Josh G. Abrahams
Encyclopedia
Josh G. "Puretone" Abrahams (born 1968, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Victoria, Australia) is an Australian musician who emerged from the underground dance-music scene in the early 1990s. He has performed and recorded under the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

 of Puretone, and is also known as The Pagan and Bassliners.

Abrahams is a composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

, bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

ist and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

/techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

 artist and has worked as a writer, music director and producer on albums and film soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

s, and in television and theatre. His single, "Addicted to Bass
Addicted to Bass
"Addicted to Bass" is a pop single with drum and bass influences by Puretone aka Josh Abrahams featuring Amiel Daemion on vocals. It reached the top 20 of the Australian charts in 1998 and #2 in the UK in 2002.-Australian video:...

", with singer Amiel Daemion
Amiel Daemion
Amiel Muki Daemion born on in New York, is an Australian pop singer, songwriter and actress. She moved to Australia with her family at the age of two and starred in films in the 1990s, including The Silver Brumby which also starred Russell Crowe and Caroline Goodall. Her music career shot to fame...

, peaked at #15 on the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...

 (ARIA) singles chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

 in February 1999.

Biography

Abrahams was born in 1968 in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 and started as a bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

ist and singer in covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 band, Havana Moon in 1990. Abrahams formed the techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

 group, Future Sound Of Melbourne (FSOM) with drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...

 producer Davide Carbone
Davide Carbone
Davide Carbone is an ARIA Award-winning Australian music producer, composer, sound designer who began his career as a DJ in the underground dance-music scene of the late 1980s....

 and acid house DJ Steve Robbins. They released 12" singles on the Shock Records
Shock Records
Shock Records is Australia's largest independent record label. It helps distribute records from overseas records labels such as Epitaph Records, and also for small record labels designed specifically for that band such as Cement Records...

 imprint, Candyline Records. Future Sound Of Melbourne also released tracks on Belgium's underground dance-music label, Two Thumbs Records, with the Thomas Heckmann remix of their track "Welcome" featured on the inaugural IF? Records
IF? Records
IF? Records, established in Melbourne, Australia in 1995 and based in Tokyo, Japan after relocating there in 2001, was a live gig and rave party organiser in Melbourne in the 1990s and one of Melbourne's first independent local electronic music labels....

 compilation Zeitgeist which was released internationally through Nova Zembla. The Heckmann remix was re-released in 2008 through Sydney-based netlabel, Hypnotic Room. Future Sound Of Melbourne won the ARIA Award
ARIA Music Awards
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association...

 for "Best Dance Release" for their Chapter One album in 1996
ARIA Music Awards of 1996
The 10th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 30 September 1996 at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre...

. During this period Abrahams also released several dance singles under various artist names including The Pagan and Bassliners.

In 1995, Abrahams left Future Sound Of Melbourne to become a solo artist, and signed to 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...

's label, Worldwide Ultimatum, releasing his techno album The Satyricon to critical acclaim. The album did not chart into the ARIA top 50, although a track from the album, titled "The Joker", appeared on the soundtrack for the film Hackers
Hackers (film)
Hackers is a 1995 American thriller film directed by Iain Softley and starring Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller, Renoly Santiago, Matthew Lillard, Lorraine Bracco and Fisher Stevens...

.

After briefly creating a pop band called The Edison Project and releasing a single, "Don't Be Afraid", Abrahams returned to solo work and signed to Festival Records
Festival Records (Australia)
Festival Records was an Australian music recording and publishing company which was founded in Sydney in 1952 and operated until 2005....

 in Australia in 1997. Film director Baz Lurhmann became interested in Abrahams' work, and asked him to co-produce some tracks for Lurhmann's album Something for Everybody
Something for Everybody (Baz Luhrmann album)
Something for Everybody, is an album released by Baz Luhrmann in 1998. It contains new ambient versions of music from his films and plays....

, one of which became the 1998 UK #1 single, "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)". Abrahams' chart success continued in the 1999 with the Australian platinum selling single "Addicted to Bass
Addicted to Bass
"Addicted to Bass" is a pop single with drum and bass influences by Puretone aka Josh Abrahams featuring Amiel Daemion on vocals. It reached the top 20 of the Australian charts in 1998 and #2 in the UK in 2002.-Australian video:...

" where he teamed with singer Amiel Daemion
Amiel Daemion
Amiel Muki Daemion born on in New York, is an Australian pop singer, songwriter and actress. She moved to Australia with her family at the age of two and starred in films in the 1990s, including The Silver Brumby which also starred Russell Crowe and Caroline Goodall. Her music career shot to fame...

, which peaked at #15 on the ARIA singles chart. The associated album Sweet Distorted Holiday, which peaked in the top 50 on the ARIA albums chart, was released in 1999. The second single, "Headroom", another collaboration with Daemion, peaked outside the ARIA Top 100, while "Thrillseeker", the third single was released as a promotional single in Australia. Abrahams also had top 50 chart success in New Zealand with "Addicted To Bass
Addicted to Bass
"Addicted to Bass" is a pop single with drum and bass influences by Puretone aka Josh Abrahams featuring Amiel Daemion on vocals. It reached the top 20 of the Australian charts in 1998 and #2 in the UK in 2002.-Australian video:...

