Blu Mar Ten
Encyclopedia
Blu Mar Ten is a music production outfit based in London, and is made up of Leo Wyndham and Chris Marigold and Michael Tognarelli.
as his 'tune of the year'. This was closely followed by the Blu Mar Ten remix
of Erykah Badu's
first single "On & On" for MCA Records
, which reached the mainstream top 10 music chart. Following these releases Blu Mar Ten were offered a long-term deal by LTJ Bukem's Good Looking Records
, which was accepted. This partnership saw a long chain of releases on the label including features on the Logical Progression, Earth and Progression Sessions LPs and tracks on Good Looking's partner labels. A dedicated artist EP and Blu Mar Ten artist compilation LP were also released by Good Looking.
In early 2001 Blu Mar Ten and Good Looking Records parted company. Following this Blu Mar Ten has gone on to release records in a variety of musical styles. They have produced breaks for Rennie Pilgrem's
label TCR
and Danny Macmillan's In-flight label, 2-step garage for Lime, tech-house for Guidance Recordings
and left-field downbeat for the Big Chill
, Exceptional Records
and Naked Music
. They have also taken on remix duties for Erykah Badu
again, Terry Lee Brown Junior, Joey Negro, The Ananda Project
and Annie Lennox
.
Blu Mar Ten tracks have been played by a diverse set of DJs such as Tom 'The Jedi' Middleton
, Chris Coco
& Rob da Bank
, Felix da Housecat
, Bobby Friction
, Ben Watt
, Carl Cox
, Lee Burridge
, Erol Alkan
, Howie B and Mary Anne Hobbs
.
September 2003 saw the release of the first Blu Mar Ten album following their split with Good Looking Records, The Six Million Names of God, on Exceptional Records
. The LP represented work from 1997 through to 2003 and focused on the downbeat side of the duo than the dance floor material for which they were initially recognised. The album featured collaborations with Blame (720 Recordings / Charged), Nor Elle (Plastic City) and Fink
(Ninja Tune
).
In 2004, Wyndham and Marigold were joined by Michael Tognarelli. As a teenager in Manchester, Tognarelli had worked in Eastern Bloc and Spin Inn record shops with Marcus Intalex and Sappo.
During 2005 and 2006, Blu Mar Ten returned to producing drum and bass with a number of releases on labels including Hospital Records
, Nookie's Phuzion Records, Friction's
Shogun Audio, Basement Recordings, John B's Tangent Recordings, Renegade Hardware
, Subject 13's Vibez Recordings and Doc Scott's 31 Records.
September 2007 saw the release of the album Black Water, which featured several vocal tracks with guests Alexis Strum
, Kameel and Ernesto. Several singles were released around the launch of the album, including remixes from Tom Middleton
, Sabre, Kubiks, Cicada
and Blu Mar Ten themselves.
In 2009, Blu Mar Ten released their Natural History drum and bass project, with the Close and Believe Me EPs
early in the year, and the album Natural History following in November. A series of remixes from the album were released in 2010, featuring versions by Seba
, Klute, Bop, Stray, Badmammal & Kastle.
and "Simon and Lisa" were featured in Rockstar Games
' 2003 racing title Midnight Club II
. The track "Trauma" was featured in Rockstar Games
' 2006 title, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis
. The track "Emi's Song" was featured in Konami
's 2008 music video game
, Dance Dance Revolution Universe 2
.
History
Blu Mar Ten's first track to be released was "The Fountain" / "Lunar" in 1996 on the now defunct Way Out Records. The track appeared on numerous compilations and was named by FabioFabio (DJ)
Fitzroy Heslop better known by his stage name of Fabio, is a drum and bass DJ and producer from the UK. Fabio has been described as one of the best DJ's of all time. He runs the Creative Source record label.-Biography:...
as his 'tune of the year'. This was closely followed by the Blu Mar Ten remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
of Erykah Badu's
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
first single "On & On" for MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
, which reached the mainstream top 10 music chart. Following these releases Blu Mar Ten were offered a long-term deal by LTJ Bukem's Good Looking Records
Good Looking Records
Good Looking Records is a Jungle/drum & bass record label, formed in the early nineties by pioneering DJ/producer LTJ Bukem.Artists who have released on this label include LTJ Bukem, Tayla, Furney, Redeyes, Q Project, Peshay, Big Bud, Nookie, Makoto, Intense, Artemis, New Balance, MC D.R.S., PFM,...
, which was accepted. This partnership saw a long chain of releases on the label including features on the Logical Progression, Earth and Progression Sessions LPs and tracks on Good Looking's partner labels. A dedicated artist EP and Blu Mar Ten artist compilation LP were also released by Good Looking.
In early 2001 Blu Mar Ten and Good Looking Records parted company. Following this Blu Mar Ten has gone on to release records in a variety of musical styles. They have produced breaks for Rennie Pilgrem's
Rennie Pilgrem
Rennie Pilgrem is an electronic music producer from England who is often considered responsible for the creation of the nu skool breaks genre. Before moving into breaks Rennie produced techno and acid house and was part of the influential rave group Rhythm Section along with Ellis Dee. Rennie is...
label TCR
TCR (record label)
Thursday Club Records more commonly known as TCR is a nu skool breaks record label based in London. The label was founded in 1993 by Rennie Pilgrem to provide a solo output outside his membership of the Rhythm Section...
and Danny Macmillan's In-flight label, 2-step garage for Lime, tech-house for Guidance Recordings
Guidance Recordings
Guidance Recordings is a House record label based in Chicago, IllinoisThe record label was founded in 1996 by Ivan Pavlovich, Rob Kouchoukos, and Sid Stary....
and left-field downbeat for the Big Chill
The Big Chill (music festival)
The Big Chill is an annual festival of alternative, dance and chill-out music and comedy, held in the grounds of Eastnor Castle during early August...
, Exceptional Records
Exceptional Records
Exceptional Records is a record label founded in London in 1999. It focuses on electronica, deep house, jazz, break beats, hip hop, broken beats and techno.-Label overview:...
and Naked Music
Naked Music
Naked Music is a dance music record label, centered in San Francisco and New York City. It is known for smooth signature deep house and downtempo. It began life as a production company in New York, in 1992, when founders Dave Boonshoft and Jay Denes scored underground success with releases on...
. They have also taken on remix duties for Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
again, Terry Lee Brown Junior, Joey Negro, The Ananda Project
Chris Brann
Chris Brann is an American electronic music producer and remixer. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Brann is known for his work under the monikers Wamdue Project and Ananda Project.-Career:...
and Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
.
Blu Mar Ten tracks have been played by a diverse set of DJs such as Tom 'The Jedi' Middleton
Tom Middleton
Tom Middleton is a prolific British recording artist, music producer, remixer and DJ.A classically trained pianist and cellist, Middleton worked in the early 1990s with Richard D. James , co-producing "En-Trance To Exit" on the Analogue Bubblebath EP for Exeter's influential Mighty Force Records...
, Chris Coco
Chris Coco
Chris Coco is a club/radio DJ, producer and music critic.As a club DJ, he is perhaps best known as the resident, at the hugely popular Coco Club. This underground Saturday night house music event ran from 1989 to 1994, at The Zap Club in Brighton.He is also now also playing full time in...
& Rob da Bank
Rob da Bank
Robert John Gorham, known by the pseudonym Rob da Bank, is a British disc jockey. He presents a Friday-night/Saturday-morning show, Rob da Bank, on BBC Radio 1 from 5am-7am, focused on promoting new left field music...
, Felix da Housecat
Felix da Housecat
Felix da Housecat is an American DJ and record producer, mostly known for house music and electroclash. His name was inspired by Felix the Cat....
, Bobby Friction
Bobby Friction
Paramdeep Singh Sehdev , better known as Bobby Friction, is a DJ, television presenter and radio presenter from west London.He studied Contemporary Arts at The Nottingham Trent University....
