M. J. Cole

Infobox musical artist

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Name = MJ Cole
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name = Matt Coleman
Alias =
Born = 1973
Died =
Origin = London, United Kingdom
Genre = house, UK garage
Occupation = Musician, Record producer, DJ
Instrument =
Years_active = 1997 - present
Label = Talkin' Loud, Prolific Recordings
Associated_acts =
URL = [http://www.prolificrecordings.com/ Prolific Recordings]

M. J. Cole (born Matt Coleman, 1973, London) is a British house and UK garage producer and remixer.

Career

In his youth, Cole learned to play the oboe and piano, and attended the Royal College of Music. He also played piano on the BBC Television's "Young Musician Of The Year" programme.

He later discovered computers and turntables, and ended up working as a sound engineer for the drum 'n' bass label, SOUR. Cole is regarded as one of the innovators of the 2Step or UK Garage sound, popular during the late 1990s and early 2000s, several of his tracks are on the UKG CD series "Pure Garage". However, his roots lie in Drum and bass, the format in which he created many of his early records. He moved towards a 2Step sound and experimented with various pseudonyms, such as Mat-Lock, eventually settling on M. J. Cole.

Cole produced a song called "Sincere" in 1998 that he composed in his bedroom with a sampler and an Amiga. One of the twenty test pressings of "Sincere" was received by Pete Tong who started playing the tune on his national radio show. Cole signed on Gilles Peterson's Talkin' Loud label where he produced his first album.

His debut album was the Mercury Music Prize nominated "Sincere" (2000), and he followed up this with the less successful "Cut to the Chase" (2003). In 2002 he selected tracks for a compilation album for the "Back to Mine" series, which focuses on tracks suited to post-club relaxation.

He is currently releasing new material on his own record label, Prolific Recordings.

External links

* [http://www.prolificrecordings.com/ Prolific Recordings]
* [http://www.garageresource.co.uk Garageresource - UK Garage Samples]
* [http://www.thedjlist.com/djs/MJ_COLE/ MJ Cole biography at the DJ List]