More Info on Juno ReactorSimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
Refimprove|date=October 2008Infobox musical artist | name = Juno Reactor| image = Juno Reactor at Earthcore 04.jpg| caption = Juno Reactor performing live at Earthcore in December 2008| landscape = yes| background = group_or_band| alias =| origin = London , United Kingdom | genre = Electronic music|Electronic Trance music|Trance Goa trance Industrial music|Industrial Trip Hop World music|World | years_active = 1990–present| label = Metropolis Records|Metropolis , NovaMute Records|NovaMute , WAU& #33; Mr. Modo Recordings|Inter-Modo , Blue Room Released | associated_acts =| website = http://www.junoreactor.com/ www.JunoReactor.com| current_members = Ben Watkins Mike McGuire Stephane Holweck Jens Waldeback Taz Alexander Mabi Thobejane Amampondo|Michael LaDonga Amampondo|Simpiwe Marele Amampondo|Mandala Lande Greg Ellis (musician)|Greg Ellis Paul Jackson (bassist)|Paul Jackson Steve Stevens Sugizo Asian Dub Foundation|Squid Xavier Morell| past_members = Juno Reactor is a musical and performing act known for the cinematic fusion of electronic, orchestral, and global music. Central to the project is Ben Watkins and his collaborations with a constantly changing ensemble of musicians from across the world, including percussionist Mabi Thobejane from South Africa , along with countrymen Amampondo , Eduardo Niebla , Steve Stevens , Greg Ellis (musician)|Greg Ellis , Taz Alexander , Ghetto Priest , Sugizo , and recently Yasmin Levy . They also collaborated with composer Don Davis (composer)|Don Davis for the musical score of the film The Matrix Series|The Matrix .
History
Juno Reactor was formed as an art project in 1990. Watkins wanted to collaborate with other artists, producing exciting projects that were not commercially driven. He wanted to create experimental music and non-musical soundtracks that would work with installations, art pieces, and film projects.Citation needed|date=November 2010 Juno Reactor released their first single, "Laughing Gas", in 1993 on the NovaMute label. This was soon followed by their debut album, Transmissions (album)|Transmissions . This release was the first artist album in the genre. Later, the band released Luciana (album)|Luciana on Alex Paterson 's ( The Orb ) Inter-Modo label. Juno Reactor left NovaMute and Inter-Modo in 1995 and signed with the United Kingdom|UK label Blue Room Released to release the single "Guardian Angel". Their album Beyond the Infinite was released in 1995.
The 1997 Wax Trax& #33; Records / TVT Records release Bible of Dreams was Juno Reactor's fourth album. It had a much different sound than the previous albums, and moved away from the traditional dance beats by implementing tribal influences. Watkins collaborated with Amampondo , a traditional South African percussion act, on the single "Conga Fury". Watkins and Amampondo went on a five week tour of the US, doing the opening for Moby . In 1998, Juno Reactor played a live set with Amampondo at Glastonbury Festival . In 1999, the group collaborated with The Creatures on the track "Exterminating Angel", featured on that group's album Anima Animus .
Watkins released the fifth Juno Reactor album, Shango (Juno Reactor album)|Shango , in 2000. It was the first of his albums on Metropolis Records . The first track from the album, " Pistolero (song)|Pistolero ", was a collaboration with Billy Idol 's guitarist, Steve Stevens . The track was featured during the trailer for the movie Once Upon a Time in Mexico , as well as in the film itself.Citation needed|date=November 2010 In the fall of 2002, Juno Reactor released a new single titled "Hotaka". It was recorded in a Japanese studio overlooking Mt. Fuji . "Hotaka" featured Stevens on guitar, and included traditional Taiko drummers Gocoo . In 2003, the album Odyssey 1992–2002 was released as a compilation of the best Juno Reactor tracks of the decade.
The sixth Juno Reactor album, Labyrinth (Juno Reactor album)|Labyrinth , was released in October 2004, and featured Watkins' work from the The Matrix series| Matrix films . The album once again featured the tribal influences present in their music through tracks like "Conquistador II".
In 2006, Watkins was hired to compose an orchestral score for Brave Story , a Japanese anime feature film. Sony Japan released the soundtrack, which was recorded at the Building of Slovak radio|Slovak Radio Concert Hall in Slovakia with the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra. The album was written by "Ben Watkins aka Juno Reactor".
In 2008 Ben Watkins collaborated with anime director Koji Morimoto for GeniusPartyBeyond , an anthology of short animated films from Studio 4°C .
Juno Reactor's album Gods and Monsters (Juno Reactor album)|Gods & Monsters was released in March 2008, and featured the introduction of Ghetto Priest and Sugizo into the Juno Reactor fold, along with Eduardo Niebla, Xavier Morel, and Yasmin Levy. In 2009, the band toured with drummer Budgie (drummer)|Budgie , of the band Siouxsie and the Banshees .
