graefestr sessions: lee jones

Lee Jones is a seasoned stalwart in the dance music business. Starting in Essex, England from parents who 'were never that into music', Lee managed to be playing the piano at a young age and soon after took up guitar and bass. Growing up he gravitated towards easy-listening and 80's pop, preferring the softer side of things to the heavy rock of the time. So he got big into melodic bands like the Smiths, the Cure and Depeche Mode and expanded into the melodic beats of hip hop while studying theater and film at university. His love of hip hop bled into trip hop in '94 when he heard Mo Wax and the first Portishead album Dummy.

Being taken, as most of us were by the burgeoning downtempo movement, Lee got involved musically and in the late 90's started producing and performing as Hefner (named after Hugh Hefner, who Lee thought was the 'coolest guy on the planet' at the time). As Hefner he released 3 EP's, one LP entitled Residue and a heap of remixes for heavyweights like 4Hero, Zero 7, Cinematic Orchestra, and Lamb. To say the sound of Hefner was warmly received is a gross understatement, as Residue became a quintessential piece of the downtempo movement.

So lets take a moment and hear some Hefner.

Controversy, a Prince cover, is one of Lee's personal favorites. It features Josée on vocals and was released on a compilation called If I Was Prince on Rex Records (a sub label of XL) and more recently on K7's Tribute to Prince Compilation (2008).

Free music - Controversy

Zero 7 - Destiny (Hefner's Destiny Chill)

Lee wrote a follow up LP to Residue with Josée on vocals and writing the lyrics, but the label didn't like it so much. So it was released under Josée, and titled Lost Souls Dancing. It featured Shuggies Shoes, Lee's firm salute to the legendary Shuggie Otis.

As Hefner, he toured extensively with a band and became a resident at the London club Plastic People. There he dj'ed along side J Swinscoe (from the awesome Cinematic Orchestra)playing soul, funk, broken-beat, trip-hop and downtempo. But it was around this time at Plastic People that downtempo began boring Lee, so in 2002 he moved to Berlin to develop his dj skills and be exposed to the minimal house and techno club music. As he says, he 'heard Dixon playing and the rest is history'.

But roughly, the history goes that inspite of Hefner's success Lee still had to work his way up as a dj in Berlin. It wasn't until 2007-08 that he got to play at peak time. Helping this rise was his work with/as MyMy, a collaboration started in 2005 between Nick Höppner (now Panorama Bar resident and Ostgut Ton label-head) and for some time Carsten Klemann. The three-then-two released a bunch of EP's, a ton of remixes and in 2006 a massive but modest full length entitled 'Songs for the Gentle'. The album was universally praised as a refined take on post minimalism with expert use of micro-sampling. (Seriously, go buy Songs for the Gentle)

MyMy had a monthly party at Watergate and toured a total of 26 countries. But in 2010, after 5 years together, MyMy split and their monthly party ended. However, during his time with MyMy, Lee worked as a solo artist producing and remixing a bunch of tracks, a solo album and even mixing a 2008 RA podcast (fs).

Here are a few Lee Jones tracks to play while your read the brief Q&A below:

Lee Jones - YOYO (2009) (buy!!!)

YOYO by leejones

Lee Jones - It Is Isn't It (from Electronic Franck LP 2009 - buy)

Lee Jones - Aria (2008) (FS)

Brief Q & A

1. Who are you going to be remixing in the near future?
Just finished the Ritornell [Fancy Friendship] remix [due out in March]. Also just done one for Compuphonic from Brussels, on Union Match. Just started one for Philip Bader on Bar 25.

2. About how much of your time is devoted to remixing versus your original compositions? (is it 50/50 or what?)
I spend 99% of my time writing and developing my own ideas... when i work on remixes it's more like doing a job. I do it in a few hours usually. I don't spend a lot of time on my own tracks either, but I'm starting stuff all the time.

3. Which do you like more, remixing or producing your own stuff?
I like both. When I get nice parts to work with, a remix takes away that problem of starting with an empty page. You can get straight in to building a track, instead of having to create or find the sounds first.

