The Ballad of Den the Men
Wise in Time is the new brainchild of the prodigious Ian Simmonds , the visionary artist whose previous albums as Juryman and under his own name were unanimously acclaimed (*).The Juryman touch is totally recognizable in "The Ballad Of Den The Men", with its haunted soundscapes, his talking blues-like vocal style Yet this album sees Simmonds leave the shores of pure electronic music and ascend to new heights: by combining folk guitars, electric pianos, jazz tangents and electronic textures with his inimitable voice and inspired, sharp lyrics, he's created a highly inebriating mixture which practically define a new genre.To create this new project, Ian has left England and moved to the easternmost part of Germany. He settled in the small town of Jena which, appropriately, is both the historical cradle of the German Romantic movement Goethe and Schiller lived there- and of Zeiss, major trailblazers in precision optics...("doesn't Ian's writing seem to be poised somewhere in between ?" asks a facetious observer). There he recruited four very young & talented musicians, students in the renowned Dresden jazz school, to form the Wise in Time band.Wise in Time will start touring extensively from the spring on. The fact that this project will mark Ian's return to the concert stage will delight the happy few who have attended one of his rare and exceptional gigs a few years ago, around the release of the Juryman vs Spacer album (such as for instance the Rennes Transmusicales show, or one of the UK gigs on which the band's vocalist was an as-yet-unknown Alison Goldfrapp...).What more can we add ?, except that we at Crammed are viewing Ian Simmonds as an exceptional artist, that we're totally in love with his music, that we're delighted to release this new album and share are our enthusiasm with the publicRewind: the Juryman albums have made a deep impression on press and music lovers alike, who have welcomed Ian Simmonds as one of the most original and inspired artists of the time. Magazines such as Mojo and Mixmag have respectively described him as "One of Britains most vital talents" and "A modern-day Mingus for the nu-jazz generation", French daily Le Monde went as far as saying that "he's one of the inventors of todays sound, alongside Moby and Tricky", and Muzik described his music by sayinf that "its like all the best bits of Gil Scott-Heron, Red Snapper and Ry Cooder rolled together, it bristles with widescreen energy, bustles with gorgeous flurries of funky rhythms... Elegant, deep, complex and constantly surprising".
WISE IN TIME | The Ballad of Den the Men | cram 124 cd
Mini biog
Ian Simmonds was born in Wales. He spent part of his childhood following his globe- trotter-cum-jazz-trumpet-player dad around the world, and thus spent part of his childhood in Australia and in the US (as witnessed by the cover illustration of this album). Originally a bass player, he was a member of early Acid Jazz cult band The Sandals, and moved on to write and record his own music. Hes released five acclaimed albums between 1997 and 2002 (see discog below). Besides creating his own music, Ian has been increasingly busy as a remixer (hes reworked tracks by Peter Kruder, The Underwolves, Suba, Taraf de Haidouks) and as a DJ (hes been performing in Japan, Russia and most of Western Europe). Hes also a photographer and has set up a film production company with two friends, including director Adam Smith (who has directed videos for The Streets, Stereo MCs, Goldie Lookin' Chain and Juryman, of course)
Discography
Juryman Vs Spacer Mail-Order Justice [SSR/Crammed, 1997]
Ian Simmonds Last States Of Nature [Studio K7, 1999]
Juryman The Hill [SSR/Crammed, 2000]
Ian Simmonds Return To X [Studio K7, 2001]
Juryman 'Escape To Where' [SSR/Crammed, 2002]
(*) Press quotes