The Space Brothers are a British
trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from the British new-age music scene and the early 1990s German techno and hardcore scenes.
Trance music is characterized by a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minute ( ...
duo comprising Richard 'Ricky' Louis Simmonds and Stephen Christopher Jones, noted for
producing under a variety of
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
s such as Chakra, Lustral, Ascension, Essence, Ultra High, Lamai and The Realm.
Career
Their debut production "Stay with Me" (released as Ultra High) garnered
club
Club may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Club'' (magazine)
* Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character
* Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards
* Club music
* "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea''
Brands and enterprises
...
interest and reached number 36 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
in December 1995. Whereas "Stay with Me" epitomised the
hardbag
Hardbag is a genre of electronic dance music popular in the mid-1990s. Having evolved out of the handbag house scene in 1993–1994, the genre enjoyed massive, albeit brief, popularity, with several hardbag releases achieving positions in the up ...
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
Thomas John Digweed (born 1 January 1967) is a British DJ and record producer. ''DJ Magazine'' voted him World No 1 DJ in 2001. As well as achieving success as a solo act, he has collaborated with Sasha as Sasha & John Digweed, and with Nick M ...
(the latter of whom submitted a
remix
A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...
of the track alongside
Nick Muir
Nick Muir is a British musician, songwriter and electronic music producer. He is best known as one half of the electronic music duo Bedrock, which consists of himself and DJ John Digweed, although he also found success as a solo artist.
Career
...
in their
Bedrock
In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.
Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...
guise). "I Am" peaked at number 24 on the UK Singles Chart in January 1997.
Despite having signed to
Paul Oakenfold
Paul Mark Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Mass ...
's
Perfecto imprint for the release of "Someone" - Ascension and
WEA
The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami.
Today, the descendants of the ...
for the release of their Chakra material, the Space Brothers elected to make
Manifesto Records
Manifesto Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California that has released records by Dead Kennedys, Tim Buckley, Cinerama, Concrete Blonde, Cranes, The Czars, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Lilys, The Rugburns, Sing-Sing,
Ken S ...
their home, and their first Space Brothers single "Shine", appeared into the UK chart having been
Pete Tong
Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...
's 'essential new tune'.
The second Space Brothers release was "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 and Jones instead elected to focus on the output of their other sobriquets Essence, Lustral and Force Majeure. The following year saw the release of "Legacy (Show Me Love)" in July 1999. Featuring the vocals of
Kate Cameron
Kate Cameron is an English house and trance music singer with a rich alto voice. She signed with MCA in the dance/pop group GMT in 1991, releasing "Feel So Good" and "Inner City Blues" before they were dropped in 1993. Cameron then worked as a ses ...
as well as a remix by
Matt Darey
Matthew Jonathan Darey (born 29 November 1968) is an English trance music producer and performer. Darey has sold over two million albums and singles with numerous top 10 and top 20 chart hits.
Music career
Darey was born in Leicester, England. ...
, it reached number 32 on the UK chart in July 1999. Also in 1999, they remixed Alena's "
Turn It Around".
Shortly after the release of "Legacy (Show Me Love)" the Space Brothers unveiled their debut
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
''Shine''.
To complement the album a remix disc was included in the package featuring reworked Space Brothers tracks (mostly unreleased) mixed by Paul Oakenfold.
The second single 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 (Show Me Love)" and "Heaven Will Come", coupled with their album "Shine", the Space Brothers decided to take 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 and 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. Recent promos circulated have featured remixes of "Everywhere I Go" and "Forgiven" (as remixed by Ian Knowles and DJ Demand) on the
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
based
3 Beat Records
3 Beat Productions is a British independent record label founded by Jon Barlow in 1989.
History
3 Beat Music was founded as a dance music record shop in 1989 by Jon Barlow, Dave Nicholl, Phil Southall and later joined by Phil Beddard and Hywel ...
subsidiary label, Boss Records.
Most Space Brothers tracks feature the
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
of
Kate Cameron
Kate Cameron is an English house and trance music singer with a rich alto voice. She signed with MCA in the dance/pop group GMT in 1991, releasing "Feel So Good" and "Inner City Blues" before they were dropped in 1993. Cameron then worked as a ses ...
, aside from "Shine" and "Forgiven (I Feel Your Love)" (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''.
As Chakra
Under the name Chakra, the duo produced
trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from the British new-age music scene and the early 1990s German techno and hardcore scenes.
Trance music is characterized by a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minute ( ...
, usually sampling voices, notably working with
Kate Cameron
Kate Cameron is an English house and trance music singer with a rich alto voice. She signed with MCA in the dance/pop group GMT in 1991, releasing "Feel So Good" and "Inner City Blues" before they were dropped in 1993. Cameron then worked as a ses ...
. They also collaborated under the Chakra name with the German trance music
DJ Markus Schulz Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to:
* Marcus (name), a masculine given name
* Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name
Places
* Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44
* MărcuÅŸ, a village in DobârlÄ ...
, notably on his album, ''
Progression''.
As Lustral
In 1997, the duo appropriated
Pfizer's trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
name
Lustral under which they released the
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
"Everytime" on the
Hooj Choons
Hooj Choons is a house record label formed by Alex Simons and Red Jerry (real name Jeremy Dickens) in 1990. The first release was "Carnival de Casa" by Rio Rhythm Band, however, it was not until 1992's release of Felix's "Don't You Want Me", ...
label
A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...
