FULL-ON INTENTIONS
House producers Michael Gray
and Jon Pearn reunite
WHILE the reformation of musical acts commercial success, Pearn’s new Bodyrox on their door, why did Full Intention split in “We felt like a factory churning out remixes
usually follows a predictable failure to live project produced electro-house anthem the fi rst place? and wanted to explore our own avenues and
up to the chemistry that made them so ‘Yeah Yeah’, storming clubs and radio before music.”
potent together, Full Intention’s Michael hitting No.2, while Gray reached No.7 “It’s like all things; you need a break so you
Gray and Jon Pearn return to the project with MTV fave ‘The Weekend’, as well as enjoy it even more when you go back,” said Playing together at ADE last October, for
that saw them Grammy nominated, with a producing Luciana and Portobello. Gray when DJmag caught him in the studio the fi rst time in four years, on the suitably
new UK Top 10 each under their belts. But when they already had the likes of fi nishing off the second single for their new modern set-up of Ableton Live and Traktor
Splitting in 2006 after 10 years of Jennifer Lopez and The Sugababes knocking Full Intentions label. Scratch, Gray says they have no immediate
plans to return to the kind of huge vocals of
old, as evidenced on new release ‘Once In A
Lifetime’ (out now), which, with its tracky,
club-focused vibe, signals a return to their
roots.
“It’s different these days, a lot of records
are Beatport-led so we’ve just gone out
to make good grooves,” Gray explained.
“We’re still going to do vocal records as
that’s what we love, but it’s time to go back
to basics at the moment. We’re also going to
continue to do our own stuff.”
Fans of their older material need not fear,
however. Releasing roughly one track a
month, the label will include remixes of
classic Full Intention material by today’s
new wave of house producers. And with
next single ‘I Will Follow’ released in
February, featuring Shena on vocal duties,
it seems only a matter of time before they’re
back doing what they do best.
Time to stock up on DJ Food
IF you were a lover of bad puns you might say that DJ Food, aka Strictly Kev, has a lot
on his plate. Part of the seminal, beat-blending label collective Ninja Tune since its
earliest beginnings, he met co-founder and one half of Coldcut, Matt Black, in 1993.
Two albums followed, but since 2000’s ‘Kaleidoscope’ fans have experienced a wait
of Stone Roses-esque proportions.
“I didn’t really fancy making any music as I’d had a family and moved house,”
admitted Kev of the creative vacuum. “I was also having more fun designing, DJing
and doing a lot of radio mixes.”
‘The Shape Of Things That Hum’, out now, however, marks the second of three EPs
building up to the release of his long-awaited third album in the spring. Classic DJ
Food, it’s a weird, wonky trip through dusty samples and reconstituted sounds,
ranging from the menacing, King Cannibal-produced breakbeats of ‘Sentinel
(Shadow Guard)’ to a cover of The The’s ‘Giant’. ‘Brother John’, meanwhile, samples
the soothing voice of John Rydgren, a deceased Lutheran pastor, whose ’60s radio
show mixed godly messages with hip modern music.
With three remixes of ‘A Covered Darkness’ available on the download courtesy of Mr
P, an alias of ex-DJ Food member PC, the 12” comes with an A2 poster from 2000AD
artist Henry Flint, whose work Kev collects.
But while the EP provides another tantalising taste of what is to come, hands-on
preparations for Ninja Tune’s 20th anniversary, being celebrated in 2010, are
proving another challenge to productivity.
“There’ll be exhibitions of artwork, design and memorabilia from across the years, a
book that’s going to be published in August, and various compilations in September.
So I’m already behind on the third EP!
“Ultimately, I want to get another record out,” said Kev. “It’ll be another monkey off
my back because people have been asking me for so many years, ‘When’s the next DJ
Food coming out?’ It’s nearly there; I just want to fi nish it now, and move onto the
next one.”
012
www.djmag.com
DJ481.upfront4.1.indd 12 2/12/09 14:59:42
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