, Ben Watt
Ben Watt
Benjamin Brian Thomas Watt is a British musician, DJ, and record producer, best known as one half of the duo, Everything but the Girl.-Family:...
, Carl Cox
Carl Cox
Carl Cox is a British techno and house music DJ.-Biography:Cox grew up in Oldham, Lancashire, before attending Glastonbury High Boys secondary modern school on Glastonbury Road in Morden. Cox began his career as a hardcore and rave DJ in the mid 1980s...
, Lee Burridge
Lee Burridge
Lee Burridge is a DJ, producer, and record label owner who helped launch the underground club scene in Hong Kong during the early 1990s, and today plays at nightclubs across the world....
, Erol Alkan
Erol Alkan
Erol Alkan is a London-based electro DJ of Turkish Cypriot descent.-DJ and club promoter:In 1993, Erol Alkan started DJing in various Indie nightclubs in London....
, Howie B and Mary Anne Hobbs
Mary Anne Hobbs
Mary Anne Hobbs is an English DJ and music journalist from Garstang, Lancashire. She launched a new Primetime show on Xfm on 9 July 2011-Early career:...
.
September 2003 saw the release of the first Blu Mar Ten album following their split with Good Looking Records, The Six Million Names of God, on Exceptional Records
Exceptional Records
Exceptional Records is a record label founded in London in 1999. It focuses on electronica, deep house, jazz, break beats, hip hop, broken beats and techno.-Label overview:...
. The LP represented work from 1997 through to 2003 and focused on the downbeat side of the duo than the dance floor material for which they were initially recognised. The album featured collaborations with Blame (720 Recordings / Charged), Nor Elle (Plastic City) and Fink
Fink (music)
Fink, AKA Fin Greenall, is an English singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and DJ from St. Ives, currently based in Brighton. Since 2006, the name Fink has also referred to the recording and touring trio fronted by Greenall himself, completed by Guy Whittaker and Tim Thornton . Fink is signed...
(Ninja Tune
Ninja Tune
Ninja Tune is a London-based independent record label started by DJs Matt Black and Jonathan More, better known as Coldcut and managed by Peter Quicke. The label has a strong leaning towards mostly Electronic Music...
).
In 2004, Wyndham and Marigold were joined by Michael Tognarelli. As a teenager in Manchester, Tognarelli had worked in Eastern Bloc and Spin Inn record shops with Marcus Intalex and Sappo.
During 2005 and 2006, Blu Mar Ten returned to producing drum and bass with a number of releases on labels including Hospital Records
Hospital Records
Hospital Records is an independent record label based in South London. Primarily releasing Drum and bass, the label was started in 1996 by Tony Colman and Chris Goss, and has grown in recent years to become one of the most well known labels within UK dance music...
, Nookie's Phuzion Records, Friction's
DJ Friction (UK)
DJ Friction is a Drum and Bass DJ from Brighton, England.-Biography:Brighton-raised Friction is one of only a handful of drum and bass DJs to utilise three decks to mash up his mixes, creating a unique sound...
Shogun Audio, Basement Recordings, John B's Tangent Recordings, Renegade Hardware
Renegade Hardware
Renegade Hardware is one of the major record labels in the drum and bass music industry.-History:Creatively born in 1995 Renegade Hardware has without question cemented itself as one of the most pioneering Drum & Bass labels in the world....
, Subject 13's Vibez Recordings and Doc Scott's 31 Records.
September 2007 saw the release of the album Black Water, which featured several vocal tracks with guests Alexis Strum
Alexis Strum
Alexis Rebecca Strum is an English actress, singer-songwriter and comedy writer.After a long career in the music industry , Alexis is currently focusing on her acting career, touring the UK as Eva Cassidy's sister, Margaret in the musical 'Over The Rainbow- The Eva Cassidy Story' , whilst forging...
, Kameel and Ernesto. Several singles were released around the launch of the album, including remixes from Tom Middleton
Tom Middleton
Tom Middleton is a prolific British recording artist, music producer, remixer and DJ.A classically trained pianist and cellist, Middleton worked in the early 1990s with Richard D. James , co-producing "En-Trance To Exit" on the Analogue Bubblebath EP for Exeter's influential Mighty Force Records...
