Lemon Jelly
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Lemon Jelly is 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 from
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
that formed in 1998 and went on hiatus starting in 2008. Since its inception, the band members have always been Fred Deakin and
Nick Franglen Nick Franglen (born 1965 in Westminster, London) is a British musician, record producer and installation artist. He is best known as a founding member of the electronic music duo Lemon Jelly. Music composition and production A classically trained ...
. Lemon Jelly has been nominated for awards like the
Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...
and
BRIT Award The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...
s. The bright colourful artwork featured in the albums and music videos, and the Lemon Jelly typeface, became part of the "brand". Deakin and Franglen briefly met in
north London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...
as teenagers and became friends before going their separate ways: Deakin became a DJ and co-founded Airside studios; Franglen became a studio programmer. The two became reacquainted in 1998 and created the group Lemon Jelly. Lemon Jelly released three critically acclaimed EPs (1998, 1999, and 2000), securing them a record deal with
XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six album ...
in 2000. The band subsequently released three full-length albums before going on hiatus in 2008.


History


Origins (1998–2001)

Deakin and Franglen grew up with the same group of friends, although the two were not truly acquainted with one another. The two eventually became friends but went their separate ways not long after. Deakin moved to Edinburgh for 10 years and became a DJ and co-founder of
Airside An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
, a graphic arts company. Franglen gave up his job as a landscape gardener to become a studio programmer; he eventually would work with
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) ...
,
Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...
, and
Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...
. The two periodically bumped into each other at 23 Skidoo concerts. They once again formed a friendship, and bonded over a mutual appreciation for rock music – Deakin cites
XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...
and
A Certain Ratio A Certain Ratio (abbreviated as ACR) are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 in Flixton, Greater Manchester by Peter Terrell (guitar, electronics) and Simon Topping (vocals, trumpet), with additional members Jez Kerr (bass, vocals), Martin ...
as personal favourites – and eventually dance music. The two began recording under the name "Lemon Jelly", which according to Deakin comes from an incident when Franglen came into Deakin's kitchen and said "It smells like lemon jelly in here." From 1998 to 2000, Franglen and Deakin released three limited-circulation EPs: '' The Bath'' (1998), '' The Yellow'' (1999), and ''
The Midnight The Midnight is an American synthwave band composed of Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Tyler Lyle and Los Angeles-based Danish-born producer, songwriter, and singer Tim McEwan. Origins The band was formed as a result of Lyle and McEwan meeting ...
'' (2000), on their own label, Impotent Fury. The EPs were a critical success, and led to the duo being signed to
XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six album ...
. Franglen and Deakin then collected their three limited-edition EPs into a widely released album in 2000, '' Lemonjelly.ky''. After the release of the album, Lemon Jelly licensed songs for advertising and incidental music. Music from ''In the Bath'', "A Tune for Jack", was featured in an episode of ''
CSI: Miami ''CSI: Miami'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: Miami'') is an American police procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2002 until April 8, 2012 on CBS. Featuring David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Emily Procter as Dete ...
'', and "The Staunton Lick", from ''The Yellow'', was used during the final scene of the British sitcom ''
Spaced ''Spaced'' is a British television sitcom created, written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright, about the (comedic and sometimes farcical and action-packed) misadventures of Daisy Steiner and Tim Bi ...
''.


''Lost Horizons'' (2002–2004)

Their second album (and self-proclaimed first ''studio'' album), '' Lost Horizons'', was released in 2002, and was another success. The album featured the singles "Space Walk" and " Nice Weather for Ducks" and was nominated for the 2003
Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...
and a
BRIT Award The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...
for the now defunct "Best Dance Act" category in 2004. A number of their tracks have been used by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and other British broadcasters for trailers and incidental music, including "Nice Weather for Ducks", featuring an impersonation of
John Langstaff John Meredith "Jack" Langstaff (December 24, 1920 – December 13, 2005), a concert baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from th ...
, and " Ramblin' Man". In September 2007, "Space Walk" was used in an American advertisement, "Through the Eyes of a Cat", for
Friskies Friskies is an American brand of wet and dry cat food and treats owned by Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, a subsidiary of Nestlé global. Friskies was initially introduced by Carnation Company in the 1930s as a dog food brand. When Friskies c ...
cat food. The song "Experiment No. 6" was used for a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
trailer for a catch-up marathon of the hit TV show ''
Heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...
''. More recently, the track "Space Walk" was used in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
for a 2009
Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...
television campaign. "The Curse of Ka'Zar" was used in
Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
' 31 Days of Oscar advertisements, played in a montage (occasionally aired with alternative music by
Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Heap (born 9 December 1977) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. Heap classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet starting at ...
) used for filler and in information about the film about to air prior to its actual airing. In 2003, the BBC announced that Lemon Jelly would be contributing to a remix album based on the music and sound effects of the television programme ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'' as part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the series. This project was abandoned, however, owing partly to the announcement of the 2005 revival of the series.


