James Alexander Goodale Holden (born 7 June 1979) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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 ...

artist and DJ. After beginning his career as a DJ and producer, Holden has moved extensively into live performance and founded his own record label Border Community.

Early career

Holden grew up in

Market Bosworth Market Bosworth is a market town and civil parish in western Leicestershire, England. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 1,906, increasing to 2,097 at the 2011 census. It is most famously near to the site of the decisive final battle of ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, before studying mathematics at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He started his career in 1999 at age 19 and swiftly gained wider recognition with the release of trance

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 ...

"Horizons", which he created with the freeware software Buzz. This "crossover anthem of the summer of 1999" was picked up by Pete Tong, John Digweed and Nick Warren, quickly propelling Holden to a wider audience. In the subsequent years Holden released numerous singles and remixes on various labels including Lost Language, Perfecto Recordings, and

Positiva Recordings Positiva Records is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and concentrates on releasing dance music in the UK. The record label was set up in 1993, by Nick Halkes, who previously ran XL Recordings. Its headquarters are at the Universal UK ...

. He was also one-third of Mainline (alongside Duncan Ellis and Hywel Dunn-Davies) and worked with singer Julie Thompson as Holden & Thompson. His remix credits for this period include artists such as

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

, New Order,

Nathan Fake Nathan Fake is an English electronic music artist from Necton in Norfolk, England, who has released singles as well as three albums on the label Border Community Recordings. In 2006, his debut album ''Drowning in a Sea of Love'' was released ...

and

Kieran Hebden Kieran Hebden (born September 1977), known as Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting UK albums such as '' Rounds'' ( ...

Steve Reid Steve Reid (January 29, 1944 – April 13, 2010) was an American jazz drummer who played with Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, James Brown, Fela Kuti, Kieran Hebden, and Sun Ra. He worked as a session drummer for Motown. Biography Born ...

. In April 2006, his mix album ''James Holden At The Controls'' was ''Mixmag''s 'Album of the Month'.

Border Community

Holden's label Border Community was founded in 2003, and made its debut with Holden's single 'A Break in the Clouds'. Border Community has gone on to kickstart the careers of many young artists, including

, Fairmont,

Luke Abbott Luke Abbott is an English electronic music producer from Norwich, Norfolk. He records and performs extensively under his own name, under the alias Earlham Mystics and as one third of electronic jazz group Szun Waves. His work has been describe ...

and The MFA. James Holden often performed alongside his labelmates at his Border Community label nights at Corsica Studios in London. His 2004 remix of Nathan Fake's "The Sky Was Pink" garnered attention for both Holden, Fake and Border Community. The track was described as containing "an epic universalism that fans of any genre coalesce around" and was placed at number 10 in the Resident Advisor 'Top 100 Electronic Tracks of the '00s'. In 2006, Border Community released Holden's debut album ''The Idiots are Winning''. This album of "loose, twisted and atmospheric...electronic music" was described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as "the most astonishing debut in electronic music since

Boards of Canada Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin, formed initially as a group in 1986 before becoming a duo in the 1990s.Hoffmann, Heiko.Pitchfork: Interviews: Boards of Canada (Septemb ...

's ''

Music Has the Right to Children ''Music Has the Right to Children'' is the debut studio album by Scottish electronic music duo Boards of Canada. It was released on 20 April 1998 in the UK by Warp and Skam Records and in the US by Matador. The album was produced at Hexagon Sun, ...

''.'

Live performance

In 2013, Holden released his second album '' The Inheritors'', a "revealing and intriguing" album of "buzzy pastoral beauty and harsh rhythmic duress". After the record's release,

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...

invited Holden to support Yorke's band

Atoms For Peace "Atoms for Peace" was the title of a speech delivered by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly in New York City on December 8, 1953. The United States then launched an "Atoms for Peace" program that supplied equipment ...

on their US tour. These shows consisted of Holden performing on modular synth alongside drummer Tom Page (of experimental electronic duo Rocketnumbernine and The Memory Band). This transition from DJing to live performance would be a significant development in Holden's career and would spark a long term musical relationship with Page. The significance of Holden's embracing of live performance was clear to see in his third album, ''The Animal Spirits''. Recorded at Holden's London studio Sacred Walls, the album saw Holden leading a five piece band spanning live drums, saxophone, other woodwinds and North African instruments. This array of musicians allowed Holden to create a “

spiritual jazz Spiritual jazz (or astral jazz) is a sub-genre of jazz that originated in the United States during the 1960s. The genre is hard to characterize musically but draws from free, avant-garde and modal jazz and thematically focuses on transcendence ...

band playing folk / trance music” whilst keeping his "ever strident synth... front and centre". The music was recorded live, without edits or overdubs, and was influenced both in sound and concept by the works of

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...

Alice Coltrane Alice Coltrane (' McLeod; August 27, 1937January 12, 2007), also known by her adopted Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda, was an American jazz musician and composer, and in her later years a swamini. An accomplished pianist and one of the few har ...

and

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

Collaborative releases

''Animal Spirits'' also drew on Holden's immersion in Moroccan Gnawa music. In 2014, Holden travelled to Morocco to study the style with the late master

Mahmoud Guinia Mahmoud Guinia ( ar, محمود ﯕينيا, and rarely or ; also spelled Gania, Guinea or Khania; 1951 – 2 August 2015) was a Moroccan Gnawa musician, singer and guembri player, who was traditionally regarded as a Maâllem (), i.e. master. T ...