", "Thrillseeker" and Sweet Distorted Holiday. Abrahams set the record for number of ARIA nominations for an artist on an independent label that year, getting six nods, for record of the year, best male artist, best independent release, best dance artist album, best video, and best engineer. He ended up winning two ARIAs, for Best Dance Album and Best Independent Release. In 2001, Abrahams added to his producer credits by producing the platinum selling single "Lovesong
Lovesong (Amiel song)
"Lovesong" is a pop song written by Amiel Daemion and produced by Josh Abrahams for Amiel's first album Audio Out . It was released as the album's first single in Australia as a CD single on 10 March 2003...

" and the gold selling album Audio Out
Audio Out
Audio Out is the first album by the Australian singer Amiel, released in Australia by Festival Records on 18 August 2003 . Produced by Josh Abrahams, the album is filled with a variety of strange pop songs which helped the album to receive favorable reviews...

for Daemion.

Puretone

Puretone was used as an alias by Abrahams to avoid confusion with similarly named US record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

, Josh Abraham
Josh Abraham
Josh Abraham is a Grammy-winning record producer and co-owner of Pulse Management and Check Your Pulse Publishing. He has produced songs and albums for many of the industry's most successful artists such as Velvet Revolver, 30 Seconds to Mars, Linkin Park, Kelly Clarkson and Courtney Love...

. As Puretone, Abrahams released "Addicted To Bass
Addicted to Bass
"Addicted to Bass" is a pop single with drum and bass influences by Puretone aka Josh Abrahams featuring Amiel Daemion on vocals. It reached the top 20 of the Australian charts in 1998 and #2 in the UK in 2002.-Australian video:...

" internationally, which resulted in the single peaking at #2 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 in 2002. Abrahams assisted Amiel Daemion
Amiel Daemion
Amiel Muki Daemion born on in New York, is an Australian pop singer, songwriter and actress. She moved to Australia with her family at the age of two and starred in films in the 1990s, including The Silver Brumby which also starred Russell Crowe and Caroline Goodall. Her music career shot to fame...

 in her solo career in Australia, in which she gained quite some success. He then released another single in the UK, called "Stuck In a Groove", once again featuring Daemion on vocals, which peaked at #26.

Film, television and theatre

Abrahams continued his creative collaboration with Baz Lurhmann in 2001 when he co-produced the Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 romantic jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. Following the Red Curtain Cinema principles, the film is based on the Orphean myth, La Traviata, and La Bohème...

film soundtrack. In 2002, Abrahams composed and produced original music for a feature film by Paul Currie
Paul Currie
.Paul Currie is the Co-Founder and Director of Lightstream Pictures and is currently attached to direct the animated family film, "The Fourth Wise Man" as well as the live action fantasy film "The Moon & The Sun", the screenplay of which is written by James Schamus and Barry Berman, and will be...

 called One Perfect Day
One Perfect Day
One Perfect Day is an Australian film released in 2004.-Plot:The central character of the film is Tommy Matisse; his name combines the title of The Who's 1969 rock opera Tommy and the last name of twentieth century French painter Henri Matisse....

, set in the Melbourne dance music scene. Also in this year, Abrahams remixed songs for John Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...

 and Icehouse
Icehouse (band)
Icehouse is an Australian rock band, formed as Flowers in 1977 in Sydney. Initially known in Australia for their pub rock style, they later achieved mainstream success playing new wave and synthpop style music and attained Top Ten singles chart success in both Europe and the U.S...

. In 2003, Abrahams wrote and produced the original music score for the movie One Last Ride, produced by Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee
Ang Lee
Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...

. He began composing music for television commercials, such as the 'Go For It Girl’ campaign for Portmans clothing, a song entitled "Melt with You" for Baileys Irish Cream
Baileys Irish Cream
Baileys Irish Cream is an Irish whiskey and cream based liqueur, made by Gilbeys of Ireland. The trademark is currently owned by Diageo. It has a declared alcohol content of 17% alcohol by volume...

 and the LG
LG
LG may refer to:*LG Corp., a South Korean electronics and petrochemicals conglomerate*LG Electronics, an affiliate of the South Korean LG Group which produces electronic products* Lawrence Graham, a London headquartered firm of business lawyers...

 technology campaign. In 2005, TV jingles were Abrahams' main focus, along with writing more of his own original music. In 2007 he composed, arranged and recorded large-scale orchestral jingles for a series of three TV commercials for Ask Dot Com, in 2009 he arranged and recorded a version of "My Favourite Things" for a series of Dove TV commercials, and in 2010 he composed arranged and recorded the theme song for the global Tourism Australia advertising campaign.