Appearances in media
Movies and television
Juno Reactor produced and wrote Traci Lords 's American hit "Control". As an instrumental it was featured on the soundtrack to the movie Mortal Kombat (movie)|Mortal Kombat . It was used in the fight between Liu Kang and Reptile. The group also appeared on the Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (soundtrack)|soundtrack to the sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation , with the track "Conga Fury".
Later, Ben Watkins in collaboration with Don Davis (composer)|Don Davis , spent 6 months In LA working with Don Davis and the Wachowski Brothers for the The Matrix|Matrix series of films and video games. Ben Watkins Scored to picture over an hour of Music, finalizing in the colossus of "Navras" a masterpiece of electronic - world music and full orchestra Animatrix also featured pre-existing tracks "Masters Of The Universe" (in '' Kid's Story ) and "Conga Fury (Animatrix Remix)" (in Final Flight of the Osiris ).
Brave Story also saw Ben Watkins Score his first full orchestra feature, released in Japan where it was the no1 film for 6 weeks.
Many other tracks have been sync'd into films some are listed below. Their single "Guardian Angel" was featured as the opening theme of the anime series Texhnolyze . "Guardian Angel" was also featured in the movie Drive (1998 film)|Drive , starring Mark Dacascos and Kadeem Hardison . Other Juno Reactor tracks appear on movies such as Eraser (movie)|Eraser , Virtuosity , Lost in Space (movie)|Lost In Space , the 1999 film Beowulf (1999 film)|Beowulf , and Once Upon a Time in Mexico .Citation needed|date=November 2010 Juno Reactor soundtracks have also been played during baseball , basketball , and gridiron football games, and the Japan ese Grand Prix motor racing|Grand Prix .
Ben Watkins is now working on Iron Sky with Laibach www.ironsky.net as well as Bunraku Both will be released sometime in 2011.
Video games
Their work appears in the PlayStation game Jet Moto|Jet Moto 3 , PlayStation 2 's Frequency (game)|Frequency , and the Xbox game Mad Dash Racing . Juno Reactor also scored the PlayStation 2 game The Mark of Kri .
Juno Reactor also has a song in the game Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 4 . "Masters of the Universe", from the album Shango , was briefly heard during the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movie trailer. The trailer for Secuestro Express includes an excerpt from the song "War Dogs" off of the Labyrinth album. Also from Labyrinth , the song "Mutant Message" is featured in the Legion (2010 film)|Legion trailer.
Discography
Full-length albums
Transmissions (album)|Transmissions ( NovaMute Records 1993)
Luciana (album)|Luciana ( Inter-Modo 1994) (61-minute track originally recorded for The Missile Project traveling art installation)
reflist|1=2|refs= cite news | url = http://news.google.com/newspapers? id=BKM1AAAAIBAJ& sjid=qbYFAAAAIBAJ& pg=3955%2C7785822 | title = Nine tales yield 'Matrix' insights | newspaper = Beaver Country Times | last = Gaul | first = Lou | at = Weekend section, p. 8 | publisher = Beaver Newspapers | date = 2003-05-30 | accessdate = 2010-11-01 | volume = 129 | issue = 50 | location = Beaver, Pennsylvania
cite encyclopedia | url = http://books.google.com/books? id=7ctjc6UWCm4C& lpg=PT254& ots=YCqnDn_JE4& pg=PT254#v=onepage& q& f=false | title = The Creatures | encyclopedia = The Rough Guide to Rock | editor-last = Buckley | editor-first = Peter | isbn = 9781843531050 | publisher = Rough Guides | location = London | date = October 2003 | edition = 3 | last = Morgan | first = David | quote = The whole album gleamed with ideas and enthusiasm, with standout track 'Exterminating Angel' gaining extra power from its classy Juno Reactor production.
cite web | url = http://www.discogs.com/Ben-Watkins-Brave-Story-Original-Soundtrack/release/822163 | title = Ben Watkins - Brave Story - Original Soundtrack | work = Discogs | publisher = Discogs | accessdate = 2010-11-01
cite web | url = http://www.mobygames.com/game/ps2/mark-of-kri/credits | title = The Mark of Kri (2002) PlayStation 2 credits | author = JPaterson | work = MobyGames | publisher = MobyGames | accessdate = 2010-11-01
External links
commons category
http://www.junoreactor.com/ JunoReactor.com - Juno Reactor official website
dmoz|Arts/Music/Bands_and_Artists/J/Juno_Reactor/
http://www.specialradio.net/juno_reactor/inter.shtml Interview with Ben Watkins by Special Radio
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Juno+Reactor Extensive Juno Reactor discography at Discogs
http://www.last.fm/music/Juno+Reactor Juno Reactor on Last.fm , a social music profiling service
Category:TVT Records artists Category:English electronic music groups Category:British techno music groups Category:British trance music groups Category:Goa trance musical groups Category:Musical groups from London
