))FRONTLINES
WORDS
WHAT’S YOUR
:
MATTHEW
PLEASURE?
Here at Knowledge we’re always on the
lookout for new talent breaking through
DUFFIELD
and a young London producer, Simon
Neal, fits the bill perfectly. Recording
PICTURE under the name Pleasure, Simon, aged
24, has been making music and DJing
: since 1993 with singles on Grid Records
COURTNEY
as well as a track, ‘Lost Soul’, on
Formation’s ‘Jazz & Bass Session II’
HAMILTON compilation. Expect to hear more of him
soon, however, with the formation of his
own label, Illusion Records.
Run in collaboration with Dylan at
Alphamagic, who he first met through
Grid, there have already been two
Pleasure singles on Illusion, ‘Utopia’ /
‘Automatic’ and ‘Faraway’ / ‘Projections’,
and both have been well received.
Indeed, ‘Utopia’ was favourably reviewed
in our last issue and is an excellent
example of Simon’s style that combines
warm, gentle soundscapes with a
healthy dose of dancefloor funk.
So, how did he first get involved in
music? “It was around 1991,” he
explains, “and I was well into the rave
scene, but the first person I really liked
was Grooverider. When I heard the
sub-bass he was playing, it blew me
away. I then began making my own
music with Karl Miller who’s one of the
other artists on Illusion. He had his own
studio and I caught the bug after that.”
What’s the concept behind Illusion? “The
vibe of the label is to create tracks for the
dancefloor which are still very musical
rather than all the dark tunes that are
going around at the moment. I like making
mellow tracks, but I also want people to
be able to play my music out. Originally I
was planning more mellow stuff for the
label, but then I heard guys like Fabio and
Jumping Jack Frost play a very musical
style that still cuts it on the dancefloor. I’ve
heard this kind of sound described as
‘cool step’ and that’s what I’m aiming for.”
There’s a techno flavour to Simon’s music
that makes sense when you discover
who his greatest musical influence is. “It’s
Carl Craig and his production is simply
amazing. He doesn’t need to use
samples; it’s purely sounds that he
creates himself and the whole way he
goes about making music is an inspiration.
He puts such emotion into his music. On
the drum & bass scene Andy C is definite-
ly my favourite DJ.”
Illusion is more than just an outlet
for Simon’s music, however, and he has
already lined-up tracks by other
producers. “I’m responsible for A&R and
Karl Miller, Zen, E-Type and PSJ1 will all
be releasing singles on the label before I
do anything else. I want to try and
push Illusion as far as I can and get their
music out there.”
The next single on Illusion will be from Zen
and released at the beginning of July.
08 KNOWLEDGE
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