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Leftfield




  Band Name Leftfield
  Years Active 1990 &ndash 2002
  Origin London , UK
  Music Genre Electronica <br> Dub <br> Breakbeat <br> Reggae <br> Techno <br> Intelligent Dance Music
  Record Label Hard Hands
  Current Members Paul Daley <br> Neil Barnes


Leftfield was a duo of Electronica artists and Record Producer s, Paul Daley (formerly of A Man Called Adam and the Brand New Heavies ) and Neil Barnes , formed in 1989 in London , England . The pair were pioneers in the fields of Intelligent Dance Music , being the first to fuse House Music with Dub and Reggae . They furthermore were among the first electronic musicians to incorporate live guest vocalists, along with The Chemical Brothers and Underworld .

Their Downtempo music style has inspired a genre which has been recognised as simply ''leftfield'', with several charts appearing in magazines such as DJ Magazine and Mixmag . The genre is also known as "Chillout".


RELEASES

Leftfield is well-known to a mainstream UK audience for their track "Phat Planet", which soundtracked the "Surfers" TV advertisement for Guinness , ranked number one in Channel 4 's Top 100 Adverts list in 2000. In addition their song "Release the Pressure" was used on adverts for the O2 mobile phone network at its launch. They have also released a series of singles and two acclaimed albums before breaking up in 2002 to focus on solo projects.


''Leftism''

Their first major hit was "Open Up", a collaboration with John Lydon ; soon followed by their debut album, '' Leftism '' in 1995, blending Dub , Breakbeat , and Techno especially called "UK-dub".


''Rhythm and Stealth''

Their second and final album, '' Rhythm And Stealth '' (1999) maintained a similar style but with a harder, bleaker techno edge, and featured such artists as Roots Manuva , Afrika Bambaataa , and MC Cheshire Cat from Birmingham . The album was shortlisted for the 2000 Mercury Music Prize .


LIVE PERFORMANCES

At the very first Leftfield gig, in Amsterdam , the Dutch police were close to arresting the soundman due to the sound system reaching illegal volumes. At the next concert, in Belgium , thirty people were given refunds after complaining that the sound level was too high, leading to a newspaper headline reading "Leftfield Too Loud". In June 1996, while the group was playing at Brixton Academy , the sound system caused dust and plaster to fall from the roof; subsequently, the group was banned from ever returning to the venue.


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