Swayzak

Swayzak – a name just as sweet, mysterious and dizzy as the musical sound it represents. The acclaimed London-based minimal tech-house duo of James Taylor and David Brown chose a name that represents their style: exact, not stiff; kicking, not blunt; enigmatic, not frigid; groovy, not giddy. Always on point, Swayzak’s sound, like their name, keeps you guessing.

Swayzak’s music strikes an elegant balance; a precise attention to both the minute details as well as the overall picture has run through all their recordings to date. Their craft, evident on 1998’s Snowboarding In Argentina and 2000’s Himawari is the art of uniting alleged contradictions in a deep and endless cosmos of sound. Minimal effects generate hypnotic miracles in a music whose 4/4-bassdrum has just checked into a warm and cozy hotel, leaving the sparse dwellings of techno out in the cold.

Demanding due attention, Swayzak’s musical language is coded; a sonic cipher that refuses to give away its secrets too easily. Clearly complex, Swayzak’s music doesn’t limit itself to a neat little scene or DJ affiliation. James Taylor and David Brown embrace the fun of experimenting, regardless of how the journalists classify the results. "We hate those scenes and trends that the British press create. Instead of playing that game, we prefer to work on our music and let it speak for itself," explains James. And it does. So they create a sound that owes much to deep house, minimal techno, and electro, but is ultimately far closer to the crackling fantasies of dub.

Swayzak’s music is hard to label because James and David are not in for the obvious. Though they make brilliant vocal tracks featuring the likes of Kirsty Hawkshaw and JB Rose, they prefer the A-class dub poetry of Himawari’s "Illegal," which featured the lyrical meditations of acclaimed poet Benjamin Zephaniah. Swayzak may require a bit more attention than your average house-by-numbers stomper, but the rewards are well worth the effort. Lush and uncluttered, full of warmth and feeling, the music of Swayzak has found a welcome home with !K7, a label that will be sure to look after their enigmatic riddims and soulful songs.

In anticipation of their forthcoming artist album, which is set to drop later this year, James and David have crafted a hand-picked selection of tunes from like-minded artists such as Mike Ink, Studio 1, Basic Channel, Herbert and Luomo into an absolutely breathtaking mix entitled Groovetechnology V1.3. As James explains, "we are not really DJs, but we wanted to compile some of our favorite tunes- the ones that we like and the ones that influenced us."

This London based deep dub-house duo got their moniker from a bastardization of actor Patrick Swayze's name, wanting something memorable but not immediately recognizable. This description also applies to their general approach to music: distinctive and not easily classified.

Though James Taylor and David Brown began playing together in 1994, they spent three years studying their instruments and recording techniques in their basement studio. When a friend finally urged them into making their music public, 1997's Bueno EP emerged on their own Swayzak label, which the group also ran on their own. The success and critical acclaim that Bueno and the group's following singles met with were doubly surprising, as Swayzak had very little connection with the London DJ scene.

A chance meeting in a London record shop sparked the group's distribution deal with Medicine records for their debut album, 1998's Snowboarding in Argentina. The full-length collection of the group's clean, atmospheric live electronics also met with acclaim in dance circles, although by this time their creativity and independence was no longer a surprise. Mixer voted Snowboarding in Argentina the 1998 Album of the Year, furthering the duo's recognition in the U.S.

Following a collaboration with the Detroit techno artist Theorem, Swayzak released Himawari and cashed in on their growing acclaim within the global electronic music scene. The brave album featured ambitious collaborations with dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah, Opus III vocalist Kirsty Hawkshaw, and vocalist JB Rose. Dirty Dancing, released in 2002, found the duo adding more elements of pop, and 2004's Loops From the Bergerie saw the first vocal features from Swayzak's David Brown. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide