Plump DJs
Plump DJs | |
---|---|
Origin | London, England |
Genres | Electronica, house, breakbeat |
Labels | Grand Hotel |
Website | http://www.plumpdjs.co.uk/ |
Members |
Lee Rous Andy Gardner |
Plump DJs are an English dance music duo, considered to be early pioneers of the breakbeat genre in late 90's. Throughout the 2000's, they have been very prolific creatively, releasing many celebrated underground singles, albums compilations. Also remixing the records of well-known dance music mega stars such as Deadmau5, Mark Ronson, Fatboy Slim, Orbital and the Stanton Warriors. They cemented their international status through their 10-year residency at London's famous superclub Fabric, in a career that has taken the duo to the largest stages on all four corners of this earth to perform. At present they 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 release innovative dance music on their Grand Hotel Records imprint, and recently also on the Stanton Warriors label, Punks Music. The primary testing grounds for their experiments being the notorious XOYO & Nest night clubs in Central London. In this year they have had number of triumphs, performing an epic closing set at Glastonbury on the Arcadia stage to 40,000 people. Recently their single 'Yes Yes' was remixed by rising stars Hybrid Theory, and has been an internet smash. Notching up many millions of clicks and club support from the likes of legends DJ EZ & Mr Jam.
Career
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.
2013 saw continuing support on the world stage for the duos music, as they developed their sound further after their inspirational first tours of the US & Canada. Culminating in their club smash collaboration with UK soul singer Juliette Ashby. 'You Belong to Us' the single struck a chord with London design team Baked Agency, and was presented with a forward thinking drone cam video, hitting the streets with rave reviews from Vice's Noisey blog.
This paved the way for a bumper 2014, towards the end of which Andy&Lee turned their attention towards the sounds of their youth making, breakbeat again to the delight of their friends and the local birds!
Discography
Studio albums
Year | Title |
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2000 | A Plump Night Out |
2003 | Eargasm |
2005 | Saturday Night Lotion |
2008 | Headthrash |
Mix albums
Year | Title |
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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:
- Take The Weight
- Y2K (white)
- Plumpy Chunks/Electric Disco (Finger Lickin')
- The Push/Remember My Name (Finger Lickin')
- Scram/No Way (Finger Lickin')
- War + * I'll Get You (Finger Lickin')
- Big Groovy Fucker/TB Reality (Finger Lickin')
- In Stereo/Mantra/Nylon Radar/Squeaks & Bleeps (Finger Lickin')
- In Stereo/Squeaks & Bleeps (Finger Lickin')
- The Gate / The Funk Hits The Fan (Finger Lickin')
- Pray For You feat. Gary Numan (Lee Coombs Mixes) (Finger Lickin')
- Pray For You (Plump DJs Dub)/How Much Is Enough (Finger Lickin')
- Soul Vibrates/Bullet Train (Finger Lickin')
- Creepshow/Weighed Down (Finger Lickin')
- Get Kinky/Pressure (Finger Lickin')
- Creepshow (Soul Of Man/Freestylers Mixes) (Finger Lickin')
- Album Sampler 1 - The Rub Off / Acid Hustle (Finger Lickin')
- Album Sampler 2 - Lee Coombs - Shiver (Plump DJs Remix) / Madox Smells Like Naples (Finger Lickin')
- Dr. Dub / Blackjack (Finger Lickin')
- Redshift (Finger Lickin')
- Electric Disco (D.Ramirez Remix) (Finger Lickin')
- Mad Cow (Finger Lickin')
- Listen To The Baddest (Finger Lickin')
- System Addict / Doppler (Finger Lickin')
- Torque Of The Devil / Take The Weight (Finger Lickin')
- Torque Of The Devil (The Subs Remix) (Finger Lickin')
- Snake Eyes / Disco Unusual (Finger Lickin')
- Shifting Gears (Stanton Warriors Remix) / Rocket Soul (Finger Lickin')
- Beat Myself Up (Plump DJs Night Mix) / London Street Music
- Plump DJs - My Hi Tops (Global Underground)
Remixes:
- Freestylers - Here We Go (Freskanova)
- War - Galaxy (RCA)
- Elektronauts - Bumper (Lacerba)
- Arthur Baker - Breakers Revenge (Freskanova)
- Alien - Frankie-The Pranker (Blue Room)
- Soul Hooligan - Sweat Pea (Freskanova)
- JDS- Nine Ways (London)* Brothers Love Dubs - The Mighty Ming (Decode)
- BT - Smartbomb (Nettwerk)
- Dee Jay Punk Roc - Blow My Mind (Airdog)
- Freestylers - Push Up (Against The Grain)
- Frisky featuring Vee - I Like The Way (Positiva)
- Stakker - Humanoid (Jumpin' & Pumpin')
- Lee Coombs - Shiver (Finger Lickin')
- Mint Royale - Take It Easy (Faith & Hope)
- Mr Velcro Fastener - Electric Appliances (Air Recordings)
- Orbital - Funny Break (ffrr)
- Rennie Pilgrem - Some Place Funky (Mob)
- Pucker Up! - Pucker Up!
- War - Galaxy (Finger Lickin')
- Fatboy Slim - Everybody Loves a 303 (Skint)
- Stanton Warriors - Precinct (Punks)
- Dave Spoon - Lummox (Television)
- Deadmau5 - Strobe (EMI)
- Viro & Rob Analyze - WannuB (Noiseporn Records)
Awards
Awards and achievements | ||
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Preceded by None (first recipient) |
Beatport Music Awards: Best Breakbeat Artist 2008 |
Succeeded by Stanton Warriors |
External links
- Plump DJs Website
- Plump DJs discography at Discogs