JAMES LAVELLE - POWER IN NUMBERS
Published: Music Australia Guide #76, May 2010.
UNKLE main man, MoWax label founder, DJ and serial collaborator James Lavelle stands as one of electronic music’s most influential figures. The release of UNKLE’s fourth studio album shows an artist who thrives in the company of others. By Dan Rule
1974 Born in Oxford, England to a musical family, Lavelle takes to the cello as a child, studying under the watchful eye of his grandmother.
1989 Lavelle starts hanging out with future UNKLE and DFA producer Tim Goldsworthy at Cherwell Upper School. Already a precocious crate digger, 15-year-old Lavelle starts DJing block parties around Oxford.
1992 At just 18, Lavelle establishes downbeat label MoWax, releasing a slew of 12”s traversing anything from minimalist breaks, through to cutting edge hip hop. He hooks up with legendary broadcaster and label owner Gilles Peterson to found That’s How It Is, which goes onto to become one of London’s longest running nights.
1994 Lavelle founds UNKLE with Goldworthy and Masayuki Kudo of mythical Japanese breaks collective Major Force West. Lavelle plays the role of musical director, while Goldsworthy and Kudo handle the technicalities of recording and production.
1994–1996 MoWax soars from local underground tastemaker to one of the most influential and important labels of a generation. The imprint’s Headz compilation virtually invents the trip-hop genre and goes onto to become a legendary, signpost release. Lavelle drops DJ Krush’s revered Strickly Turntablized, Dr Octagon’s Dr Octagonecologyst, DJ Shadow’s famed debut Endtroducing, plus early EPs and 12”s by Money Mark, Andrea Parker, Luke Vibert and UNKLE.
1998 Lavelle replaces Goldsworthy and Kudos with DJ Shadow to create UNKLE’s all-star debut longplayer Psyence Fiction, which also features Thom Yorke, The Verve’s Richard Ashcroft, Beastie Boys’ Mike D, Badly Drawn Boy and Kool G Rap. Lavelle commissions first generation New York graffiti artist Futura 2000 to make the artwork, putting him back in the international spotlight and enlivening his career as a gallery artist.
1999–2002 Shadow distances himself from the UNKLE project and the pair fallout. Lavelle joins forces with singer-songwriter Richard File and begin working on new material.
2003 Drops epic, rock-flecked but ultimately unrealised UNKLE follow-up Never, Never, Land.
2007 Lavelle again teams-up with File to create third album War Stories. The record features guest contributions from the likes Josh Homme, Ian Astbury, Massive Attack’s Robert del Naja and producer Chris Goss. In a further progression of UNKLE’s band-based approach, the record also sees Lavelle play guitar and sing for the first time. The group hit the festival circuit for UNKLE’s first ever live tour.
2010 Following 2008’s moving image-inspired End Titles…Stories for Film, a new-look UNKLE (with Richard File departed and Pablo Clements onboard) release lush, spacious fourth album Where Did The Night Fall.
On becoming a band: “Writing lyrics has been a massive change and that element of playing guitar and performance and being on the road has been hugely influential in the way I think about music.”
On the new album: “When I listen to this record there’s a lightness to it and a sense of space. It is a really production-heavy record in a way, but it doesn’t feel like that when you listen to it.”
On DJing: “I think Pablo and I still work like DJs. Our process is still very DJ culture based in the way that we record something like 50 demos before whittling them down.”
On creative relationships: “I always seem to do best by channelling not just mine but other people’s creativity. Maybe it’s just because I’m co-dependent (laughs), but I’ve never been good at being on my own. My achievements are all about bringing people together.”
Where Did The Night Fall is out now via Pod/Inertia.
Visit: unkle.com
