Tony Colman (born 28 April 1961), better known by his stage name London Elektricity, is an English electronic musician and the co-founder and CEO of

Hospital Records Hospital Records is a British independent record label based in South London. Primarily releasing drum and bass, the label was started in 1996 by Tony Colman (London Elektricity) and Chris Goss, and has grown in recent years to become one of ...

History

The first incarnation of London Elektricity was the duo Tony Colman and Chris Goss. Founders and backbone of

, they also pursued parallel projects under the monikers Peter Nice Trio and Dwarf Electro, but it was their tune "Song in the Key of Knife" under the guise London Elektricity that first gained them widespread recognition. In 1999, they released their debut album ''

Pull the Plug ''Pull the Plug'' is an album by the Huntingtons, self-released by the band in 2005. It was recorded June 12–14, 2005 at Mikey's Green Room. It was mixed and messed with June 15–16, 2005, engineered by M. Holt and mastered by J. Powell at Ste ...

'' on Hospital Records. Although session musicians contributed a wide range of live instruments (double bass, electric guitar, brass section, flute, strings), and jazz singer

Liane Carroll Liane Carroll (born 9 February 1964, London) is an English vocalist, pianist and keyboardist. Jazz critic Dave Gelly of ''The Observer'' has described her as "one of the most stylistically flexible pianists around, with a marvellous, slightl ...

provided vocals on two tracks, the LP was essentially a studio work, under the control of producer/DJ duo Colman and Goss. In 2002, Chris Goss departed to concentrate on managing Hospital Records, leaving it a solo project of Tony Colman. The second album '' Billion Dollar Gravy'' was released in 2003. During the making of the album, the session musicians began to coalesce into a band, and Colman decided to take the band live. The line-up included Colman, Andy Waterworth, Landslide, MC Wrec, the

Jungle Drummer A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

, Liane Carroll and Robert Owens, amongst others. In 2004 they released a live DVD entitled ''London Elektricity: Live Gravy'', which was recorded in October 2003 at the

Jazz Café The Jazz Cafe is a music venue in Camden Town, London. It opened in 1990 on the former premises of a branch of Barclays Bank and has had several owners throughout its history as a music venue. In 2020 the Jazz Cafe celebrates its 30th year, h ...

. 2005 saw the release of their third album, ''

Power Ballads A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cur ...

'', using the same line-up as the live band. London Elektricity announced at Pressure (the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

's drum and bass event) on 2 December 2005 that they had no plans to play live in future. They were joined on stage for the announcement by former member Chris Goss. Tony Colman now produces and DJs

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

solo under the name of London Elektricity. Colman presents the Hospital Records

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

. It generally features many releases from Hospital Records, and a wide spectrum of drum and bass from around the globe. The podcast recently won 'Best Podcast' at the BT Digital Music Awards, and has over 30,000 downloads a show. The podcast regularly involves special guests who are signed to Hospital records such as

Logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

. Colman also hosted the ''

Forza Horizon ''Forza Horizon'' is a 2012 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 on 23 October 2012. The game is the fifth instalment of the '' Forza'' series, having originally spun-off from Turn 10 ...

'' series' in-game Hospital Records radio station, alongside Goss, in ''

Forza Horizon 2 ''Forza Horizon 2'' is a 2014 racing video game developed for Microsoft's Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles. It is the sequel to 2012's '' Forza Horizon'' and the seventh instalment in the ''Forza'' series. The Xbox One version of the game was ...

'', '' 3'','' 4'' and '' 5'' . In 2007, London Elektricity won the

BBC 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been cod ...

Xtra Bass Xtra Bass is a free week-long drum and bass tour of the UK hosted by the BBC's digital radio station BBC Radio 1Xtra. 2007 is the fifth year of the tour and features appearances by well established drum and bass djs such as DJ Bailey, L Double, Fa ...

award for best live act. London Elektricity's fourth album, '' Syncopated City'' was released in September 2008. The month before this marked his

Essential Mix The ''Essential Mix'' is a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 currently broadcast between 0:00 and 2:00 a.m. UK time on Saturday morning. Originally broadcast on 30 October 1993, the ''Essential Mix'' features contemporary DJs and music producer ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. London Elektricity's fifth album, Yikes! was released in April 2011, followed by "Are We There Yet?" in November 2015.

