- DJ Harvey
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Dj Harvey, (Born Harvey Bassett), is a DJ from Cambridge, England. He has achieved a following the world over including places such as Singapore and Japan. Harvey is considered extremely influential in bringing over the disco/garage/house sound from America to the UK.
His musical career officially began at the age of thirteen when he was enlisted as a drummer for a Cambridge punk band Ersatz, whose other members’ average age was 24.[1] The band formed an indie label, Leisure Sounds, releasing the single Smile in Shadow, which was broadcast on Radio 1’s John Peel Show.
Harvey’s progression into DJing came after a trip to New York where he was inspired by the emerging hip-hop movement. He felt that “cutting up” breaks was an extension of drumming and so purchased his first pair of Technics, brought them home and practised. A graffiti “bomber” and member of the gang which went on to take the name, TDK (Tone Deaf Crew) Harvey's crew gained notoriety as TONKA Hi Fi. It was as the DJ for the crew that he forged his reputation as an eclectic programmer of music, throwing outlandish, sometimes weekend-long, parties in their native Cambridge as well as Brighton, London and on the festival circuit. The Brighton parties continued for five years, from 1988 to 1993, drawing a large and loyal crowd, to The Zap Club, and, after the club closed at 2am, for hours, or even days more, on the beach, at Black Rock.
Having already been in love with hip hop, electro and disco the sound he had emulated after his trip to New York he inevitably alighted on house and garage too, and began playing more parties in London; along such US DJ heavyweights as Francois Kevorkian[2] and Kenny Carpenter all of whom were still relatively unknown and unheard of in this country[clarification needed]. Playing such as Solaris and Freedom were all after the Harvey sound.
In 1991 Harvey further cemented his reputation with his own night “Moist” at the Gardening Club in London.[2] It was here he brought over some of the greatest New York DJs including Larry Levan,[2] locahis fabled six-hour mix of disco, house, garage and dancefloor friendly rock records, a sound he has carried through to his later residencies, notably the celebrated New Hard Left at the Blue Note.
After Moist ended, Harvey began playing the bar at the Ministry Of Sound,[2] where he later became resident on both Friday[citation needed] and Saturday.[citation needed] This resulted in the 1996 release of his mix album “Late Night Sessions”[2]
He has released tracks under various pseudonyms on labels such as Mo' Wax, Dorado, Ministry Of Sound, Skint and Junior Boys Own. He has produced and remixed tracks for Jamiroquai, LCD SoundSystem[citation needed], Brand New Heavies, Ian Brown, Stereo MCs, Electronic, The Police[citation needed] and Cornershop as befits his eclectic style. He is one half of the duo behind the classic and elusive Black Cock record label, on which he has recreated famous and lost edits of disco records by house music pioneers such as Larry Levan and Ron Hardy.
Harvey's nine hour sets in Los Angeles for his warehouse party harveysarcasticdisco, a collaboration with Sarcastic Clothing, have attracted an assortment of enthusiastic music fans. He is currently playing DJ gigs around the planet with residencies in New York, Washington and San Francisco[citation needed]. He has also collaborated with Thomas Bullock (of Rub'N'Tug and A.R.E. Weapons) on the disco rock project Map of Africa, which released an LP in 2007 on Whatever We Want records. Harvey's latest recording moniker is as Locussolus a project released on International Feel Recordings. The tracks feature to vocals of Tara Selleck (niece on actor Tom Selleck) Sam Fox (actress in We Bought A Zoo directed by Cameron Crowe) and Heidi Lusardi (herself an accomplished DJ)
References
- ^ Bio for Harvey
- ^ a b c d e Bidder, Sean (June 1999). House: the Rough Guide. Rough Guides Ltd.
- ^ Harvell, Jess (2007-05-31). "Stuck On Repeat: Map Of Africa Polish The Mirrors Above Their Beds". Idolator (Gawker Media). Archived from the original on 2007-08-09. http://web.archive.org/web/20070809110834/http://idolator.com/tunes/mp3/stuck-on-repeat-map-of-africa-polish-the-mirrors-above-their-beds-264650.php. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
- ^ Smith, Caspar Llewellyn (2007-06-17). "Map of Africa, Map of Africa". The Observer (Guardian Unlimited). http://music.guardian.co.uk/urban/reviews/story/0,,2104238,00.html. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
External links
Categories:- British DJs
- Living people
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