Leftfield are a British
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
duo formed in 1989 as the duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley (the latter formerly of
the Rivals
''The Rivals'' is a comedy of manners by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in five acts which was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre on 17 January 1775. The story has been updated frequently, including a 1935 musical and a 1958 List of Maverick ...
and
A Man Called Adam). The duo was very influential in the evolution of electronic music in the 1990s, with ''
Mixmag'' describing them as "the single most influential production team working in British dance music".
As with many of their contemporaries, such as
the Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat genre t ...
and
Fatboy Slim
Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...
, Leftfield are notable for their use of guest vocalists in their works. Among those involved were
Toni Halliday on "
Original",
Johnny Rotten on "
Open Up", Djum Djum on "
Afro-Left
"Afro-Left" is a song by Leftfield, released as their seventh single. The song was released on 12", CD and cassette on 24 July 1995. It featured Neil Cole (as Djum Djum) on vocals, and it was rumoured that the lyrics were in an unspecified Africa ...
", and
Earl 16
Earl Sixteen (b. Earl John Daley, 9 May 1958, Kingston, Jamaica)Gregory, Andy (2002) ''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Europa, , p. 152 is a reggae singer whose career began in the mid-1970s.
Biography
Daley grew up in Waltham ...
and Cheshire Cat on "
Release the Pressure
"Release the Pressure" is the third single by the English electronic duo Leftfield and the first to involve Paul Daley with writing duties after he joined the group. The song was released exclusively on 12" in 1992. Unlike previous releases that ...
". The term
progressive house was coined to define their style, a fusion of
house
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
with
dub and
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
.
There was a hiatus in recording and live performances between 2002 and 2010. When Barnes revived Leftfield, Daley declined to be involved, in order to focus on his solo career. After touring for a few years, Barnes finished writing new material for a third Leftfield album, ''Alternative Light Source''.
Formation
Neil Barnes' music career started off as a DJ at The Wag Club while simultaneously playing percussion on a session basis. In 1986, he joined the London School of Samba and played the
bateria
The term ''bateria'' means “drum kit” in Portuguese and Spanish. In Brazil, the word is also used for a form of Brazilian samba band, the percussion band or rhythm section of a Samba School. It might also mean ''battery''.
''Baterias'' are ...
in the 1986
Notting Hill Carnival
The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean festival event that has taken place in London since 1966 . Around 1989, inspired by
Afrika Bambaataa
Lance Taylor (born on April 17, 1957), also known as Afrika Bambaataa (), is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenc ...
,
Barnes decided to try his hand at electronic music production, the results of which were the tracks "
Not Forgotten" and "
More Than I Know
"More Than I Know" is the second single released under the Leftfield
Leftfield are a British electronic music duo formed in 1989 as the duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley (the latter formerly of the Rivals and A Man Called Adam). The duo wa ...
", released on the
Rhythm King
Rhythm King Records Ltd was a British independent record label, founded in the mid-1980s by Martin Heath, Adele Nozedar, DJ Jay Strongman and James Horrocks. It was based in Chiswick, London.
History Beginnings
Starting out as an offshoot of D ...
label.
For the remixes of these tracks, Barnes called upon Paul Daley,
percussion player with
A Man Called Adam and formerly a session musician for the
Brand New Heavies and
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie. The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simone Butler (bass), and Darrin Mooney (drums) ...
, appearing on their ''
Dixie-Narco EP''.
Barnes and Daley had previously worked together as percussionists at
The Sandals
The Sandals, also known as The Sandells, were an early, influential surf rock band formed in 1962. They are most famous for scoring the surfing documentary ''The Endless Summer''.
History
The Sandals began in 1962, when Danny Brawner, a drumm ...
first club, Violets.
Described by Barnes as "
e sound of 15 years of frustration coming out in one record", the piece was termed "
Progressive House" by ''
Mixmag'' and held significant prominence in nightclubs from 1991 onwards.
As their mutual interest in electronic music became clear the pair decided that they would work instead upon Leftfield, once Barnes had extricated himself from his now troublesome contract with Rhythm King subsidiary,