Leftfield

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Biography

Leftfield is a United Kingdom|British duet (music)|duo of electronica musician|artists and record producer|record producers , namely Paul Daley (formerly of The Rivals (band)|The Rivals , A Man Called Adam and the Brand New Heavies ) and Neil Barnes, who formed in 1990 in London , England. The name Leftfield was originally used simply by Barnes for its first single (music)|single with editing/arranging and additional production added by Daley " Not Forgotten (single)|Not Forgotten ", but after this, Daley was involved in remix ing "Not Forgotten" and then in the creation of all Leftfield's music. The pair were pioneers in the fields of intelligent dance music and progressive house , being among the first to fuse house music with Dub music|dub and reggae . Ultimately the duo have been influential on the electronic genre as a whole, with
The Crystal Method 's Scott Kirkland referring to them in 2005 as "the best electronic band, period!"

As with many of their contemporaries such as The Chemical Brothers and Underworld Leftfield pioneered the use of guest vocalists throughout their career. Among the more prominent were Toni Halliday , who sang on Original, Djum Djum on Afro Left and Earl 16 and Cheshire Cat on Release the Pressure. As of December 2011, Neil Barnes continues to tour with the band while Paul Daley is focusing upon his solo career.

Career

Neil Barnes' entry into the music world was as a DJ at The Wag Club while simultaeneously playing percussion instruments. Around 1989, inspired by Afrika Bambaata , Barnes decided to try his hand at electronic music production, the result of which was the track Not Forgotten , released on the Rhythm King label, and More Than I Know . For the remixes of these tracks, Barnes called upon Paul Daley, then a hairdresser, but also in A Man Called Adam and a formerly a session musician for the Brand New Heavies and Primal Scream , appearing on their Dixie-Narco EP . Barnes and Daley had previously worked together as percussionists at The Sandals ' first club, Violets. As their mutual interest in electronic music became clear the pair decided that they would work instead upon Leftfield, once Barnes had extricated himself from his now troublesome contract with Rhythm King.

During this period, in which the band could not release their own music owing to the legal dispute with Rhythm King, the pair undertook remix work for React 2 Rhythm , ICP , Supereal , Inner City , Sunscreem and Ultra Nate . Finally, once the problems with their former label had been sorted out, Leftfield were able to unveil their single Release the Pressure .

Leftism

Leftfield's first major career break came with the single " Open Up (song)|Open Up ", a collaboration with John Lydon that was soon followed by their debut album, Leftism (album)|Leftism in 1995, blending Dub music|dub , breakbeat , and techno . It was shortlisted for the 1995 Mercury Music Prize but lost out to Portishead (band)|Portishead 's Dummy (album)|Dummy . In a 1998 Q (magazine)| Q magazine poll, readers voted it the eightieth greatest album of all time, while in 2000 Q placed it at number 34 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. The album was re-released in 2000 with a bonus disc of remixes.

Rhythm and Stealth

Their second and final album, Rhythm and Stealth (1999) maintained a similar style, and featured Roots Manuva , Afrika Bambaataa , and MC Cheshire Cat from Birmingham . The album was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize in Mercury Music Prize#2000|2000 but lost out to Badly Drawn Boy 's The Hour of Bewilderbeast . It reached #1 in the UK Albums Chart . The album featured the song "Phat Planet" which featured on Guinness ' 1999 Guinness#Advertising|advert , Surfer (advert)|Surfer , and "6/8 War" featured on the Volkswagen Lupo Advert 'Demon Baby'. The track "Double Flash" featured in the PlayStation software game Music 2000 .

Public Reception

Leftfield is known to the mainstream United Kingdom|UK audience for their track "Phat Planet", which soundtracked the "Surfers" Television|TV advertisement for Guinness , ranked number one in Channel 4 's Top 100 Adverts list in 2000. "Phat Planet" was also used in the animated television series Beast Machines , the simulation racing games F1 2000 by EA Sports and Racedriver GRID by Codemasters . In addition, their song "Release the Pressure" was used on advertisements for the Telefónica Europe|O₂ mobile phone network at its launch, and "A Final Hit" was featured on the Trainspotting (film)|Trainspotting Trainspotting (soundtrack)|soundtrack ; the A-side and B-side|b-side "Afro Ride" was also featured on the soundtracks to both '' Wipeout (album)|wipE'out" and Wipeout 2097 The Soundtrack (album)|wipE'out" 2097 although it did not appear on the album of the first game.