4. Will you be playing live on the Watergate tour or djing??
Mostly djing. playing live in Zürich at the Hive.

5. When you play live what do you use?
Laptop, korg nano controller, sometimes my Machinedrum, sometimes a midi keyboard.

6. What are your thoughts on filesharing/torrents?
Share the love I say. It's only 1's and 0's. But make people pay through the nose to see gigs and own nicely packaged recordings.

7. Any tips on which new artists to watch out for next year??
Emika, Brandt Brauer Frick, Andri, Wareika, Suso Flores.

Anyway, as you might have noticed, Lee has just mixed the new Watergate compilation and has included on it a bunch of exclusive edits and collaborations as well as a new one from him. The compilation was released today (or sometime this week?) along side the Peacock EP, which features 6 full tracks from the mix. Lee was so kind as to allow Graefestr make two EP tracks downloadable. So what follows now are Lee's tour dates, his new track, two free tracks from the Peacock EP (hit the arrow to download), and then a track-by-track breakdown of the mix as printed in the cd booklet. I have also included some bonus downloadables at the bottom.

Buy the compilation here and the EP here and check his myspace and soundcloud for more release and tour info. (Specifically look out for the 2nd Peacock EP featuring Lee's supersick Brandt Brauer Frick remix because its one of the best dance tracks of the year - the mix doesn't do it justice!) And if your in Berlin come out to Watergate tomorrow and celebrate the release of the mix and also Lee's birthday! Shonky, The Cheapers, Daniel Drier and Paul Frick from Brandt Brauer Frick will also be dj'ing. But I think Lee will be dj'ing from 4-6 upstairs.

Oct 16 - Watergate, Berlin, GERMANY

Oct 23 - Hive, Zurich, SWITZERLAND

Oct 28 - The Wood, Bruxelles, BELGIUM

Nov 20 - Watergate, Berlin, GERMANY

Nov 27 - Rakete, Nürnberg, GERMANY

Dec 31 - Watergate, Berlin, GERMANY

Lee Jones - Kruezberg 61 (from the Peacock EP)

Kreuzberg61 - LeeJones 192 kBit/s by WatergateRecords

Track-By-Track :: In Lee's own words

01 Lee Jones - In The Water (Intro) :: Sets the scene with clips from a documentary about the Watergate break in. Also with vocals from Frazey Ford who I worked with for the Hefner project... 'Wade in the water / We're gonna trouble the world...'

02 Flowers & Sea Creatures - International (Lee Jones Watergate remix) :: The promo to this song from a Montreal band caught my ears a week before the deadline for the cd. Fortunately i noticed it was produced by old friend Ewan Pearson. A quick phone call and he sent me the parts so i could make an exclusive remix.

03 Andri - White Sunday :: I'm proud to call the Cityfox label one of my home bases, and their club in Zürich, Alte Börse, is one of the few clubs in the world that rivals Watergate for sound quality. Due for release in the near future, this track fits perfectly into my dj sets at the moment.

04 MyMy - Closer (exclusive) :: After 5 years together, having toured in 26 countries, myself and Nick Höppner recently decided to go our separate ways. This is the last track we worked on together, which i finished off for this mix. R.I.P. MyMy

05 Matthias Meyer & Lee Jones - Basic Chord Tool (exclusive) :: One of my favorite producers, I asked Matthias if he had any new tracks i could use. Instead he sent me a new track he'd started a few weeks ago and to my delight entrusted me to finish it off.

06 Ray Okpara - Short Stick Can :: I met ray this summer at the June Festival in Sardinia, where we played back to back. We hung out afterwards on the beach, watching the sunrise. I asked him to send me some new tracks, one of which fit the mix nicely.

07 The Cheapers - Being Eaten (Watergate edit) :: Ruede Hagelstein was kind enough to make this special version of their track in a different musical key from the original so it was tuned perfectly to the tracks before and after.

08 Daniel Dreier & Lee Jones - Lullaby (exclusive) :: Fellow Watergate resident Daniel and I made this track nearly 2 years ago as a follow up to our upon you release 'A man and a woman'. I dusted it off and updated it for this cd.

