High Contrast

Lincoln Barrett, better known by the stage name High Contrast (born 18 September 1979 in Penarth, Cardiff), is a Welsh drum and bass DJ and producer.

History

Barrett grew up more interested in films and film soundtracks rather than music, and still cites Wendy Carlos's A Clockwork Orange soundtrack album and the Vangelis soundtrack for Blade Runner as defining musical influences. Whilst studying film making in Newport, he heard J Majik's Arabian Nights which turned the then 17-year-old Barrett onto drum and bass music.

A short time after he began to make music, he was given a DJ residency at Cardiff's drum and bass night, named Silent Running. During his residency at Silent Running, Barrett played alongside artists such as Grooverider and London Elektricity.

In June 2002, Barrett's debut LP True Colours was released on Hospital Records to critical acclaim, with "Return of Forever" and "Global Love" finding their way into the UK Singles Chart.last=Roberts His second album High Society was one of the most successful drum and bass albums of 2004.

On 6 April 2003, High Contrast was featured on the BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix show. His mix included most of the then current liquid funk anthems, mostly from the Hospital Records label. On 9 January 2005, this Essential Mix was replayed on Radio 1 when another drum and bass artist, Andy C, was unable to deliver his mix.

In 2007, he delivered his second essential mix, this mix was selected as 'Essential Mix of the Year' by Pete Tong

Musical style

Barrett's sound can be simply classified as drum and bass, but some critics class his specific sound "liquid funk", the sound first defined by Fabio

. It is sometimes described as uplifting jungle. Barrett has been credited for creating the drum and bass sound now recognized as Liquid.

His music contains many motifs and elements found in House music, such as androgynous time stretched vocals, electric pianos, violins and low-pass filtered samples. Many tracks have epic/anthemic chord progressions and simple bass lines that contrast with some of the more complex basslines found in much drum n bass today.

While Barrett has kept a signature sound throughout his drum and bass releases, his sound has undeniably matured and evolved. His first album 'True Colours' contained many disco influences and "Return of Forever" was the first track to use the syncopated bassline, playing notes next to each other one octave apart, which he has used in other productions since. 'High Society' had slicker production, many jazz samples and big, epic vocals. 'Tough Guys Don't Dance' had a variety of influences and critically contained many tracks with elements from early 1990s jungle - especially in the drum programming and breakbeats used in classic jungle tracks. 'If We Ever' for example uses the break Andy C used in his Origin Unknown classic "Valley of the Shadows (31 seconds)", speeded up "chipmunk" vocals and a piano riff that sounds like it could have come from that era. While Drum n Bass producers have often reused elements of old school jungle, many of the tracks on the album strongly captured the atmosphere of early jungle and many other producers are now making similarly influenced tracks including Hospital label mate Danny Byrd's "Shock Out".

Barrett has often said in interviews that he believes that drum n bass is about continual progression so it is likely his next album will contain a fresh new sound, combined with many of his staple techniques that make his distinctive style.

Today

He is a highly sought-after DJ and receives numerous remix requests; previous popular remixes include Missy Elliot's 'We Run This', The Streets' 'It's Too Late' and The White Stripes 'Blue Orchid'. Arguably, his best remix to date is his edit of Future Sound Of London's 'Papua New Guinea' which embodies his unrelenting liquid style. More recently in 2008, he remixed Adele's 'Hometown Glory' which became the best selling Drum and Bass single of the year and Eric Prydz' summer anthem 'Pjanoo' got re-worked.

Barrett doesn't drink, smoke, or take any other drugs. He is a vegetarian. He comes from a music oriented family as his father Paul 'Legs' Barrett used to manage Shakin' Stevens. His mother is the Welsh Assembly Member Lorraine Barrett for Cardiff South and Penarth.

Barrett currently is a resident DJ at the following clubs: Hospitality as part of Hospital Records at Matter in London (previously at Heaven), Aperture at Clwb Ifor Bach (The Welsh Club) in Cardiff, He is also on regular rotation at Fabric in London.

