WOMAD

C J Bolland

From United Kingdom

An early fondness for Jean-Michel Jarre's 'Oxygene' may not have endeared CJ to his classmates, but he had the last laugh when the techno revolution arrived and the song provided a template for a huge range of new music. Now CJ produces a hard, intense style of dance music that relies on shifting textures and heavy rhythms.He began recording at home in 1988, releasing his first tracks in 1990. After that, singles came out under pseudonyms such as The Project, Pulse and Ravesignal. CJ became an in-demand remixer, dislocating tracks by the likes of The Prodigy, Orbital, Utah Saints and Tori Amos, and DJ-ing in the States, Australia and Japan.CJ hit the Top 10 with last year's 'Sugar Is Sweeter' single, and capped that with 'The Prophet', released in April. Mixing hard, pounding beats with the haranguings of a modern TV preacher (and recalling the spirit of David Byrne and Brian Eno's 'The Jezebel Spirit'), this single has been called "the most thunderous techno slammer since 'Born Slippy' " (Update). This year also saw the reissue of the album, 'The Analogue Theatre', with bonus tracks stripped in, including an Armand van Helden drum'n'bass remix of 'Sugar Is Sweeter'.