Influences

According to his MySpace page, Tony Colman's influences include a large array of musicians, such as

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

Fela Kuti Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; 15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997), also known as Abami Eda, was a Nigerian musician, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is regarded as the p ...

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

, and others.

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, dub,

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

Hospital Records – London Elektricity
. Hospitalrecords.com. Retrieved on 2012-12-13. are present in many of London Elektricity's songs, such as "Rewind", "Attack Ships on Fire", "South Eastern Dream", "Do You Believe" (and its Dub version, "Dub You Believe"), "Main Ingredient", "Remember the Future", "Round the Corner", and "Song in the Key of Knife" (featuring an acoustic bass line).

Discography

Studio albums

* 1999 – ''

'' * 2003 – '' Billion Dollar Gravy'' * 2005 – ''

'' * 2008 – '' Syncopated City'' * 2011 – '' Yikes!'' * 2015 – ''Are We There Yet?'' * 2019 - ''Building Better Worlds'' * 2021 - ''Crikey! (Yikes, Aged 10 Years)''

DJ Mixes

* 2006 – ''Hospitalised'' (with

High Contrast Lincoln Barrett (born 18 September 1979), better known by the stage name High Contrast, is a Welsh electronic music producer, DJ and record producer. He produces drum and bass music, and his 2009 album ''Confidential'' reached BPI gold cert ...

& Cyantific) * 2010 – ''Hospitality Presents This Is Drum + Bass'' (with

)

Live albums

* 2004 – ''Live Gravy'' * 2006 – ''Live at the Scala'' * 2017 – ''Live in the Park'' * 2017 - ''Live at Pohoda''

Compilation albums

* 2006 – ''Medical History'' * 2007 – ''The Best of London Elektricity''

Remix albums

* 2006 – ''Facelift The Remixes'' * 2011 – ''Yikes! Remixes!!'' * 2016 – ''Are We There Yet? The Med School Scans'' *2021 – ''Rebuilding Better Worlds''

Singles and EPs

* 1996 – "Sister Stalking / "Brother Ignoramus" * 1997 – "Ultrasound" * 1998 – "Pull The Plug" / Dirty Dozen" * 1998 – "Song in the Key of Knife" / "Theme From The Land Sanction" * 1999 – "Rewind" / "Rewound" * 1999 – "Rewind (Acoustic Edit)" / "Dub You Believe" * 2000 – "Wishing Well" / "Elektric D-Funk" * 2000 – "Round The Corner" * 2001 – "My Dreams" (vs Robert Owens) * 2002 – "Cum Dancing" / "Down Low" * 2003 – "Billion Dollar Gravy" / "Harlesden" * 2004 – "Live at the Jazz Cafe" * 2005 – "The Strangest Secret in the World (45 Edit)" b/w "Pussy Galore" * 2005 – "The Mustard Song" * 2005 – "Hanging Rock" * 2006 – "Remember the Future" * 2008 – "All Hell Is Breaking Loose" * 2008 – "Syncopated City" * 2008 – "Attack Ships on Fire" / "South Eastern Dream" * 2011 – "Elektricity Will Keep Me Warm" / "The Plan That Cannot Fail" * 2011 – "Meteorites" (feat. Elsa Esmeralda)

References

External links

* * * * *

Interviews

*
HospitalityDNB Interview: London Elektricity
'. HospitalityDNB (28 April 2011) *

'. Kmag (11 May 2011) *
Interview with London Elektricity
'. Radio Monash (29 May 2011) *

'. Time+Space (14 September 2011) *

'. Kmag (29 May 2012) *
Judge Jules VS. London Elektricity: The Interview
'. Big Shot (25 January 2013) *

'. The Independent (3 April 2013) *
Interview: London Elektricity
'. Soundcavern (8 January 2014) *
Hospital Records: We Are 18 – London Elektricity Interview
'. Muzu.TV (2 July 2014) *
Stories from a Pro: London Elektricity
'. iZotope {{Authority control British drum and bass music groups Hospital Records artists Liane Carroll Musical groups from London