09 Brandt Brauer Frick – Melancholie II (Lee Jones Watergate remix) (exclusive) :: I picked out this unreleased track Paul Frick had sent me, but i was having problems fitting it into the mix because of it's slow speed and strange jazz harmonies... so I asked to have the parts so i could take out the conflicting elements. I ended up making a completely new remix.

10 Patrice Bäumel & Lee Jones - Voice Scatter (exclusive) :: I met Patrice
when I played at Trouw in Amsterdam earlier this year, and we got talking about his track Roar, a dj Tool which i really liked. He said he had a lot of these kind of tracks and offered to send them to me. I dropped this one into Ableton and by pure luck a beat was playing on my machinedrum which fit perfectly, so I turned his tool into a track.

11 Alex James vs Los Updates - The Blind Busker (exclusive) :: This arrived in the Watergate office somehow and was forwarded to me. It fit perfectly into this jazzy section of the mix. I'm a lover and collector of jazz since I was young, and the piano is my first instrument, so this track is music to my ears.

12 Lee Jones - YOYO (Watergate Version) (Cityfox exclusive) :: This gave me the chance to release an updated version of my well received cityfox single with a few subtle changes from the original i always wanted to make. No one ever noticed, but there is a glitch every 16 bars on the original, which i have now removed.

13 Mark Henning - Gibson Said (exclusive) :: A fellow ex-pat and label mate on Cityfox, Mark also made a superb remix for my track 'Closed Circus', which I played out a lot, always to amazing reactions.

14 Acid Pauli - December (exclusive) :: I asked Acid if he could supply something to the mix because his Euphonium track had been a pivotal part of my 2008 resident Advisor podcast, really setting the cinematic tone.

15 Gregorythm and Greenbank - Lion Dreams :: Gregory and I are both huge fans of each others music.. So I had to include something from him, here with our Cityfox label boss Billy. This is due for release later in the year.

16 Lee Jones - KreuzBerg (exclusive) :: I moved from London to Berlin in November 2002, when Watergate first opened it's doors. Both the club and myself have gone through many changes since then. This track was written especially as an homage to Kreuzberg and Watergate, my homes for the last 8 years.

Lastly, Lee's timeless track YOYO appears in Damien Lazarus' Fabric 54 mix and is featured in the promo clip. Nice!

fabric 54: Damian Lazarus from Fabric London on Vimeo.

Fabric 54: Damian Lazarus - out :: UK/EU Oct 11th, USA Nov 9th
Tracklist:
1. Ryan Crosson - Metro Bunker - Eklo
2. Four Tet - Love Cry - Domino
3. Appleblim & Ramadanman - Void 23 - Aus / Simple
4. Kenny Larkin - Glob (Claude VonStroke Mix) - Planet E
5. Swayzak - Ping Pong - Swayzak / 240 Volts
6. Canson - Sleeping (Demo Version) - Cityfox
7. The Martinez Brothers - Broke In The BX - Objektivity
8. Roska - The Sheppard - Roska Kicks & Snares
9. Soul Clap - Break 4 Life - Crosstown Rebels
10. The Mole - Nervous Disid - New Kanada
11. Cajmere - Freaks & Stars - Cajual
12. Art Department feat. Seth Troxler - Vampire Nightclub - Crosstown Rebels
13. Deetron - Sing - Circus Company
14. Guti & Dubshape - Every Cow Has A Bird - Crosstown Rebels
15. Soul Keita & Nicolas Jaar - Para(sol) - Greta Cottage Workshop
16. Damian Lazarus - Diamond In The Dark (dOP Remix) - Get Physical
17. Lee Jones - Yoyo - Cityfox
18. Agaric - Run (Ostern Jam) - We Are
19. Su Kramer - Magic Dance - Teldec Schallplatten
20. Bill Holt - Program Ten (Part Five) - Stone Theater
21. Bill Holt - Program Ten (Part Six) - Stone Theater

EXTRAS:
Download Hefner - Residue (2000) :: part 1 and part 2

Lee Jones - Live at Bar 25 closing weekend.

Lee Jones Live @ Bar 25 Closing Party, Berlin - 13-09-2010 by R_co

Soul Clap - Action Satisfaction EP (incl. Lee Jones Remix) (FS) (Great Remix and Original!!)