. Featuring the
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
of
Tracy Ackerman
Tracy Ackerman is a British singer and songwriter. She works with several other British songwriters including Andy Watkins and Paul Wilson of Absolute and Mark Taylor. Ackerman has written for artists including Geri Halliwell, Cher, Boyzone, Tina ...
, "Everytime" proved to be a
club
Club may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Club'' (magazine)
* Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character
* Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards
* Club music
* "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea''
Brands and enterprises
...
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization in ...
, due to the balearic trance interpretation by
Nalin & Kane
Nalin & Kane is a German production and remixing team, comprising Andry Nalin (born Andreas Bialek, 14 May 1969) and Harry Kane (born Ralf Beck; 21 November 1966). Their international breakthrough came with the Ibiza anthem, " Beachball", in mid 1 ...
, who earlier in the year had enjoyed crossover success with "Beachball".
"Everytime" failed to succeed commercially, peaking at No. 60 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1997,
but reaching number two for two weeks on the
US ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Hot Dance Club Songs
Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...
chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
the following month.
Some months later, Lustral released "Solace". Again featuring Tracy Ackerman, "Solace" garnered some interest but failed to materialise as a commercial release. "Solace" was
remix
A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...
ed by Hooj Choons labelmate
Medway
Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...
, who released his remix as his own track on the 1999
EP ''The Elements EP''. In November 1999, "Everytime" was reissued, this time achieving greater chart success. Featuring remixes from
A Man Called Adam,
Timo Maas
Timo Maas (born July 27, 1969, Bückeburg, West Germany) is a German DJ/ producer and remixer whose career in electronic music spans well over 30 years. His remix of Azzido Da Bass's single "Dooms Night" helped launch his career in 2000.
In ...
,
Mike Koglin
Mike may refer to:
Animals
* Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum
* Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off
* Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...
and
Way Out West to complement the 1997 original, "Everytime" peaked at No. 30 in the UK.
The Lustral project was soon set aside, with the Space Brothers focusing on their other aliases such as Chakra.
Shortly before the collapse of Hooj Choons, Lustral released "Broken" on the Hooj subsidiary
Lost Language
Hooj Choons is a house record label formed by Alex Simons and Red Jerry (real name Jeremy Dickens) in 1990. The first release was "Carnival de Casa" by Rio Rhythm Band, however, it was not until 1992's release of Felix's "Don't You Want Me", ...
. "Broken" featured mixes from Way Out West, and the release included a reworking of "Everytime" by Yunus. Lustral has largely been dormant since then, aside from the issue of the remixed "Solace" on
Lost Language
Hooj Choons is a house record label formed by Alex Simons and Red Jerry (real name Jeremy Dickens) in 1990. The first release was "Carnival de Casa" by Rio Rhythm Band, however, it was not until 1992's release of Felix's "Don't You Want Me", ...
in May 2005, featuring mixes from Vorontsov and Chocolate Uncle. Further promos included a new track, "The Price We Pay for Love", featuring remixes from Serge Devant and Aidan Lavelle, but this track remains unreleased.
In 2008, Lustral released their ''Interpretations'' album, followed by a
double album
A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...
in 2009, ''Lustral Presents Trance Classics''. The latter was a collection of the original version of the tracks on the first
CD, and ambient versions of the ''Interpretations'' album on the second. In December 2010, the track "I Feel You" was released and included a remix by
John O'Callaghan John O'Callaghan may refer to:
* John O'Callaghan (Medal of Honor) (1850–1899), American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient
* John O'Callaghan (politician) (died 1913), secretary of the United Irish League
* John O'Callaghan (musician), Irish ...
.
Discography
Albums
As the Space Brothers
* ''Shine'' (1999), Manifesto (featuring bonus disc mixed by Paul Oakenfold containing unreleased remixes from Medway, Planet Heaven, Lange and Matt Darey)
As Lustral
*''Deepest Darkest Secrets'' (May 2007 download album)
*''Deeper Darker Secrets'' (Jun 2007 2 CD remix album)
*''Interpretations'' (2008)
*''Lustral presents Trance Classics'' (2009 2 CD album)
*''I Feel You'' (2010)
*''Empathy'' (2014)
Singles
As the Space Brothers
As Chakra
* "I Am" (1996,
WEA
The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami.
Today, the descendants of the ...
) -
UK No. 24
* "Home" (1997, WEA) - UK No. 46
* "Love Shines Through" (1999, WEA) - UK No. 67
* "Home" (remix) (2000, WEA) - UK No. 47
* "Doors" (2003)
As Lustral
*"Everytime" (November 1997, UK #60)
*"Solace" (Promo only)
*"Everytime" (re-mix) (November 1999, UK #30)
*"Broken" (November 2002, UK #83)
*"Solace" (May 2005)
*"The Price We Pay for Love" (February 2007)
*"Many Years from Now" (April 2007)
*"In My Life" (October 2007)
*"I Feel You" (December 2010)
As Essence
*"The Promise" (March 1998, UK #27)
As Oxygen
*"Am I On Your Mind" (January 2003, UK #30)
As Force Majeure
*"Out Of My Mind" (May 2000, UK #81)
As Kamilian
*"Guidance" (June 1997, UK #85)
As Ultra High
*"Stay With Me" (December 1995, UK #36)
*"Are You Ready For Love" (July 1996, UK #45)
References
External links
Official website*
Chakra on DiscogsDiscogs.comLustral official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Space Brothers, The
Musical groups established in 1997
Remixers
British trance music groups
English electronic music duos
Male musical duos
Electronic dance music duos
Warner Music Group artists