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LONDON ELEKTRICITY is Tony Colman. Previously a project of Tony with Hospital partner Chris Goss, the time has come in 2002 to move on in a more stream-lined and highly-inspirational style. The attitude is like this - deep and warm, with a fat bottom end and enough balls to rock the floor. But that goes hand in hand with real songs, uplifting chord structures and enough break-beating skills to throw a big stick at. Call it 'jazzy' and you're missing the point.
Tony's background in live music and performance continues to shape his approach to music-making. His last band was the London street-soul/jazzfunk combo IZIT, which funked it's way round the world's live clubs + decks from 1988 to 1995. Tony and Chris ran the label Tongue&Groove from 93 to 95, but sacked it all to concentrate on their own music, and in the spring of 1996 released the first Hospital 12 (The Peter Nice Trio's "Harp Of Gold").
Their early drum and bass output was released under a string of different aliases, and earned them and the label an underground fanbase. But it was London Elektricity's "Song In The Key of Knife" that really captured the imagination of the whole scene. The debut album "Pull The Plug", released in the summer of 99, received much critical acclaim and is still widely regarded as a classic album. London Elektricity had forged their own sound: fresh, funky party music, far removed from both the dark, oppressive music that dominatated drum and bass dancefloors at the time, and the watered down "jazzy" drum and bass residing on coffee tables around the country.
Across 1999 and 2000, Tony and Chris travelled around Europe and Japan, playing drum+bass and freestyle clubs with their own style of soulful, chunky drum+bass. Their first single of the 21st century ('Wishing Well') provoked Mixmag to quote, "Just as Basement Jaxx redefined house music...London Elektricity could do the same for jungle. Trailblazing brilliance." The music was on a roll - Origin Unknown's thundering version of "Round the Corner" hit the CIN Dance Top Ten for three weeks. The follow-up single "My Dreams" featured the sublime voice and words of Robert Owens over Tony's deep-sea Detroit arrangements, and opened another chapter in the growth and progression in London Elektricity's music-making.
Having spent much of the last 18 months developing the label, and nurturing their young Welsh prodigy High Contrast, the Summer of 2002 was time for change : Tony having perenially been the musical and song-writing hub of the project took on the LE mantle solo, whilst Chris has moved over to full-time management of the record label. The second album is now fully under-way, with a bunch of tracks already in the bag. Liane Carrol has graced the studio with more outstanding vocal takes, and fingers-crossed Robert Owens and Darrison will feature as well. Add to that the locked-down rhythms of The Jungle Drummer, upright basslines from Andy Waterworth, and the musical magic of Tony C you can be sure of something truly special. It is inked onto the release schedule for March 2003. The first fruits of these labours is the single "Cum Dancing", out in October, which happens to arrive with a stunning animated video from the Conkerco crew...make sure you see this. And, whilst this has been said many times before, there will be a live show! Already showcased with a debut for Fabio's Maida Vale special on Radio One, the musicians are primed and ready to go. Don't sleep.