, culminating in a collaborative EP; one of many that Holden would release in this period. Other collaborative releases include ''Outdoor Museum of Fractals'' with Camilo Tirado, ''Three Live Takes'' with Houssam Gania and Holden's most recent output, ''Long Weekend'' with Wacław Zimpel.

Selected discography

Albums

*'' The Idiots Are Winning'' (2006, Border Community) *'' The Inheritors'' (2013, Border Community) *''The Animal Spirits'' (2017, Border Community) *''A Cambodian Spring OST'' (2019, Border Community)

Collaborations

*''Marhaba'' w/ Floating Points and Maalem Mahmoud Guinia (2015, Border Community) *''Outdoor Museum Of Fractals'' w/ Camilo Tirado (2016, Border Community) *''Three Live Takes'' EP w/Houssam Guinia (2018, Border Community) *''Long Weekend'' EP w/Waclaw Zimpel (2020, Border Community)

Singles

*"Horizons" (INCredible) *"One For You" (Direction Records, Silver Planet) *"Solstice/I Have Put Out the Light" (Silver Planet) *Holden & Thompson – "Nothing" (

Loaded Records Loaded Records was a British dance record label, formed in 1990 by Tim Jeffery and JC Reid. It launched artists like Pizzaman, Slacker and Wildchild. More recently, it released albums by Super Collider (featuring Jamie Lidell) and singles by ...

) – UK #51 *"A Break in the Clouds" (Border Community) *Holden & Thompson – "Come To Me" (loaded) *Milky Globe & James Holden – "Sun Spots" (LoEB) *James Holden – "The Wheel" (

Cocoon Recordings Cocoon Recordings is a record label founded in 2000 and operated by DJ and electronic music producer Sven Väth. Based in Frankfurt, Germany, Cocoon is a division of the Cocoon Music Event GmbH. Väth founded Cocoon Recordings in order to comp ...

) *"Renata" (Border Community)

Remixes

*3 Phase feat. Dr. Motte – "Der Klang Der Familie" (James Holden Wet & Fucked Mix) *Aaron-Carl – "Dance Naked" (James Holden Remix) *Accadia – "Into the Dawn" (James Holden Remix) *André Kraml – "Safari" (James Holden Remix) *Avus – "Fancy Arse" (James Holden's Sunday Night Remix) * Black Strobe – "Nazi Trance Fuck Off" (Holden Mix) * Blue Amazon – "Breathe" (James Holden Remix) * Blu Peter – "Funky Suite" (James Holden Remix) *

– "Breathe on Me" (Holden Dub) *Britney Spears – "Breathe on Me" (Holden Vocal Mix) *

Caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

– "Bowls" (Holden Remix) *The Coffee Boys – "The Touch" (James Holden Remix) *

– "The Darkest Star" (James Holden Remix/Dub)
Dextro
– "Do You Need Help" (Holden Acoustic/Noise Tool) *Electrique Boutique – "Revelation" (James Holden Remix) *

Joshua Ryan Joshua Ryan Topolsky (born October 19, 1977) is an American technology journalist. He is also a record producer, and DJ under the stage name Joshua Ryan. Topolsky was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of technology news network ''The Verge'' ...

– "Pistolwhip" (James Holden Remix) *

and

– "The Sun Never Sets" (Holden Remix) *

Kirsty Hawkshaw Kirsty Hawkshaw (born 26 October 1969) is an English electronic music vocalist and songwriter. In addition to her work as a solo artist, she is known as the lead vocalist of early 1990s dance group Opus III, and her collaborative work with oth ...

– "Fine Day" (James Holden Remix) *Loki – "NYC Underground" (James Holden Inertia Remix) *

– " Get Together" (James Holden Mix) *Meerkat – "Colours" (James Holden Re-edit) *

Mercury Rev Mercury Rev is an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in Buffalo, New York.
Original personnel were Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogw ...

– "The Sun Smells Too Loud" (Holden Mix) * Misstress Barbara – "Barcelona" (Holden Bass Tool) *Misstress Barbara – "Barcelona" (Holden Bell Dub) *

– "The Sky Was Pink" (Holden Remix) *Nathan Fake – "The Sky Was Pink" (Holden Noise Tool) * New Order – "Someone Like You" (James Holden Heavy Dub) *

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

– "Reckoner" (Holden Mix) 'Reckoner' Remix
*Roland Klinkenberg – "Inner Laugh" (James Holden Remix) *Solid Sessions – "Janeiro" (James Holden Remix) *System 7 – "Planet 7" (James Holden Remix) *

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 ...

presents Mad Dogs – "Better Make Room" (James Holden Remix) *Ultra Violet – "Heaven" (James Holden's Ariane Dub) *Watergate – "Heart of Asia" (James Holden Remix)

Mix albums

*''Fear of a Silver Planet'' ( Silver Planet) *''Balance 005'' (EQ (Grey)) *''At the Controls'' (

Resist Music React Music Limited was a British, London-based independent record label, that was formed in 1990 by James Horrocks and Thomas Foley. James Horrocks was initially involved with successful dance music independent Rhythm King, and React pursued ...

) *'' Dj-Kicks: James Holden'' ( !K7)

References

External links

* *
Border Community Official WebsiteLaptoprockers interviewRed Bull Music Academy Interview

James Holden interview @ Soundwall.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holden, James Alumni of St John's College, Oxford English trance musicians English techno musicians English DJs English record producers People from Market Bosworth Jeskola Buzz users Living people 1979 births Electronic dance music DJs Progressive house musicians INCredible artists