Abrahams also has a career in theatre. He was the music director and pianist in The Soubrettes Cabaret Tingel Tangel at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2004. He spent July and August 2006 running the night-club in the first Spiegeltent (a traveling European music and theatre venue) to tour in the USA, then returned to this venue as music director for the theatrobatic show "Desir", premiering in the New York Spiegeltent in August 2008.

Recent activity

In 2008, Abrahams teamed up with Kaz James
Kaz James
Christopher James Karyotakis, known professionally as Kaz James , is an Australian singer and DJ. He is a former member of the group BodyRockers. He was raised in Melbourne and is of Italian and Greek origin. He released his first solo album, If They Knew, in 2008.-Early life:James was raised in...

, co-writing and producing seven songs for his debut solo album If They Knew
If They Knew (Kaz James album)
If They Knew is the debut album by Australian singer and DJ Kaz James. It was released in Australia and New Zealand in October 2008.James spent over a year working on the material for If They Knew. He stated in an interview that he recorded and mixed the tracks in the UK, Australia and Los Angeles...

.

In 2009 Abrahams reunited with his old techno buddy Davide Carbone. Together they formed the music production house s:amplify
Samplify
s:amplify is a multiple award winning music production house formed by Davide Carbone and Josh Abrahams who have collectively been producing and composing music since the late 1980s. Together they have won three ARIA Awards and produced several worldwide chart topping hits...

. Under this new moniker Abrahams and Carbone teamed with 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...

 to co-write and co-produce Cox's forthcoming artist album All Roads Lead to the Dancefloor, due for release in 2011. This trio also provided remixes for Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...

, Miguel Bosé
Miguel Bosé
Miguel Dominguín Bosé is a Latin Grammy-winning Spanish/Italian musician and actor.-Early life:Bosé was born in San Fernando Hospital in Panama City, Panama, the son of the famous Italian actress Lucia Bosé and the legendary bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín. He is also a cousin of Carmen...

 and Gilles Peterson
Gilles Peterson
Gilles Peterson , is a DJ, record collector and record label owner from London, UK. Through his labels Acid Jazz, Talkin' Loud, and latterly Brownswood Recordings, he has been associated with the careers of well-known artists of the 1990s such as Erykah Badu, Roni Size and Jamiroquai...

, among others. Recently, as part of s:amplify, Abrahams and Carbone provided complete sonic branding packages for Melbourne TV network Channel 31 (Australia), and the Melbourne public transport company Metro Trains Melbourne
Metro Trains Melbourne
Metro Trains Melbourne is the current franchise operator of the suburban railway network of Melbourne, Australia. Metro Trains Melbourne is a joint venture led by Hong Kong based MTR Corporation together with John Holland Group and United Group Rail .Metro Trains Melbourne operates a fleet of 381...

, as well as composing music for Tourism Australia
Tourism Australia
Tourism Australia is a statutory authority of the Government of Australia, with responsibility for tourism marketing within Australia and internationally, as well as research and forecasting of domestic and global tourism trends...

, Alienware
Alienware
Alienware is an American computer hardware subsidary of Dell, Inc. It mainly assembles third party components into desktops and laptops with custom enclosures for high-performance gaming. These products also support graphically intense applications such as video editing, simulation, and audio editing...

, and the International Cricket Council
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...

. s:amplify have also produced several tracks for various artists including the recent cover version of Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights (song)
"Wuthering Heights" is a song by Kate Bush released as her debut single in January 1978. It became a No.1 hit in the UK singles chart and remains her biggest-selling single. The song appears on her 1978 debut album, The Kick Inside. The B-side of the single was another song by Bush named "Kite" -...

 by Robyn Loau
Robyn Loau
Robyn Loau is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. During 1991–1994 she was lead singer of pop group, Girlfriend.- Girlfriend :...

.

In 2011, s:amplify were featured on the front cover of the April issue of Music Tech magazine and released two sound design packs through Loopmasters
Loopmasters
Loopmasters isa sound design label based in Brighton, UK. Loopmasters release and publish sample packs on the pro-audio market and cooperate with major software and hardware vendors including Ableton Live and Focusrite. Since 2008 Loopmasters also functions as an online store for music composers,...

 which have received several positive reviews. Currently, s:amplify is providing the sound design for the forthcoming Japanese synthesizer KDJ One and have recently been appointed musical directors for the 2012 City of Sydney
City of Sydney
The City of Sydney is the Local Government Area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia...

 New Year's Eve fireworks show.

Discography

  • The Satyricon – 1996
  • Sweet Distorted Holiday as Josh Abrahams – 1999
  • Stuck In A Groove – 2001
  • Addicted to Bass
    Addicted to Bass
    "Addicted to Bass" is a pop single with drum and bass influences by Puretone aka Josh Abrahams featuring Amiel Daemion on vocals. It reached the top 20 of the Australian charts in 1998 and #2 in the UK in 2002.-Australian video:...

    – 2001

See also


External links

  • Puretone discography at discogs
    Discogs
    Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK