Submitted By: jane.hopeless

Genre: Jungle / Drum and Bass

Date of Set: Oct 12th, 2005

Filesize: 171.54 MB

Total Downloads: 76

Shy FX crashed the British pop charts in mid-1994 with 'Original Nuttah,' one of the most infectious ragga/jungle anthems of all time. Though the success proved a bit too much for him, he built his reputation back over the course of a few years and became one of jungle's most respected producers. Born in East London, Andre Williams debuted on S.O.U.R. Records (Sound of the Underground) with two 1994 singles, 'Gangsta Kid' and 'Sound of the Beast.' His third for the label, 'Original Nuttah,' perfectly epitomized jungle's growing ragga-ruffneck style, with a light-speed rhythm track and rude-boy scatting from UK Apachi. Almost immediately after its release, the single ignited dance clubs, flew out of the stores, and eventually made the British charts.

The quick success did little to endear Shy FX with the jungle underground, and his later pronouncements that he was the king of jungle didn't help either. Shy FX released just one more single for S.O.U.R., then virtually disappeared for several years after a major-label deal fell through. He finally emerged at the helm of his own label, Ebony, and with a growing list of tight singles like 'The Message' and 'Bambaataa,' kinetic jump-up fusions of ragga attitude and old-school hip-hop themes. Shy FX also set up another label, Ivory, to release steady rollers by the likes of the 45 Roller -- almost undoubtedly Shy himself despite protests to the contrary.

WHEN Shy FX & T-Power’s smash hit single ‘Shake Ur Body’ crash-landed in the national charts at Number Seven this Summer, it wasn’t just the biggest drum & bass hit ever...it was a significant moment for British urban music: the moment drum & bass found its way into the mainstream.

'This is definitely a good time for British urban music,' says T-Power – aka Marc Royal. 'We’ve always been looking towards America and had quite a few good ideas stolen from us, repackaged, and sold back to us. I see that changing now.'

'I want to make music that everyone can enjoy,' says Shy FX. 'I wanna make tunes that will absolutely smash up a drum & bass rave, but you can go to an alternative party and it will still stand out as a track on its own.' With this album, that’s exactly what they’ve done.

ALTHOUGH Set It Off is the debut album for the Shy FX & T-Power project, both have colourful histories on all edges of drum & bass and electronica. The pair first met when both were recording for pioneering early jungle / drum & bass label S.O.U.R. (Sound Of The Underground) Records. Shy FX - Andre Williams from Tottenham, North London - started at S.O.U.R. as a tape op on work experience. His first major single, ‘Original Nuttah’, a blizzard of breakbeats with a gravely, hyper-speed chat from MC UK Apache, became an early drum & bass hit.

Later he set up his own Ebony label for funkier, jazzier drum n’ bass releases. He experimented with r & b – even scoring a chart hit under an alias he won’t reveal. 'Putting the stuff that we learnt from drum & bass into r & b, it sounded like you were doing a Timbaland thing. It didn’t excite me,' he says. 'That was then I decided to bring the whole vibe back to drum & bass.’'

He started DJing, then compressed everything into a record called ‘Bambaataa’ which rewrote the rule book for drum & bass. Filled with the sounds of jungle animals and bursting with brassy funk, ‘Bambaataa’ and its remixes sold 75,000 copies.

Like Shy FX, T-Power, aka Marc Royal, started out in the hardcore rave scene. 'Watched the whole rave thing turn into jungle. Watched all the in-fighting, got fed up of that, moved on. Just wandered about, experimenting, trying different things, seeing where it would end up. It ended up back in drum & bass.'

Born and bred in Bow, East London, Marc Royal began recording as part of the Bass Selective crew at the point where hardcore techno began mutating into jungle. His single Horny Mutant Jazz – a modern drum & bass classic – combined fluttering breakbeat grooves with languid jazz licks. On his debut album ‘The Self-Evident Truth Of An Intuitive Mind’, he played with themes as diverse as the history of the world and the different hemispheres of the mind, while musically dabbling in anything from ambient to freeform jazz. It was a trailblazing record for the drum & bass of the time.

But its uncompromising follow-up, ‘Waveform’, was, he says, 'an incredibly self-indulgent album.' He formed electronic act Chocolate Weasel and released a light-hearted album of electro noir called ‘Spaghettification’ on Ninja Tunes. His last T-Power album ‘Long Time Dead’, for the Botchit label, began to play with vocals and lighten up, again, musically.

'I’d come to the end of the road with all the experimenting,' says Marc. 'You end up starting to make stuff that’s clever and not for your original reasons – which for me were something I could vibe to and something I could dance to. I just wanted to strip everything back, get back to grooves. And it just happened at the same time Shy was doing this vocal drum & bass.'

WHEN Marc moved into Shy FX’s East London studio the pair found themselves naturally working together. Shy did a remix for all-girl group Truce who were recording in the same building. One of the band, Di, found herself drawn to the beats coming out of the pair’s studio. She ended up singing on ‘Shake Ur Body’.

Clearly ahead of its time, the track was around on the drum & bass circuit for six months before taking off and reaching the charts. Now the rest of the world is catching up with these two pioneers. Their fusion of vocals with drum & bass rhythms is perfect for a musical landscape tired of boys-only dub tracks and lightweight manufactured pop. Funky, bursting with vibes and shimmering with life and soul, their music sounds right here, right now.

'I’ve always felt the vocal side of things,' says Shy. Seven years ago, when drum & bass first felt the spotlight of media hype, a handful of vocal records came – and went. 'Now people have actually got their heads round it. Now the tracks sound actually like tunes rather than vocals flung on top of a rhythm track,' he adds.

'drum & bass just wasn’t ready the first time,' concludes Marc. It is now.

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Shy+FX

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