Coburn
Release Date: 25th June 2007
Label: Great Stuff
On June 25th London/Brighton duo Coburn present their eponymous debut longplayer – a riotous smorgasbord of house, cutting-edge pop, rock, electro and whatever else tickles their fancy. The album features the vocal talents of Princess Superstar, Heidrun from Cicada/Gus Gus and Solid State.
Coburn are DJs/producers/musicians Pete Martin (of Cass & Slide fame) and Tim Healey, formerly known as Electric Tease – two names synonymous with the dance scene, both individually, and together as Coburn, who, in 2005 tore up the clubs with the unorthodox, searing synth line-fuelled club anthem ‘We Interrupt This Programme.’ In between the single and completing their debut album, the duo even found time to remix Pharell and Gwen Stefani.
‘Coburn’ the album kicks off – after a brief ‘National Anthem’ – with ‘Sick.’ Booty-beats meet the contrasting raps of sassy New Yorker Princess Superstar and south London’s Solid State, topped off with a sweet, pop-savvy chorus. “We’ve always had one ear on the pop world”, says Tim, “We love the place where pop and the underground crossover in a credible way.”
Imagine The Cardigans and Kylie having afternoon tea on a cloud, and you’re halfway to the lush, dancefloor friendly pop hit in the making that is ‘Razorblade’, which features the haunting vocals of Heidrun Bjornsdottir. Bright and airy, FM-style production is married to subtle electronic highlights on the Billy Idol-esque ‘I Get My Kicks’, whilst ‘Too Drunk To Recall’ does a nice line in acid-fried, west-coast sixties rock, sounding like both ’67 and ’07 simultaneously.
During Tim and Pete’s individual success with Cass & Slide and Electric Tease, both became ‘producers and remixers du jour’, either working with or having their records played by the likes of Pete Tong, Sasha and Danny Tenaglia. Originally involved in the prog-house scene, their pre-Coburn days also saw the duo kick start the electro-house and bootleg ‘mash up’ crazes, often splicing the likes of BRMC, The Hives and Joy Division with dance beats. This was the nucleus for the rock ‘n’ roll attitude of ’We Interrupt This Program’, which was picked up on by DJs Eddy Temple Morris, Zane Lowe and Jo Whiley.
Both Pete and Tim are multi-instrumentalists who write, engineer, produce and perform their own tracks. As is the cross-genre musical climate that has crept up on straight dance music over the last few years, the guys are into all manner of music, and don’t draw any distinctions between kitsch movie soundtracks, punk, Air, Spiritualised, early Beatles, or even desert bluesmen Tinawiren.
Flims, and uncanny experiences, also help create the Coburn world. Hollywood actor James Coburn starred in ‘Flint’, the US spoof version of James Bond, and according to Tim and Pete, Flint was far cooler than Bond. The band name was finalised when Tim spookily went to bed one night thinking of Coburn and awoke to see the news announcing the actor’s death.
Debonair, funny and action packed – it only seemed right to carry on the legacy.
Tracklisting
- National Anthem Of The Coburn Republic
- Sick Feat. Princess Superstar & Solid State
- Closer
- Razorblade
- We Interrupt This Programme Feat. Solid State
- Beyond Dawn
- Give Me Love
- Matured Sinner
- Tallulah
- 10000 Leagues Feat. Dean Van Jones
- I Get My Kicks
- Stay Alive In ‘85
- Too Drunk To Recall
- Babyboomer
- Edge Of A Knife
- Interlude
- Sick (Reprise)
- Metro
- Erase