Plump DJs

Plump DJs
Origin London, England
Genres Electronica, house, breakbeat
Labels Grand Hotel
Website http://www.plumpdjs.co.uk/
Members Lee Rous and Andy Gardner

Plump DJs (Lee Rous and Andy Gardner) are a London-based DJ and producer team in electronic dance music. Early pioneers of the breakbeat genre in late 90's, the Plump DJs have diversified in recent years to incorporate new styles such as electro, house and bass music. Their sound is still widely thought to maintain a breakbeat aesthetic, but their productions and DJ sets have become stylistically broader. Throughout the 2000s, they have been very prolific creatively, releasing many celebrated underground singles, albums compilations. Also remixing the records of well-known dance music names such as Fatboy Slim, Orbital, Deadmau5, Mark Ronson, Paul Oakenfold and the Stanton Warriors. They cemented their international status through their 10-year residency at Londons famous superclub Fabric, in a career that has taken the duo to the four corners of this earth to perform. At present they still can be found hard at work producing dance music in their Soho recording studio, and Dj'ing on a regular basis at various music lead venues around the world. In their beloved home of London, Gardner & Rous to this day to release innovative dance music on their Grand Hotel Records imprint. The primary testing grounds for their experiments being the notorious XOYO & Nest night clubs.

History:

Lee Rous and Andy Gardner met at proto-breakbeat label Freskanova in west London in the late 1990s. Gardner was making music with Matt Cantor from The Freestylers, and Rous was DJing at and promoting the Passenger nights in Kings Cross.

Their first release together, "Plump Chunks"/"Electric Disco", came out on Finger Lickin' Records in 1999. When they released the A Plump Night Out album – basically a live DJ mix featuring their own original music – they began to achieve international fame.

The Plump DJs were asked by dance music culture magazine Mixmag to mix their February 2001 cover CD, which they called Elastic Breaks. Soon after, in May, they released a two-CD mix compilation called Urban Underground and in February 2003 they produced the eighth album in the FabricLive series for the acclaimed London venue.

Their artist album Eargasm was released in July 2003 and featured synthesizer pioneer Gary Numan and Lamb chanteuse Louise Rhodes. They began a quarterly residency at Fabric, running their own Eargasm nights at the London club, and secured placings in the DJ magazine Top 100 DJs list and won a multiple Breakspoll awards.

In 2008, they rebranded their Fabric night, calling it Headthrash after their latest album and opening up the music policy to other styles apart from breakbeat. Their DJ sets and productions began changing accordingly, and the four-deck live DJ show they developed allowed them to pull off more creative mixes in clubs and at festivals such as Coachella, Glastonbury, and Skolbeats.

In 2009, their contract ended with Finger Lickin' Records and they signed to release a double-CD post-breaks compilation on the Global Underground series. They released the "My Hi Tops" single on the Global Underground imprint, too.

In 2010, the Plump DJs began releasing material on new London-based label Grand Hotel. They have also become one of the label's new residents at events held at Fabric and Matter nightclubs. Their recent remixes have been more eclectic with artists such as Deadmau5, Dave Spoon, and the Stanton Warriors.

In 2011, Rous and Gardner signed acts SUBMO & Bonsai Kat to their Grand Hotel label, and continued releasing music through this platform. Their advanced 4deck DJ live show toured extensively in the UK and abroad, and their Light Fantatsic club record became a 'tune of the year' in Mixmag. This year saw them hold regular sold out shows at London recently opened XOYO nightclub.

2012 marked the release of their smash club single "Gobbstopper" and "Dont Stay in Mix" showing a return to form. This in turn fuelled the release of their Dirty Weekend album on GHR and further sellout shows at their now beloved NEST and XOYO venues in London. They continue to tour the UK club and festival circuit and worldwide now regularly in the US and Canada. The duo's remixing services have been called upon by Moby, Orbital, Mark Ronson and The Loops of Fury.

Discography

Studio albums

Year Title
2000 A Plump Night Out
2003 Eargasm
2005 Saturday Night Lotion
2008 Headthrash

Mix albums

Year Title
2001 Elastic Breaks
2001 Urban Underground - INCredible
2003 FabricLive.08
2005 Breakbeat Annual
2009 Global Underground

Note: Elastic Breaks and Breakbeat Annual were both released as free CDs in separate issues of Mixmag.

Singles:

Remixes:

Awards

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
None (first recipient)		 Beatport Music Awards: Best Breakbeat Artist
2008 		Succeeded by
Stanton Warriors

External links