Leftfield's Neil Barnes: Tripping the light fantastic
Leftfield’s Neil Barnes tells about his musical influences, what he’s currently listening to, and what we can expect from his DJ set in Macroom.
Neil Barnes established Leftfield with Paul Daley in 1989. The duo emerged at a time when electronic music was evolving into acid house and rave.
But, with a background in rock and dub, as well as techno, Leftfield aspired to more than merely packing the dance floor.
Nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, their 1995 debut, Leftism, is regarded as one of the most important electronic records of the past 30 years and was enormously influential in its incorporation of reggae, soundtrack music and punk.
After an opinion-dividing second LP, Rhythm and Stealth, Leftfield parted ways. However, Barnes revived the project in 2010 and, in 2015, released a well-received comeback collection, Alternative Light Source.
He DJs at Townlands Carnival, near Macroom, Co Cork, from July 20-22.
“Giorgio Moroder [producer of Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’] and Kraftwerk… they are early influences on dance music and on the earliest stuff I listened to. Early disco tracks and what have you. New wave was also happening and that was an influence, though a completely different form of music.
A lot of music from the 1980s had an impact on Leftfield. We weren’t just into dance music. I was influenced by jazz and reggae. They were really massive for me. African music as well and [Afrofuturist pioneer] Sun Ra and jazz. That’s all ‘dance’ music. My influences were widespread and still are really.
With Leftfield, we came from lots of different hotchpotches of influences at that time — at the end of the 1980s and early ’90s. We had acid house coming in, which in terms of the dance floor was really taking things out there. And a lot of 12-inch dance tracks… those were an influence especially on the early Leftfield. Producers were starting to make sounds that were bleak and empty, lots of space — that weren’t so hands in the air and happy.
It could be tracks by Daniel Avery. I might play Hodge — he’s part of the Bristol scene. People like Shadow Child — quite techno… dirty house music. I like some bigger tracks as well — big time techno things.
Generally the stuff I enjoy at the moment is quite raw and extreme. They are often one-off tracks that people knock out. Then you don’t hear them again for another year. Which is the type of thing I like.
Very underground… very clubby. I’m always looking for something different in my sets.
I like to do something that hasn’t been done before. I don’t particularly like playing cliched types of thing. I don’t play much Leftfield. The whole point of DJ-ing is to celebrate other records.
There are so many great records being made — my struggle is just keeping up with it. When you’re putting a set together I wonder where I’m playing.
The choices are affected by the size of the venue. If I think a record is too ‘big’ I might not drop it. I want it to be more warehouse.
Those were fantastic gigs — it was the album in its complete form. The crowd was epic, as they always are — whenever we play in Dublin [Leftism was performed at the Metropolis festival last October] it’s always a fantastic… nearly always a party. It always goes down really strong.
It was really satisfying for that to have gone so well — for a lot of people to have warmed to it. As an artist, all I want to do is make good music. Whatever it sounds like, that’s your aim. It was tough coming back after so long.
The record had quite a few banging tracks but it also went quite light. So there was a journey within the music. For me, it’s almost like a pop record, one that is catchy but dark also. That is what it is meant to be.
Some people were quite shocked. They didn’t realise John is massively into electronic music. He did a track with [famous producer and DJ] Afrika Bambaata in the ’80s. It was great working with him — it wasn’t an easy track to make, but collaborating with John was a great experience. The whole idea, as with a lot of Leftfield,.. it’s the sound of the voice works over a techno, big bassline.. For us it was the obvious thing to do.
Shame, a young band from London. I went to see them last week. They’re amazing — one of the most exciting rock bands. I’m listening to their album [Songs of Praise] a lot. Young Fathers too — their new album, Cocoa Sugar, is fantastic…the influences on it are so wide. I love a lot of folk music. In the car I’ve got the last Damien Jurado album. I listen to bands like BadBadNotGood — but also to Scott Walker and Radiohead.
Talk of the town: Townlands highlights
Working with Chic’s Nile Rodgers, sisters Debbie, Kim, Kathy and Joni Sledge notched up hits such as ‘Lost In Music’, ‘We Are Family’ and ‘He’s The Greatest Dancer’.
The group today consists just of Debbie and Kim, with Kathy pursuing a solo career and Joni passing away last year aged 60.
The Waterford-based collective have become a huge live hit with yammering electro tracks and an eye-popping stage show (their Electric Picnic performance last year featured dancers wearing cardboard boxes over their heads gyrating with balloons).
The early techno duo embraced anonymity via their iconic surgical masks.
Today one half of the pair, Mark Archer, continues to celebrate Altern-8’s squidgy house grooves and retro tempos.
The Bristol DJ and production duo of Dominic Butler and Mark Yardley broke through in the late 90s with their boisterous DJ sets.
They’ve gone on to have success with their Punks label, and with remixes for everyone from Basement Jaxx to The Streets and MIA.
Breathing new life into traditional music, Kila have incorporated influences from Asia and Africa while also celebrating all that is haunting and unique about indigenous Irish playing. Last year they released a well received live album, Alive-Beo.
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