set on the main stage at Ireland's three day festival, 'Electric Picnic' in September. Further headline festival shows were announced in the coming weeks.[6] However, Leftfield is now represented by Barnes alone with a backing band and singers, as Daley is concentrating on his DJ work, as well as releasing a solo album.[7]
| Year | Album Details | Peak Chart Positions | Certification | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | FR | NZ | SE | CH | NO | AU | NL | BE | |||
| 1992 | Backlog
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- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1995 | Leftism
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5 | - | 32 | - | - | 27 | - | - | - | |
| 1999 | Rhythm and Stealth
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1 | 40 | 7 | 54 | 36 | 3 | 4 | 38 | 11 |
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| 2000 | Stealth Remixes
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- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2005 | A Final Hit: Greatest Hits
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10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
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