About Me
Society Recordings Like the Past, Love the Future Presents...Hot Coins (Danny Berman - aka Nottingham's pirate soul maestro Red Rack 'Em) The Laissez Faire EP The long-awaited follow-up to the classic Product of Society edit Eps is finally out and landed Single of the Week on Picadilly.com... that's 3 in a row for Society Recs...Limited vinyl run of 500 copies! SOLD OUT in many outlets. Get in touch if you need this.Also 'Norway Man' has been licensed for inclusion on a new Cosmic/Nu Disco comp by Lemon Jelly's Fred Deakin on MOS scheduled for a June release! REACH! ____________________________________________________________ ___________________________ Society Recordings, 2008... Currently mastering new material with Sheff legend Rob Gordon - tracks from Bozzwell, Solid State and mixes from Toby Tobias, Chris Duckenfield, Black Dog, Small Arms Fiya and others already in the can! Check our previous releases and get in touch if you want to get hold of them: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Product+Of+Society------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------Solid State Biog------------- Solid got his start in making real music in 1985, aged 17. He was recruited to play guitar and programme synths and drum machines in Sheffield bands One Stop the World and Jass, playing alongside assorted Sheffield luminaries such as Pulp's Nick Banks, All Seeing I's Dean Honer, and WARP's Rob Gordon.Then, inspired by the clubbier, dance-orientated black electronic sounds played by Winston and Parrot at Jive Turkey (original home of the WARP Records sound) he began Djing his still pretty meagre collection of House, Rap, Soul, Funk and Go-Go and promoted his first dance club, 'Kangaroo', in 1988.Kangaroo appeared alongside Jive Turkey in an NME 'Acid House Special' in Nov 1988 before problems at the venue put it to rest. Richard then played the Sheffield warehouse and college scene for a couple of years, put together a few mix tapes, and adopted the DJ name 'Solid State' in 1990.As Solid State he first gained wider DJ recognition for his Palais residencies, playing at hugely popular nights such as the 1500 capacity Compulsion and Jam Factory during 1990-93 with Shelleys kingpins Dave Seaman, Dave Ralph and Sasha, and played hugely popular peak-time pirate radio shows on SCR and Fantasy FM. He also resurrected Kangaroo and drafted in Notts party kings DIY as well as future TOKO and Guidance artist Pat Barry, with whom he would later collaborate on his own releases for those labels. Pat's other major contribution was in introducing Solid to the deeper side of Disco and Balearic music, beginning a discotic fascination that lay the groundwork for Society a decade later. In 1993 he was involved in bringing Tony Humphries and Justin Berkman to Sheffield in an exclusive 'Ministry on the Move' event at Sheffield University, with a specially hired sound system. During a fallow period in the Sheffield club scene he played extnsively the free party scene with Smokescreen (later the Inland Knights) and his old hero Winston Hazel through to 1994, when he took 9 months out to teach English in Istanbul.Suitably refreshed, returning to Sheffield in mid 1995, Richard was one of the original team who started The Republic (later Gatecrasher), making DJ appearances alongside Harvey, Norman Jay, Derrick Carter, Derrick May, Farley and Heller, Andrew Weatherall, Nightmares on Wax and many others. Richard was recruited for versatility and his ability to play a diverse selection of music.Between 1996 and 2002 Richard teamed up with, the TOKO boys, Pat Barry and SWAG, and released vinyl for Toko, Cookhouse, Chris Duckenfield's Primitive and Chicago's deep house legends Guidance Recordings, on the strength of which he played a mini tour of South Africa in 2000.From 1998 he also became a regular spinner at Scuba, Sheffield's longest running and best loved 'real house' night, and at NY Sushi, where over the years he played alongside the Unabombers, Greg Wilson, Sean P, Idjut Boys, Swag, Nuphonic, TOKO boys, Bjorn Torske, Mantis Recs and numerous others.Always a DJ with a passion for the wider spectrum of black music, he became terminally disillusioned with the 'House DJ' treadmill after his eye-opening trip to South Africa in 2000... So when a friend approached him with the idea of a night 'joining the dots' between old classics and new, Richard totally ran with the idea - and Society was born (quite literally) on the 4th of July 2003, with Richard as resident.As well as monthly slots in Sheffield, over the past 4 years he has represented the Society sound at like-minded events in London, Nottingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Stoke and Birmingham.Society guests have included Daniel Wang, Recloose, Greg Wilson, Al Kent, Balearic Mike, Greg Belson, Sean P, Kelvin Andrews, Ichi One, Balearik Soul, Deepsoul3 and others.In 2005 / 6 Solid State released 2 edits eps Product of Society' vols 1 and 2, and after something of a gap in their output, Society Recodings has 4 releases scheduled for 2008, including mixes from Chris Duckenfield, Small Arms Fiya, Toby Tobias, The Black Dog, Trulz and Robin and more. More news as it happpens!!! (PS you can hear Chris Duck's forthcoming mix of Solid State's Boom! track on his Myspace right now.)Solid State DJ mixes online: 'Live From My Basement':http://www.trackwerk.net/ 'Product of Society': www.deepsoul3.com/mixes------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ -------Solid State Complete Discography - 2006 Product Of Society Vol 2 Edits (Society Recs) 2005 Product of Society Vol 1 Edits (Society Recs) 2002 Pat Barry 'Do You Dance' LP (TOKO) 2001 Solid State 'Two Sides of Boogie' (TOKO) 2000 Pat Barry 'Crazy Legs Vol 2' (Guidance) 1999 Solids Supa Noodles (Cookhouse) 1998 Violet Trax 'Don't You' (TOKO) 1996 Violet Tracks EP (Primitive) 1986 Jass 'Spirit Level'(cassette only) 1985 Richard Hardcastle and David Thompson 'The Spiral' (cassette only)
