Swayzak Added by Goedie, 6 March 2004
Swayzak are currently carving out a name for themselves on the house and techno scene. Swayzak (James Taylor and David Brown) are London-based, although their music takes them around the world. They have just played the Winter Music Conference (the dance music industry's annual event, held in Miami), and a US tour, playing dates in Atlanta, Gainsville, Charlotte, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and Vancouver. They have just returned from playing at the Glastonbury festival, the Roskilde festival in Denmark, Earth Fair in Guernsey, as well as gigs in Germany, Italy, Ireland, and USA.
Swayzak's first album, Snowboarding in Argentina, was released last year on Pagan; it has just been voted Album of the Year by American dance music title Mixer. The video for their debut single, Speedboat, was shown extensively worldwide on MTV in 1998, reaching number four in the MTV dance charts. They are currently recording their second album (due to be released in July 2000).
Swayzak host a regular monthly club night at Londons Zd bar (voted one of Londons Top Five Nights in the March issue of DJ magazine), and they
have already played sets in the last six months at a number of London clubs including The End, Notting Hill Arts Club, The Complex, The Cross
Bar and Sound Shaft.
As a true product of the musical diversity ever present in London, Swayzak drift among genres and create something that is undeniably original and distinctive. This is electronic music that has funk, feeling and atmosphere - not just breakbeats and samples.
Swayzak have been making music for the last 4 years but instead of rushing into releasing it they have taken time to develop their own style and learned to coax the maximum from their machines. This is evident in the maturity and depth of their music- in fact it was only by a friend threatening to press up their first record that they finally got the impetus to release it!
Swayzak are not Djs, they make records rather than play them- but they are products of the DIY DJ culture of 90s London. They record in bedroom studios and self finance, distribute and promote their music. It was by a chance meeting in a London record shop that they are now releasing their debut CD for The Medicine Label.
Snowboarding in Argentina is the product of 2 years work and features tracks from the Swayzak Recordings 12 singles plus previously unreleased work. This is by no means a compilation, but a fully fledged album that takes the listener on a long and stimulating journey-touching on elements of dub, techno, house, drum & bass, hip hop and
ambient, yet this music is not definable in such narrow terms - it is truly DEEP.
Performances
Easy fuck, 17 February 2005
Café D'Anvers, Antwerpen
Soulcialism, 18 May 2004
Mudia Gelände, Essen
Camp Music, 14 May 2004
Motopark Oschersleben, Magdeburg
Mysteryland, 22 August 2003
Floriade terrein, Haarlemmermeer