(le) poisson rouge

The great majority of artists spend their formative years (if not their entire careers) working to shake off the gravitational pull of their predecessors, and the many masters and masterpieces that came before them—what the literary critic Harold Bloom called “the anxiety of influence.” For musicians, in particular, this tendency is especially pronounced, for reasons having to do with the nature of their craft and materials. Unlike the contemporary novelist or filmmaker, say, there is presumably a finite number of choices remaining to the artist making music in the 21st century that have not yet been exhaustively mined after 500 years of popular and semi-popular song. It is for this reason that, when we are asked to describe what a piece of music sounds like, we inevitably talk not about the thing itself, but resort to the trope of metaphor or analogy—“a little Brian Wilson, a little Pink Floyd, a little bit of Kraftwerk.” Rare indeed is the artist who outgrows their early influences, and instead become one of the markers by which other groups are measured. Almost alone among bands of the last two decades, Tortoise is a group that resists easy metaphors and analogies, who can be described as sounding like only themselves and no one else. Twenty years after its founding, the band’s signature and singularly inimitable sound—a fluid intersection of dub, dance, jazz, techno, rock, and classical minimalism, with no part overwhelming or dominating the whole—remains an American and international original. Even more unusually, they seem to have arrived at their sound with almost no apprenticeship to speak of; to judge from their early singles and albums alone, they seem to have come into being with their musical identity and DNA fully formed, like Athena from the forehead of Zeus. Further, while the group has spawned countless imitators, heirs, and followers—sincere, flattering, and otherwise—Tortoise remains unique in the world of contemporary music for their boundless intellectual curiosity, their unmistakable compositional voice, and their synthesis of seemingly contradictory sound worlds far from their doorstep.
Tortoise's new album is Beacons Of Ancestorship.

Interview at PopMatters

Nick Hook started DJing in the early days of the house music revolution. He recorded his first house track in 1990, and started promoting his first club night, Loosen Up, in 1991. Loosen Up became one of London's most influential house clubs during the early 1990's, and Nick's DJ career took off accordingly. He soon found himself playing regular guest spots at London's top clubs, including the Ministry of Sound, Club UK, and the Drum Club, as well as guesting at top clubs around the UK (such as Slam in Glasgow, Space in Belfast) and in Europe.

In 1995 Loosen Up joined forces with Whoop! and Nick became one of the resident DJs and co-promoters at the resulting club night, Whoop It Up. The club ran every Friday night for five and a half years, and became London's most significant progressive house night, with guests such as Sasha, John Digweed, Seb Fontaine, Dave Seamen, Nick Warren and Timo Maas all playing alongside the residents.

After the demise of Whoop It Up Nick relaunched his club night, Loosen Up, which continues to host venues around London. Check out the Loosen Up website - www.loosenup.me.uk - for more details.

In 2006 Nick also launched a new club night in Brighton, where he now lives, called Loose. Check out - www.loose-brighton.co.uk for more details.

Nick's DJ style is to play the best uplifting, upfront house music, spanning funky, chunky, sexy, dirty, electro and progressive house styles. As well as DJing at his residencies in London and Brighton, Nick continues to play guest spots around the UK and also DJs regularly abroad, in such countries as Russia, Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany, Ireland and Ibiza.

Nick's recording career took off when he collaborated with Morgan King on many projects in the early 90s, the most successful of which was Soundsource whose track 'Take Me Up' was signed to FFRR and became one of the biggest club tracks of 1992. Together they went on to launch Om Records, which became one of the most influential early progressive house labels.

In the intervening years Nick has produced over 80 tracks (including remixes) for various labels such as Whoop!, Distinctive, React, Multiply, Off The Hook, Limbo, Phonetic, Jeepers!, In Music, Wallop, Stress and DMC, under artist names such as First Life, Pleasure Box, Subterfuge, Casey Jones Effect, and Hook as well as, of course, Nick Hook. His many remix credits include artists such as The Grid, Gusto, Alex Neri, Adamski, Full Blown and Saint Etienne.

In recent years Nick has been more busy than ever in the recording studio. 2007 saw a flurry of new releases such as First Life (Nick Hook & Martin Sharp) - 'Survival' on Inevitable Records, The Casey Jones Effect (Nick and Robin Green) - 'Electrify Me' on Baroque, and Hook & Black (Nick and Matt Black) - 'Lucky Punk' on Segment. First Life also remixed Luis Paris vs Adamski's 'One Of The People' for Phonetic Recordings, and Janet Gabriel's 'The Power' on Inevitable.

Also in 2007 Nick launched a brand new house music label, called Jeepers!, along with fellow Brighton DJ Lee Morrison. The first release on Jeepers! was a Nick Hook solo single entitled 'The Funky Muzik', which gained DJ support from such luminaries as Laurent Garnier, Tim Andresen and the Flash Brothers, and topped the MOS electro chart and reached number 2 in the DJ Download chart.

Since then Jeepers! has gone from strength to strength with great releases from top artists, and Nick Hook's remixes have featured on releases from Anton Neumark ('Get No Sleep), Full Blown ('Madness') and Martin Sharp ('I Got The Feeling'), all gaining outstanding DJ support.

In 2008 there was new a First Life single, featuring Deeyana, entitled 'That's Life' on Jeepers!, plus a new Nick Hook solo single entitled 'Brothers & Sisters'. First Life also remixed 'Trick Me' by Plastic Frequency featuring Katy Allen for Jeepers! All tracks gained exceptional DJ support from the likes of Tall Paul, Roger Sanchez, Miss Nine, Hybrid, Slok and many more. Look out for two more First Life releases, 'The Preacher Man' and 'The Devil Knows', on Jeepers! in 2009.

Also in 2008 Nick's remix the Tim Andresen single, 'Gimmay', for Tim's What Happens label, was played on the Pete Tong Essential selection on Radio One and entered the DMC Buzz Chart and Cool Cuts chart.

Nick Hook - 'Enhanced' (featuring vocals from the late great Bill Hicks) is being re-released on Distinctive, in April 2009, with brilliant new mixes from James Harcourt, Tim Andresen and Danny Chase & Steve Willis plus a top new mix from Nick himself. It was originally released on Distinctive back in 2002 with mixes by Mike Monday and Soul Mechanik, and became one of the Ibiza anthems of that year. With these new mixes it looks like being even bigger this time around.

Nick is also remixing Funk Fanatics - 'Love Is The Answer' for the Freemasons Free Maison label.