James Lavelle biog

Described once as the Hunter S. Thompson of DJs, James Lavelle's career has spanned the last 18 years and he remains as individual a figure in contemporary music as he was as a teenager when he first gate-crashed his way in with the genre-shattering MoWax records. MoWax was fresh, frenetic and freewheeling. It didn't care about genres and consequently ignored them. And its innovative combination of music and culture spawned artists such as DJ Shadow, LA Funk Mob, DJ Krush, Carl Craig and Unkle. Equally, the label was involved in the young and upcoming eclectic and electronically influenced music scene which bred producers and artists such as Tim Goldsworthy (who developed into DFA), Trevor Jackson , Futura 2000 and 3D (from Massive Attack), and was precursor to such records now as the ever-popular punk scene (Bloc Party et al) and sampled-based Hip Hop scene (Gnarls Barkley etc).

As a label MoWax and James have worked with a cross-section of people from movie directors like Jonathan Glazer, to fashion designers such as Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan, photographers the likes of Richard Avedon, David Bailey and Warren du Preez. Also working with Bathing Ape in Japan, producing books for Futura 2000 and Dysfunctional (the renowned skate history book), and putting on exhibitions throughout the World. Lavelle hung out with fellow-travellers all over the world: Nigo and MoWax signings Major Force in Tokyo, Massive Attack in the UK, and the Beastie Boys in New York to name a few. He also hooked up with pretty much every artist of any merit from the 1990s; from Radiohead, Oasis and the Verve to Beastie Boys and Carl Craig.

UNKLE began as a loose MoWax 'supergroup', originally started by James, Tim Goldsworthy (DFA Records) and Kudo (Major Force fame). Having released a number of singles, Tim moved to New York and Kudo to Japan after which James proceeded to record artist and friend DJ Shadow, of which his 1998 album 'Psceynce Fiction' recruited guests like Thom Yorke, Mike D, Badly Drawn Boy and Richard Ashcroft to an album of beat-heavy experimental beauty. Trimmed down to a duo of Lavelle and singer/producer Richard File, UNKLE collaborated with director Jonathan Glazer on the soundtrack to his stylish gangster movie Sexy Beast. In 2002 they released 'Never, Never Land', an album which brought an electronic dimension to the sound. Ian Brown sang 'Reign' and 'In A State'. There were contributions from Jarvis Cocker, Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, and Massive Attack's 3D. The album track 'An Eye For An Eye' began as the soundtrack to a short film, created by Lavelle and Massive Attack's 3D and animated by long-time collaborators Shynola. The cartoon was premiered on the UK's Channel 4, who also profiled Lavelle as part of its 4DJ series, DJing takes him to clubs like Womb in Tokyo and Fabric in London and he has been involved in working with designer Antonio Berardi.

James Lavelle plays Clampdown at Andrews Lane on May 31st