With the releases of "When The Lights Go Down", "Angels and Fly Remix" and "Days Go By", Barrett shifted his talents somewhat from liquid funk to music with a somewhat harder edge. His newer, more synth-driven releases still contain his classic melodic style.

In October 2005, Barrett launched his own record label, The Contrast. The first single, "Days Go By/What We Do" was released out in early November 2005. To date it has only had this one release and did not officially have his artist name - which is likely due to the uncleared Stevie Nicks sample on "Days Go By".

His third album 'Tough Guys Don't Dance' was released on October 1 2007. The second single from the album- 'If We Ever' was considered the drum n bass record of the year 2007 and remains an anthem. "If We Ever" has been heavily played and supported on Radio 1 by Annie Mac, Zane Lowe and Jo Whiley helping it to reach number 1 in the DnB chart, number 1 in the dance chart and number 4 in the Indie chart.

He was featured once again on Radio 1's Essential Mix on 7 October 2007. A tracklisting can be found here. This essential mix won Essential Mix of the year (2007) as chosen by Pete Tong. In 2008, High Contrast remixed the #1 single "No Way to Say" for Japanese Mega-star Ayumi Hamasaki's remix album titled Ayu-mi-x 6: Silver. He also made successful remixes of Hometown Glory by Adele and Pjanoo by Eric Prydz which were later included on album Confidential.

He has started producing house tracks under the alias "Two Fisted Tales" Tracks so far are "Fugue State" and "Rushmore" He played them during his take over for the Rob Da Bank show on BBC Radio1 (1/26/2009)

Discography

Albums

True Colours (2002)
High Society (2004)
''Tough Guys Don't Dance (2007)
Confidential (2009)

Compilation

FabricLive.25 (2005)

Singles

"Make it Tonight" / "Mermaid Scar" (2001)
"Return of Forever" (2002)
"Global Love" (2002)
"Basement Track" (2003)
"Twilight's Last Gleaming" (2004)
"Angels and Fly" (2004)
"Racing Green" / "St Ives" (2004)
"When the Lights Go Down" / "Magic" (2005)
"Days Go By" / "What We Do" (2005)
"Everything's Different" / "Green Screen" (2007)
"If We Ever" / "Pink Flamingos" (released 16 July 2007)
"In A Gadda Da Vida" / "Forever And A Day" (2007) UK Indie - #12

Remixes

"Kaleidoscope" by Tiesto
"Wall" by Enter Shikari
"Baggy Bottom Boys" by Jokers of the Scene
"Ready for the Weekend" by Calvin Harris
"In For The Kill (Skream's Let's Get Ravey Mix)" by La Roux
"Most Precious Love" by Blaze featuring Barbara Tucker
"Hometown Glory" by Adele
"Pjanoo" by Eric Prydz
"Reload It" by Kano (rapper)
"Time to Pretend" by MGMT
"Something Good '08" by Utah Saints
"Papua New Guinea" by Future Sound of London
"I Found U" by Axwell
"It's Too Late" by The Streets
"Talk" by Coldplay
"Gold Digger" by Kanye West
"Flashing Lights" by Kanye West
"We Run This" by Missy Elliott
"My Dreams" by London Elektricity featuring Robert Owens
"Headlock" by Imogen Heap
"Barcelona" by D.Kay & Epsilon
"Blue Orchid" by The White Stripes
"Hey U" by Basement Jaxx
"Thugged Out Bitch" by Dillinja
"Girls & Boys (Aquasky song)" by Aquasky and El Horner
"Renegade Snares" by Omni Trio
"Back For More" by Influx Datum
"Karma (Comes Back Around)" by Adam F & Guru
"No More" by Roni Size & Dynamite MC
"No Soul" by ILS
"Spaced Invader" by Hatiras
"This Feeling" by Blue Sonix

Signed Music Artists