, Sabre, Kubiks, Cicada
Cicada (band)
Cicada is the name of a United Kingdom based electronic music band. Members include producers Aaron Gilbert , Alex Payne and several guest vocalists including Tom Smith from Editors, Heidrun Bjornsdottir, Ben Onono, Max Berlin, Bjorn from Pacific! and most recently Megan Quashie, Joel Pott, Nik...
and Blu Mar Ten themselves.
In 2009, Blu Mar Ten released their Natural History drum and bass project, with the Close and Believe Me EPs
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
early in the year, and the album Natural History following in November. A series of remixes from the album were released in 2010, featuring versions by Seba
Seba
Sebastian Ahrenberg, better known as Seba is a drum and bass producer and DJ hailing originally from Ingarö, an island just outside of Stockholm, Sweden. Seba is also the owner of Secret Operations, a drum and bass record label.-Musical career:...
, Klute, Bop, Stray, Badmammal & Kastle.
Licensed tracks
Blu Mar Ten tracks have been licensed to several major commercial video games. Two tracks, "Home Videos"and "Simon and Lisa" were featured in Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A...
' 2003 racing title Midnight Club II
Midnight Club II
Midnight Club II is the first sequel to Midnight Club: Street Racing, published for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. Players race through cities inspired by Los Angeles, Paris, and Tokyo...
. The track "Trauma" was featured in Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A...
' 2006 title, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis
Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis
Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis is a table tennis simulation video game. The game was initially released on May 26, 2006 for the Xbox 360 with the Wii version being released on October 16, 2007....
. The track "Emi's Song" was featured in Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
's 2008 music video game
Music video game
A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
, Dance Dance Revolution Universe 2
Dance Dance Revolution Universe 2
Dance Dance Revolution Universe 2, or Universe 2, is a music video game for the North American Xbox 360. Released by Konami Digital Entertainment on December 4, 2007, Universe 2 is a sequel to Dance Dance Revolution Universe released earlier the same year...
.
Albums
- The Six Million Names Of God (2003 - Exceptional RecordsExceptional RecordsExceptional Records is a record label founded in London in 1999. It focuses on electronica, deep house, jazz, break beats, hip hop, broken beats and techno.-Label overview:...
) - Black WaterBlack Water (Blu Mar Ten album)Black Water is the title of the third album by London based electronic musicians Blu Mar Ten.-Track listing:# Black Water# Anytime Soon# Rouge# Brother# Dolce Vita# Why Me, Why Now# Silk Road# 2046# All Over Again# Ghost Trio# Sunday Water...
(2007 - Exceptional Records) - Natural History (2009 - Blu Mar Ten Records)
- Love is the Devil (2011 - Blu Mar Ten Records)
Compilations and EPs
- Everglades (1999 - Good Looking RecordsGood Looking RecordsGood Looking Records is a Jungle/drum & bass record label, formed in the early nineties by pioneering DJ/producer LTJ Bukem.Artists who have released on this label include LTJ Bukem, Tayla, Furney, Redeyes, Q Project, Peshay, Big Bud, Nookie, Makoto, Intense, Artemis, New Balance, MC D.R.S., PFM,...
) compilationCompilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter... - Producer 03 (2002 - Good Looking Records) A dispute caused by the release of this Blu Mar Ten artist compilation by Good Looking Records prompted the separation of both parties.
- Weapons of Mass Creation 3 (2007 - Hospital RecordsHospital RecordsHospital Records is an independent record label based in South London. Primarily releasing Drum and bass, the label was started in 1996 by Tony Colman and Chris Goss, and has grown in recent years to become one of the most well known labels within UK dance music...
) compilation - The Chillout Lounge (2007 - I Label) compilation
- Renaissance: 3D (2008 - Renaissance) mixed compilation
- The Chillout Lounge More... Downtempo Grooves For Late Night Lounging (2008 - I Label) compilation