'' '64–'95 '' (2005–2007)

Their most recent album, 2005's '' '64–'95'', featured a sticker to warn listeners that "This is our new album. It's not like our old album." The title comes from the fact that each track features samples drawn from a single year between 1964 and 1995. It contains a track (Track 10 – "'64 – Go") featuring a vocal performance by
William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...
, with whom they collaborated for a track on his album ''
Has Been ''Has Been'' (2004) is William Shatner's second musical album after 1968's ''The Transformed Man''. The album was produced and arranged by Ben Folds and most of the songs are co-written by Folds and Shatner, with Folds creating arrangements fo ...
''. The album was complemented by the release of a DVD under the same title, with each of the album's audio tracks accompanied with colourful visuals executed mostly in 2D and 3D animation. Some of these visuals are progressive and would work as stand-alone music videos, while others are more repetitious, ever-changing variations of a given visual theme. The audio on the DVD is available as both standard stereo as well as 5.1
surround sound Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener ( surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to sur ...
(5.1 audio mixed by Franglen and Dom Morley). The visuals were created by the
Airside An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
design studios. Telstraclear later sampled "'93 (Don't Stop Now)" in their 'Hello World' campaign of 2006. In late 2005, Franglen did
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 ...
es of
Coldcut Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, ...
's "Man in a Garage", and of the original ''
The Sims 2 ''The Sims 2'' is a 2004 strategic life simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second major title in ''The Sims'' series, and is the sequel to ''The Sims.'' The game was released for Microsoft Windo ...
'' and its expansion pack '' The Sims 2: University'' Buy/Build Mode soundtracks for another expansion pack for ''The Sims 2'', '' The Sims 2 Nightlife''. In 2006 Franglen produced
Badly Drawn Boy Damon Michael Gough (born 2 October 1969), known by the stage name Badly Drawn Boy, is an English indie singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Gough chose his stage name from a character in the show ''Sam and his Magic Ball'', which he saw ...
's studio album '' Born in the U.K.'' and in 2007, Deakin released an eclectic three-volume mix album "The Triptych".


On hiatus (2008–present)

The duo announced Lemon Jelly would be taking a hiatus as of 2008. Deakin released the news on their forum, also stating that whilst there was a possibility the two would work together again, they would be pursuing solo careers for the time being. Franglen stated on the forum that the two are still good friends and plan to work together again in the future. Up to mid-July 2015 their website stated that they were "Not dead, but sleeping" but the domain name was purchased by an independent web developer who revived the website with a memoir of all the albums and EPs the duo released, with a message stating that Deakin or Franglen could contact him to reclaim the domain. In 2011, Deakin formed a collaboration with Robin Jones of
The Beta Band The Beta Band were a Scottish musical group formed in 1996. Their style was described as being "folktronica", although it was mainly a blend of folk, psychedelia, electronica, experimental rock and trip hop, often involving stylistic experimen ...
, called Flashman, and released their debut album ''To The Victor – The Spoils!''.


Style


Live performances

In 2003, Lemon Jelly performed a number of shows across the UK and Ireland. Instead of having opening acts, the duo had set up a giant game of
Bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** Bi ...
, presided over by
Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
and played by members of the audience. Entrance to one of their shows was by wearing a limited edition red or yellow coloured T-shirt which was sent in the post, instead of a physical ticket. In other shows, support was provided by
Don Partridge Donald Eric Partridge (27 October 1941 – 21 September 2010)Report of death< ...
– a traditional one man band – whilst "Jelly Helpers" distributed sweets to the crowd. They also played a Saturday morning gig called "Jelly Tots" as a charitable event for children. In between sets, classic British children's TV programmes were played over a projection screen, and the event featured bouncy castles, clowns and hundreds of balloons. In July 2004, Lemon Jelly played at
Somerset House Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...
. They have performed headlining sets at
Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...
, V Festival,
Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
and The Big Chill amongst others.


Visual arts

Many of the band's releases and videos are designed by Deakin's
Airside An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
studios.


Music videos

The album ''64–'95'' was released simultaneously as a DVD featuring animated videos for each track.


Album artwork

Their packaging is designed by Deakin's
Airside An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
studios. The bright colours and graphic elements, together with the Lemon Jelly typeface, contribute to the Lemon Jelly "brand". Their first three EPs were released on 10" vinyl in hand-screenprinted sleeves and now trade on
eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
for large sums of money. Other interesting sleeves included ''
Soft/Rock "Soft/Rock" is the debut single released by Lemon Jelly on 21 June 2001. The 7" single was released in two formats; the first was limited to 1,000 copies and released on blue vinyl, each coming in its own hand-stitched denim sleeve with a flavoure ...
'', an unofficial release pressed on pale blue 7" vinyl in a denim sleeve that also contained a
condom A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of in ...
, and '' Rolled/Oats'', another unofficial release pressed as a gold
picture disc Picture discs are gramophone (phonograph) records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or colored vinyl. Collectors traditionally reserve the term picture disc for records with graphics that extend at lea ...
in a
hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...
bag.


Discography


Albums


EPs

* '' The Bath'' (1998) * '' The Yellow'' (1999) * ''
The Midnight The Midnight is an American synthwave band composed of Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Tyler Lyle and Los Angeles-based Danish-born producer, songwriter, and singer Tim McEwan. Origins The band was formed as a result of Lyle and McEwan meeting ...
'' (2000)


Singles

Notes *A ''Lemonjelly.ky'' is a compilation of the band's first three EPs. For completeness, it is listed under "albums". *B "
Soft/Rock "Soft/Rock" is the debut single released by Lemon Jelly on 21 June 2001. The 7" single was released in two formats; the first was limited to 1,000 copies and released on blue vinyl, each coming in its own hand-stitched denim sleeve with a flavoure ...
" and " Rolled/Oats" were not released under the Lemon Jelly name, but the musical style and distinctive cover artwork style made it apparent as to the source of the release. "Soft" and "Rolled" were later released as Lemon Jelly B-Sides.


References

{{Authority control English electronic music duos Trip hop groups XL Recordings artists Musical groups established in 1998 Musical groups from London