----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Phonopsia" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 10:40 PM Subject: Re: (313) Charts/Recommendations?
> Do you know anything about this Brooks character(s?)? Sorry for the public reply to private email Dan, but I know this will interest some others here - as big things seem to be happening with Mantis. Unfortunately, I missed the Atjazz and Brooks takeover at The End last Saturday, so I haven't seen them spin yet (although I hear Brooks is damn good), but their productions, along with Phil Parnell are excellent. If anyone is still sleeping on the Brooks album 'You, Me & Us' (which I found thanks to Tom's top 20 of last year), please do yourself a favor and check it out. It is one of the best house albums I've heard in terms of track-to-track consistency (dunno if you'll find it at HMV), with a couple of absolute gems, including some vocals from Dani Sicilano. I never seem to tire of evangelizing about this man. I just found this news at: http://www.mantis-recordings.com. Big ups Derby! ;) Mantis Recordings News August 2003 Hello all. First we would like to apologise for how long it has been since the last update. Our poor site has been somewhat neglected and we know from the many e-mails that we've received that you're hungry for information on what's coming up from us here at Mantis. We have been crazy busy the past year sorting out our roster and moving into some new areas of the music biz. A few months ago Andy Mantis began representing / managing a few artists outside the immediate Mantis family. We are very honoured to be working with the supremely talented Dani Siciliano, the soon to be lusted after Lost Bright Head and composer / arranger extraordinaire Peter Wraight. As well as these super people we represent and release the music of Atjazz, Brooks, Phil Parnell, Magic Number and Clyde. As you can imagine we are very pleased and excited, if not a little rushed off our feet Well there's a lot more to fill you in on so here we go. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Atjazz It has been some time since Atjazz has released a record; this absence is not due to laziness however. Martin has been ridiculously busy in the studio for the past year. For starters he has just completed production duties on the debut Magic Number album 'That Day' and it's now ready to be mastered by the wonderful Mandy Parnell at The Exchange. Although we have overseen the project here at Mantis, we felt that with the large forthcoming release schedule, we should license the album to another label to give it the attention it deserves. 'That Day' has found a good home with Germany's fantastic Stereo Deluxe label. Look out for the next single "Fly Away" very soon. Martin has also written the music for the next Tomb Raider game, which was performed and recorded with The London Symphony Orchestra at the world famous Abbey Road studios. Martin's Labfunk partner and new Mantis Management man Pete Wraight played a key role with the arrangement, scoring and conducting of the piece. If a computer generated tough girl in tight clothes with an orchestral accompaniment is your thing, the game's out now. You may think that would be enough work for the average producer, but Martin is no average producer. He's been giving the Atjazz twist to a whole host of songs, for a multitude of labels. Remixes to look out for include Nitin Sawhney's 'Falling' (V2), Slope's 'Trust The Universe' (Sonar Kollektiv) and Office Gossip's 'Blue on Black' (Winding Road). It's clear from the past years output, that Martin is a very talented producer who is able to adapt and work with various styles of music. He has mastered the forthcoming album of Derby based band Twinkie, who are a firm favourite of the legendary John Peel. Later in August Martin and Lost Bright Head will lock themselves in the studio to start work on the debut three track ep from this truly original and mind blowing new band. There'll be a profile of Lost Bright Head coming soon on the site. Martin is taking a well-earned holiday for the next few weeks, but even while lazing by the pool, he'll be firing up the laptop to start work on the next Atjazz album. So, as well as that horde of other projects he's finding time for brand new material. There'll be a fresh 12" coming along very soon. We'll keep you updated as all the projects unfold from the tireless music machine that is Atjazz. Brooks As we write this news, strange and twisted sounds are pouring from the Mantis studio. Brooks has started work on the follow up to his incredible debut long player 'You, Me & Us', which was hailed as one of 2002's great electronic albums. From the messages you've sent, we know we're not alone in our excitement and anticipation of what the results will be. To keep you going until then there's the 12" release of one of the favourite songs from the first album, 'Wandering'. Co-written with Dani Siciliano and with remixes from Brooks himself and San Francisco's irrepressible The Soft Pink Truth. For a taster of things to come, there's also a brand new Brooks track ' Burning Buxx', which is already getting some turntable abuse from the likes of Tiga and Blackstrobe's Ivan Smagghe. Brooks has been busy testing some of his new ideas on other's people's music, with an ever-increasing list of remixes. Recent re-workings include Clyde feat. Capitol A 'Serve It Up' (Mantis), Willis 'Paper & Stone' (679 Recordings), Russ Gabriel's 'Patience' (Out Of The Loop) and The Soft Pink Truth's 'Soft Pink Missy' (Accidental) to name but a few. Some of you around the world may have been lucky enough in the past year to have witnessed one of Brooks' DJ sets or live shows. A true party starter, there's nothing Brooks likes more than a throbbing dancefloor. We'll update you on forthcoming gigs soon. Anyone wishing to book Brooks can get in touch with Andy Mantis on [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phil Parnell Our site has been so unloved, that there's not even been a section on the site for Phil before. This doesn't in any way mean we don't love Phil though. He's an amazingly talented jazz pianist, who's not afraid to experiment with modern electronic techniques and we're honoured to have released his album 'Do Your Living In The Night'. As well as getting Phil's album, you could do worse than check out his current 12" for us, 'Runaway'. There's not only the wonderful original and an incredible mix from another awesome jazz pianist, Bugge Wesseltoft, but also a dancefloor re-jig from Mantis' own Atjazz and Andy Mac. Coming soon will be the 12" of the album's title track, with mixes from Brooks, Charles Webster and Herbert. While we're on the subject of Herbert, it's worth noting that Phil's an integral part of the whole Herbert live experience, including the extraordinary 'Big Band' which also includes those other Mantis special friends Dani Siciliano and Pete Wraight. Phil's own live show is also something special and we'll keep you updated on all the forthcoming dates. There's going to be a lovely section of the site totally dedicated to Phil arriving in the next few days, so you'll be able to find out a bit more about Phil and his music. We know you're excited. Clyde Clyde is Clive Astin, one of Derby's hidden musical talents. He remixed Atjazz for the first ever Mantis release 'Story' back in 1996, and then went into a low turnover mode for a few years, though the work he did was quite special. He remixed Mikeal Fitzpatrick's 'Wish' on Yellow Productions and then back on Mantis, he did a fabulous interpretation of the classic 'Raise the Dead' from Kimbu Kimra. More recently he's reworked Charles Webster's song 'Ready' from the album 'Born on the 24th of July' and also for Charles' new label Miso, on 'Sumatra' by High Skies (Miso003). Here at Mantis Recordings, we've spent years trying to convince him to give us more of his distinct style of music and have finally persuaded him to write an album. The first single from the album 'Serve It Up' is out now. The track features the magnificent Capitol A., the San Francisco based rapper who is probably best known for his work on King Britt's Sylk130 project and for his guest appearance on the Jazzanova album last year. Mixes come courtesy of Brooks and Wah-Chu-Ku. Expect some unusual Hip-Hop flava's as the album 'Hyper Reality' takes shape. Anyway, hope you enjoy browsing through our new look site. This is just the starting point, as we'll be adding more sections over the coming weeks. There have apparently been a few problems for some of you logging onto our online shop, this should be sorted in the next few days, so soon you'll be able to fill those gaps in your Mantis collection, or pick up a pre-release promo. We're going to expand our shop selection soon to include some of the records that have been remixed by Mantis artists and those of artist's who' ve worked with us. Tristan ======= http://www.phonopsia.co.uk [EMAIL PROTECTED]
