The Space Brothers

The Space Brothers are a UK trance music act comprising Ricky Simmonds and Stephen Jones, noted for producing under a variety of pseudonyms such as Chakra, Lustral, Ascension, Essence, Ultrahigh and The Realm.

Their debut production "Stay with me" (released as Ultrahigh) garnered club interest and dented the lower echelons of the UK Top 40 in late 1995. Whereas "Stay with me" epitomised the hardbag sound, their next release "I am" (as Chakra) was to showcase a darker, ethereal and more progressive trance based sound. "I am" caught the ears of Sasha and John Digweed (the latter of whom submitted a remix of the track alongside Nick Muir in their Bedrock guise). "I am" peaked at number #24 on the UK singles chart in January 1997, a year that was going to prove hugely successful for the Space Brothers, who signed a number of record deals and began releasing vocal trance classics en masse.

Despite having signed to Paul Oakenfold's Perfecto imprint for the release of "Someone" - Ascension and WEA for the release of their Chakra material, the Space Brothers elected to make Manifesto Records their home, and their first Space Brothers single "Shine", soared into the UK charts having been Pete Tong's Essential new tune.

The second Space Brothers release arrived in the shape of "Forgiven (I feel your love)" in November 1997. It spent a total of seven weeks in the UK chart over the course of the festive period that year.

1998 witnessed the temporary abandonment of the Space Brothers moniker, and Simmonds & Jones instead elected to focus on the output of their other sobriquets Essence, Lustral and Force Majeure.

The following year saw a striking return to form, with the release of "Legacy" in July 1999. Featuring the sultry vocals of Kate Cameron as well as a stratosphere cruising retweak by Matt Darey, Legacy consolidated its position as bona fide trance anthem by landing squarely in the UK chart.

Shortly after the release of Legacy the Space Brothers unveiled their debut artist album Shine (indeed, they were believed to be the first trance outfit to have accomplished this feat). The majority of the tracks proved to be downtempo affairs such as The light and Your place in the world. However, to complement the album a remix disc was included in the package featuring a whole host of reworked Space Brothers tracks (most unreleased) woven together by Paul Oakenfold.

The second single to be culled from the album was "Heaven will come", which was released in October 1999 featuring mixes by Lange and Olmec Heads.

Following the commercial success of "Legacy" and "Heaven will come", coupled with the largely positive critical reaction to their album "Shine", the Space Brothers decided again to take something of a hiatus, returning only briefly in 2001 with the Push remixed "Everywhere I go".

The Space Brothers sobriquet has been largely inactive since this time; however, Simmonds & Jones have continued to release tracks under guises such as Ascension, The Realm, Chakra, Quadraphonic and Lamai.

In late 2002 a new Space Brothers track "One more chance" appeared as a 12" and digital download release. A commercial issuing did not ensue.

Recent promos circulated have featured remixes of "Everywhere I go" and "Forgiven" (as remixed by Ian Knowles and DJ Demand) on the Liverpool based 3 Beat subsidiary Boss, which proved to reignite interest in the Space Brothers' output.

Most Space Brothers tracks feature the vocals of Kate Cameron aside from Shine and Forgiven (Joanna Law) and Everywhere I go (Talya).

2006 saw Simmonds and Jones launching the online download music store www.audiojelly.com where all their productions and side projects are available along with a broad range of other dance artists and releases.

2007 saw the duo mainly active in the guise of Lustral with the release of the download album Deepest, Darkest Secrets and the double remix CD Deeper, Darker Secrets.

Discography

Albums

* "Shine" (Manifesto 1999 (UK) (featuring bonus disc mixed by Paul Oakenfold containing unreleased remixes from Medway, Planet Heaven, Lange and Matt Darey)

Singles

* May 1997 "Shine" (#23 UK)
* December 1997 "Forgiven (I feel your love)" (#27 UK)
* July 1999 "Legacy (Show me love)" (#31 UK)
* October 1999 "Heaven will come" (#25 UK)
* January 2000 "Shine 2000" (re-mix) (#18 UK)
* September 2001 "Everywhere I go"
* November 2002 "One more chance"
* August 2005 "Forgiven 2005"
* November 2005 "Everywhere I go 2005"

External links

* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Space+Brothers,+The Discography]
* [http://www.thespacebrothers.com Official Website]