Phillip Krokidis (6 May 1969 – 1 November 2020), known professionally as Phil K, was an Australian electronic music DJ and record producer from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. He was a member of the "Aussie breaks" music scene which also includes other Melbourne DJs such as Nubreed and Andy Page. In addition to DJing, Phil K also produced alongside Habersham and Dave Preston in The Operators and was also a member of Hi-Fi Bugs and Lostep. He was known primarily for his DJing of

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...

music, but often weaved in other genres such as ambient,

deep house Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ( ...

, and

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

and did not pigeonhole himself with a particular genre.

Biography

Phil K started DJing in 1985, performing at his school's disco. He soon started working for a disco hire company setting up sound systems at venues. In the 1990s, Phil K worked for DMC, a seller of DJ gear and records. In 1996, Phil K released his first record, "Summer Breeze", as the Free Radicals with Andy Page and Ivan Gough. He co-founded a new label, Zero Tolerance Records, in 1998 with Page to release material by their duo, Hi-Fi Bugs. Now defunct, ZTR released electronic music from 1998 to 2004, releasing singles by artists such as Ivan Gough, Luke Chable, Hi-Fi Bugs, Andy Page and Gab Olivier. In 2000, Phil K created his first commercial mix album for Global Recordings. The album won him the "Best Dance Compilation" award at the Dance Music Awards in 2001. His

Kiss 100 Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network. It is primarily aimed at the 15-34 age group and broadcasts nationally to the UK on DAB Digital Radio, as well as on FM in London, Bristol an ...

"Friday Tapes" garnered him the award for "Best Radio Show". Phil K started working with fellow Australian Luke Chable and the two released "The Roots" on Boxed in 2002. After sending Sasha a demo of their next track, "Burma", he included it on the album ''

Involver ''Involver'' is a mix album by Welsh DJ Sasha. It was released on 14 June 2004 through British record label Global Underground. Tracks by other artists which Sasha admired were chosen for the album and have each been remixed to give his own in ...

'' and the track was subsequently also released by GU Music. He also signed onto EQ/Stomp to mix the fourth entry in the ''Balance'' series. ''Balance 004'' is a two disc release consisting of a "Breaks Mix" and a "House Mix" and won Phil K the 2003 DMA award for "Best Mix CD". In 2005, Distinct'ive Breaks Records released Phil K's entry in the Y4k series and features a combination of melodic breaks, bassy

and glitchy electro. The mix album featured "Cloudbrake", a "tech-edged" bass driven breakbeat track written by Phil K and Habersham. In 2006, Phil K and Chable as Lostep released ''Because We Can''. The album combines emotive breakbeats and dirty electro rhythms with strange synths and samples. On 1 November 2020, Phil K died of prostate cancer, aged 51.

Technology

With

Pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

, Phil K developed a prototype for the

DVJ-X1 A CDJ is a specialized digital music player for DJing. Originally designed to play music from compact discs, many CDJs can play digital music files stored on USB flash drives or SD cards. In typical use, at least two CDJs are plugged into a DJ ...

, the first visual and audio live mixer. Unlike some other DJs, Phil K did not hold vinyl "sacred" and enjoyed using newer digital technologies due to their flexibility.

Selected discography

;Singles *1996: Free Radicals - "Summer Breeze" (DanceNET) *2000: Hi-Fi Bugs - "Lydian & The Dinosaur" ( Zero Tolerance Records) *2002: "Bushpig" (Super Charged) *2002: Lostep - "The Roots" (Boxed) *2004: Lostep - "Burma" (

GU Music Global Underground is a British record label and compilation series founded in 1996 by Andy Horsfield and James Todd. The label symbolised the international explosion of dance music during the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s and first manifesto for hi ...

) *2004: The Operators - "Furball" (Lobotomy Records) *2005: "Cloudbrake" with Habersham (Audio Therapy) *2005: "They Just Won't Let Me Be" (

Institution Recordings Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...

) ;Albums *2000: ''Sound Not Scene'' (

Global Recordings Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

) *2002: ''Balance 004: Phil K'' (EQ/Stomp) *2003: ''Retro>Future'' (Functional Breaks) *2004: ''Renaissance Presents The Therapy Sessions: Dave Seaman & Phil K'' (

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

) *2005: ''Phil K Presents: Y4K'' ( Distinct'ive Breaks Records) *2006: Lostep - ''Because We Can'' (GU Music) *2007: ''Hi Fi'' (Central Station) ;Remixes *

Shpongle Shpongle is a psychedelic electronic music project from England that formed in 1996. The group includes Hallucinogen and Raja Ram (one of three in The Infinity Project). The duo are considered to be one of the progenitors of the psybient gen ...

- "Dorset Perception" (Lostep's Balearic Breaks Re-Edit)

References

External links

Official websiteHow to DJ with Phil K, Sarah Main & James ZabielaResident Advisor page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phil K DJs from Melbourne Club DJs Remixers Australian record labels Record labels established in 1998 Record labels disestablished in 2004 Electronic music record labels 1969 births 2020 deaths Deaths from prostate cancer Deaths from cancer in Victoria (Australia)