They also released a series of singles and two album s before breaking up in 2002 to focus on solo projects.

Live performances

In November and December 2010 Leftfield did a series of dates around the UK and Ireland. Friday 3 December's gig saw more plaster fall from Brixton Academy's ceiling

Reformation

Leftfield headlined Creamfields in Cheshire in August 2010, RockNess in Scotland in June 2010, and played the final set on the main stage at Republic of Ireland|Ireland's three day festival, 'Electric Picnic' in September. Further headline festival shows were announced in the coming weeks. However, Leftfield is now represented by Barnes alone with a backing band and singers, as Daley is concentrating on his Disc jockey|DJ work, as well as releasing a solo album.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album Details	Peak Chart Positions									Certification
Year	Album Details										Certification
UK	FR	NZ	SE	CH	NO	AU	NL	BE
1992	Backlog Joint Compilation Album	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1995	Leftism Studio Album	5	-	32	-	-	27	-	-	-	British Phonographic Industry\|UK : Platinum"". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved on 09 September 2011. Note: User needs to enter "Leftfield" in the "Search" field, "Artist" in the "Search by" field and click the "Go" button. Select "More info" next to the relevant entry to see full certification history. Norway\|NOR : Gold"". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry – Norway . Retrieved on 09 September 2011. Note: User needs to enter "Leftfield" in the "Search" field, "Artist" in the "Search by" field and click the "Go" button. Select "More info" next to the relevant entry to see full certification history.
1999	Rhythm and Stealth Studio Album	1	40	7	54	36	3	4	38	11	UK: Platinum
2000	Stealth Remixes Remix Album	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2005	A Final Hit: Greatest Hits Greatest Hits	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2012	Tourism Live Album	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Singles

" Not Forgotten (song)|Not Forgotten " (March 1990)

" More Than I Know " (February 1991)

" Release the Pressure " featuring Earl Sixteen (August 1992)

" Song of Life " (November 1992) — #59 UK Singles Chart|UK

" Open Up (song)|Open Up " featuring John Lydon (November 1993) — #13 UK

" Original (song)|Original " featuring Toni Halliday (March 1995) — #18 UK

" Afro-Left " featuring Djum Djum (July 1995) — #22 UK

" Release the Pressure|Release the Pressure 1996 " featuring Earl Sixteen and Cheshire Cat with Ad lib|ad-libs by Papa Dee (January 1996) — #13 UK

" Afrika Shox " featuring Afrika Bambaataa (September 1999) — #7 UK

" Dusted (song)|Dusted " featuring Roots Manuva (November 1999) — #28 UK

" Swords (song)|Swords " featuring Nicole Willis (June 2000)

Soundtracks and compilations

From the Shallow Grave#Soundtrack|Shallow Grave soundtrack

:"Shallow Grave" (Feat. Christopher Eccleston )
:"Release the Dubs"

From the Hackers (film)#Soundtrack|Hackers soundtrack:

:"Inspection (Check One)"
:"Open Up" (featuring John Lydon )

From the '' Wipeout (album)|wipE'out"

:"Afro Ride" (from the EP Afro-Left )

From 104.9 (An XFM Compilation)

:"Praise"

From the Trainspotting (soundtrack)#Trainspotting: Music from the Motion Picture|Trainspotting soundtrack

:"A Final Hit"

From the Trainspotting (soundtrack)#Trainspotting#"2: Music From The Motion Picture, Vol.#"2|Trainspotting #2 soundtrack

:"A Final Hit" (Full Length Version)

From the '' Wipeout 2097 The Soundtrack (album)|wipE'out" 2097

:"Afro Ride" (from the EP Afro-Left )

From the Go (1999 film)|Go soundtrack

:"Swords" (featuring Nicole Willis ) (Original Version)

From The Beach (film)#Soundtrack|The Beach soundtrack

:"Snakeblood"

From the Vanilla Sky (Soundtrack)|Vanilla Sky soundtrack

:"Afrika Shox"

From Beast Machines

:"Phat Planet"

From Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

:"Song of Life" (Fanfare of Life)

Copyright Citations

This article is licensed under the GNU License
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Leftfield Photo by: www.tursa.franken.de


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