James Harcourt
James Harcourt is chiefly a producer, but more recently the founder of Twisted Frequency recordings and an occasional DJ too. Born in Hitchin, James has always been intensely passionate about music and as a youngster was happiest making voyages to the local record shops to buy music. Inspired constantly by alternative music shows such as The Tube and the Old Grey Whistle Test James was also taught music from a young age. Classical tuition inevitably gave way to rock'n'roll as James went on to spend a few years playing lead guitar in local bands in Hitchin, always favouring the recording sessions over the often shambolic but energetic live gigs.
While living in London in the late 90's, James discovered the power of house music at various nights around the capital. Andy Weatherall's inspiring sets at the legendary Voyager techno nights at the Complex in Islington were great adverts for the energy that 4/4 music could create. The harder, tecchier end of trance was also drawing James in, underground London DJ's like Darren Pearce and Blu Peter being favourite - before discovering the forward thinking progressive movement at nights such as Whoop It Up and Renaissance.
Decks & a cheap DAW followed - and it didn't take long for him to get signed as a vibrant progressive scene provided the inspiration for the debut EP Scalar/Casualty which was signed to Canada's Release Records on the strength of a demo CD originally sent to Whoop! records. This attracted praise from Anthony Pappa & Chris Fortier amongst others. Soon to follow on the same label was his dark, brooding remix of Oxygen's "Troubled Souls" in 2000 which led to a #3 placing in the Balance Pool chart and further A-list support. James' next single Diaspora went stellar and his original version was featured on John'00'Flemming's White Label Euphoria 2 compilation (despite being printed as "Luke Fair's" mix). The track was played frequently the likes of Hernan Cattaneo, Paul Oakenfold, John'OO'Flemming and Chris Fortier to name but a few and really gave an early indication of the variety of James' productions.
A combination of becoming a father for the first time in 2002 - and the formularisation of progressive house & trance and onset of tribal-by-numbers really slowed things up on the production front, but a few bits came out in the following 2 years. A chunky re-work of Red & Blue's Quintos was released on Tune Inn, a funky bootleg mix of Pink's "There You Go" was produced (recently materialising on Release Records' X-Series digital imprint) but a couple of quiet years ended half way through 2005. With much honed production techniques, the comeback was heralded by a big rework of Federico Giust's "The End". Inspired by the nubreed of DJ's, the forward thinking electro-tech movement and the long awaited disappearance of tribal-by-numbers and long tailing reverbs, this electro-tinged progressive house thumper did what good house tracks should do and make it difficult to categorise. Made for Red & Blue's underground digital-label Adjust recordings, this is a gem of a track which stands out was one of James' best. In early 2006, "Revolution" - a original-turned-collaboration (with Jerome Robins) was released on Baroque records, this being a reggae inspired chunk of party-time house music with an infectious bassline and killer breakdown.
January 2006 saw the launch of the Twisted Frequency label which has created a buzz with it's dedication to exciting and quirky dancefloor music. The first release 'Feel Me' by Brisker & Magitman contained a James Harcourt remix which has been licensed to a number of compilations and set the tone for the label. The 2nd release too contained James' collab remix with Dan Welton which attracted many more fans still. More recently James has remixed Jamie McHugh & Somnus Corp under his more driving moniker 'Visionary' and - in June 2006 - has completed his first 2 original tracks since 'Disapora'. The fat, filthy 'Loud & Low' has already been voted best unsigned track by Fergie and played on Radio 1, whilst Audio Daemon has also made big waves. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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