MAGNETIK NORTH was launched by Ian Tregoning and Danny Arno in 2004, initially to write dark ambient music for film and TV. The project took a new direction in 2005 when Jaki Liebezeit was invited to play drums on the Evolver album. Magnetik North appear on three other CDs: Deep Chill, Intelligent Chill and Psychedelic Air (Extreme Music Library) in the Film TV music section.
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EVOLVER |
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INKY BLACKNESS 2LP | 2012 |
STRANGER was the debut project and was based on a daunting teenage experience. Late one night, aged 13, Ian was involved in a near-fatal car accident. Cycling home from a fairground in Headingley near his school in Leeds, he was knocked unconscious and sustained multiple head injuries after a hit and run accident. Hours later, he woke up at the General Infirmary with total amnesia. No breakages so it was a lucky escape.
The accident had a profound effect.. no school for weeks! More seriously, everyone he once knew including family was now a stranger. It’s going to be a long way back.
The VOLCANO and PARTLY CLOUDY EPs were released (on Plink Plonk) in the mid-‘90s followed by the ominous ROLLING THUNDER (on Octopus) in ‘96. The album featured such luminaries as Dieter Meier, Karl Hyde, Kumo, Danny Arno, Megalon and Chicago’s highly original Derrick Carter. Immense thanks to Johnny Octopus for pulling all this together.
The follow-up album titled MISSING was abandoned in ’98 when all of the project hard-drives failed. The karma of the title was noted. A few of the rough mixes survived in the MIXTAPES section.
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VOLCANO EP |
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PLINK PLONK 006 | 1995 |
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ROLLING THUNDER |
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OCTOPUS RECORDS (2LP CD) | 1996 |
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PARTLY CLOUDY |
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PLINK PLONK RECORDS | 1997 |
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STRANGER/C-RELL | DRUM WHISPERS
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SUBWOOFER RECORDS | 1998 |
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SHAZBAT |
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OCTOPUS RECORDS | 1998 |
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MISSING |
1998 Unrelease |
UNRELEASED | 1998 |
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PARASOLS 1 | Krakatoa (5’08) | PLINK PLONK RECORDS | 1998 |
Based at Strongroom Studios in East London in the 90s, The Big Bang was a loose collaboration between Ian Tregoning, Neil McLellan and Lenny Dee. Neil is the outstanding programmer/producer behind The Prodigy, Erasure and many more. Lenny Dee is the uncompromising techno DJ from Brooklyn credited with inventing gabba who famously never played the same record twice. The Big Bang made three 12”s, two with LUV1 from Warriors Dance and the last ‘TOTAL WAR’ was never released due to legal restrictions.
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THE BIG BANG LUV 1 U CAN RUN |
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BIG BANG RECORDS BIG BANG1 (12” – black Label only) |
1992 |
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THE BIG BANG LUV 1 | 1. Total War (Trego rub) | BIG BANG RECORDS BIG BANG2 (12” – unreleased) |
1992 |
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THE BIG BANG MURK |
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SOLID PLEASURE/ BIG BANG RECORDS SPLT11 (2×12”) |
1993 |
LAND OF PLENTY was a collaboration in the late 80s at Warriors Dance studio with enfant terrible Kid Batchelor, the producer and DJ from BANG THE PARTY.
Together, they’d worked on many projects and this was the next logical step. ‘KID’S AURA’ is a
driving deviant 11 minute electro track with a truly eclectic collection of samples that included
The Beatles, The SOS Band and the Chinese State Choir. A filthy remix titled A NIGHT ON THE EDIT
BLOCK is in the Mixtapes. Leslie Lawrence aka Bullet and Kid’s partner in BTP, joined for the
follow-up track ‘CHECK THIS MEGA’ and built the excellent soul-boy rhythm track.
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ACID TRAX & WARRIORS DANCE LP | Kid’s Aura (9’47) | WARRIORS DANCE WAF | 1988 |
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THE TUFFEST OF THE TUFFEST LP | Check This Mega (4’20) | 1989 WARRIORS DANCE WAF LP2 | 1989 |
TOKAMAK was established in 1999 by Ian Tregoning and Matt Silver from the Weird Beats
Collective. Their music policy fused together house-tempo breaks, driving electro, leftfield
electronic funk and full-on hardcore which usually gets people onto tables shouting like wild
beasts. The 12” Setup/Mechanical Dub was forged at Bushwacka’s studio and released on the Plank
label
The name TOKAMAK comes from TOROIDALNAYA KAMERA MAKNITNAYA which was an experimental
nuclear fusion reactor built in Russia in the 50’s by the Nobel physicist Andre Sakharov. It works
like a miniature Sun fusing atoms together and releases immense bursts of energy.
Although an album titled MEKKA was close to completion, Matt Silver left London and the project
was shelved soon after. Some excellent fragments are in MIXTAPES.
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SETUP MECHANICAL DUB |
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PLANK RECORDS | 2000 |
Inky Blacknuss was assembled by Andrea Parker and released two 12’s on Andrew Weatherall and
Nina Walsh’s Sabrettes label in the early 90s. Here’s a clip from an interview in NME in 1993.
Alex Knight and Ian Tregoning from INKY BLACKNUSS are not feeling their best. The pair have just
managed to sneak to sneak a few hours’ sleep after the kind of all-night session they’re hardly keen to repeat.
“We were recording at Mr C’s Plink Plonk Studio up in Holloway” Alex confesses over a warming
cappuccino around the corner from Alex’s record shop Fat Cat. “We wrapped it all up about 3-ish,
turned the lights out and then realised we were locked in. We found a phone but the number 4 was
broken so we couldn’t ring anyone! It was bloody freezing.
”
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BLACKNUSS |
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SABRETTES | 1993 |
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DRUMULATOR |
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SABRETTES | 1994 |
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VARIOUS PINK ME UP |
‘Blacknuss’ (Alexathon mix) | SABRETTES | 1995 |
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VARIOUS PINK ‘N’ POISONOUS |
‘Drumulator’ The final chapter mixed by Tony Sapiano & selected b |
SABRETTES SBR005 | 1996 |
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