| Si Begg | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Simon Begg |
| Also known as | Buckfunk 3000, Cabbage Boy, S.I. Futures |
| Born | 1972, Leicester |
| Genres | Electronica Dance Experimental techno Drum and bass |
| Occupations | Record producer, DJ |
| Years active | 1993 to present |
| Labels | Caipirinha Novamute Ntone |
| Website | http://www.sibegg.com/ |
Si Begg (born 1972) is electronic dance music DJ, musician and record producer Simon Begg, from Leicester, England. His music combines elements of Experimental, Downtempo, Breakbeat Ambient, Drum and bass, Turntablism and Jazz. Begg grew up in Leamington Spa and moved to London in 1991. His recording career began in 1993 and he has used a number of different pseudonyms and band names, and released music in different styles on several record labels.
He has also recorded music for a short films, television advertisements and has performed sound design work for television channels including the BBC, Channel 4 and MTV.[1]
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Si Begg studied at Trinity School and Mid Warwickshire college,[2] becoming interested in electronic music from an early age. Begg confessed that the first electronic-based record he ever heard was "Probably Jean Michel Jarre; my uncle used to be into his stuff, and used to play it in the car. My brother's mate's dad also had Tubular Bells and stuff like that. I remember being really into all the sounds and noises, the total futurism. And I was right into Star Wars and Tron and all those kinda kids' sci-fi things." [3]
Listening to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show in the late 1980s, Begg was introduced to early Chicago acid and bands like Warp's LFO, Cabaret Voltaire, Severed Heads and Negativland. This influenced him to move away from playing guitar and drums with schoolmates and toward creating cut-up electronica with fellow electronic musicians, under the group name Cabbage Head Collective.
Begg initially gained experience working as a sound engineer in the early 1990s, helping to produce live music and studio albums for other artists, and began DJing in 1991. He began creating his own music in 1993, and a year later, released 3 EPs with Techno artist, and fellow-Cabbage Head alumni, Cristian Vogel, under the band name "Inevitable Technology". The pair later founded a record company, Mosquito, in 1997.[4] During this time, Begg assembled a recording studio (which is now located in Harrow, in northwest London), and learned about A&R and label management.
He moved to London in the 1990s, where he met Jonathan More and Matt Black of Coldcut through the local music scene. Begg's works as Cabbage Boy were subsequently released on their Ninja Tune sub-label, Ntone.[5] Begg released his solo debut album Commuter World on Caipirinha Productions in 1998. He continued to release 12" singles on a variety of small independent record labels (including his own).
In 2001, he released The Mission Statement on the Mute Records subsidiary, mute Records, going by the name of as S. I. Futures. This was followed by another Si Begg album, Director's Cut (2003)
Since 2005, he has also released mp3 files on Digital Distortions and further singles on another label that he founded himself, Noodles Recordings and its sub-labels, Noodles Institute of Technology and Noodles Discothèque, which he called "the stupidest recording organisation in the world". The description comes from that fact that the label releases such a wide variety of musical styles, a tactic most labels would avoid.
In addition to working as a recording artist, he also performs live DJ sets throughout Europe. He currently has two DJ residencies in London, Big Beat Boutique at Scala and Freakin the Frame at The End. He has also worked as a remixer for over 40 different electronic artists including Alloy Mental, Atmosfear, DJ Rush, Faultline, Michael Forshaw, Lamb, Little Nobody, Moguai, Radio 4, Tipper, Sven Väth, Cristian Vogel, Jennifer Delano, Neuflex, Jason Sparks, Bolz Bolz and Stewart Walker.
Begg has recorded under variety of names, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with other artists. He explains that it is a "necessity because of the way the industry kind of works. Because a lot of people want exclusive names and there's just no way I could. If there was one label that I felt was my home and I didn't want to do stuff for other labels then that would be fine, but no single label is willing to release my full output – my full kind of range. So I have to come up with these different projects all the time.",[6]
Solo recording names include:
Band names include: