Picks Of The Week (12.10.24

1. High Contrast - Restoration [Highly Contrasting]

Recommended if you like: Technimatic, London Elektricity, LSB

In a scene that usually involves spending a considerable amount of time in sweaty clubs and sensory-overloading festivals just to pay rent, it only makes sense that a lot of artists eventually find their peace in different creative endeavours. All the more lovely is it then, when massively influential, straight-up legendary acts stay true to their roots like Lincoln J. Barrett, aka High Contrast, has, even after almost 25 years of DnBeauties. As a big fan of the afro'd art afiniado, I actually intended to do a proper spotlight thread for his newest long player Restoration, but the universe had different plans this time around, so a condensed version will have to do. Well, relative to the full, wall-of-text treatment at least. So let's dive in!

Hometown Glory

Born in 1979 in the Welsh town of Penarth, near Cardiff, Lincoln J. Barrett, the son of Shakin' Stevens manager Paul "Legs" Barrett and Southern Cardiff Welsh assembly member Lorraine Barrett and brother of Satellite City's Shelley Barrett, showed his teenage rebellious ways by simply... not caring much about music at all, really. Sure, he played piano for a good 10 years as kid, but music truly was not everything back then. In fact, he proudly tells the story of how he never even listened to the radio until he was 16! During multiple illnesses plagueing him in his childhood, he instead took to the visual arts, more specifically old horror flicks. Either at home, or at the Chapter in Canton, young Lincoln managed to rack up to 300 to 400 (!!) films a year, falling in love with the soundtracks of Wendy Carlos, Vangelis, Ennio Morricone and Bernard Herrmann. He even made some home movies with his dad! However, when it came time to expand on this passion, the lack of control when working with so many people did start to frustrate him, so when he eventually discovered the art of sampling, he jumped straight into a new obsession: music!

At first, it was Hip-Hop that took over his heart, but thanks to his sister ignoring Lincoln's wish for the then-new Method Man album and coming back home with Goldie's Timeless instead, 20th Century Jungle and DnB in general followed suit not too long after. Soon enough, it was all he could think about. As the number of watched movies dropped down to a mere 5-6, he instead constantly listened to the pirate radio station Bass FM, went record shopping at Kelly’s Records in Cardiff, and even started MCing! At first for a punk-metal band called 187, and later even for the likes of Fabio & Grooverider under the name of Mondo Kane, which was also his DJ name at the time. Influenced by sampler maestro DJ Premier, and equipped with the demo version of Cubase that came along with a magazine, young Lincoln also simply could not be stopped in his very own music making endeavours. Whether it was his mom's Motown CD box set, his dad's 50s rock records, or, of course, one of his many beloved movies, nothing was safe from his sampling.

While he was studying media / film making in Newport, mostly because "drum and bass" was not available as a course, he started working at Cardiff's "only dance music shop" - the Catapult record shop. Not only was he playing out his creations at the store regularly, Lincoln was also shelling Jungle here and there, cutting his teeth at the Neuropol events he and his friends Droneboy (of Concrete Junglist) and Gareth organised, while still MCing here and there. One fateful day, when London Elektricity (both of them) were in town to play at the legendary Clwb Ifor Bach, he even asked them to MC for them - I quote: "no". However, they did get on well and came over to visit him at Catapult the following day, where Lincoln showed them what he had been working on. Like a lot of people at the time, he was still trying to "rip-off Bad Company" at first, but after being exposed to the various other electronic genres at Catapult, he instead wanted to merge the sounds of deep house, Roy Davis Jr and even disco with the DnB he loved so dearly. A more "feminine" sound as he called it back then, in contrast to the dark, moody, "masculine" Neuro sound that was so prevalent back then - hence the name, High Contrast. While unconventional, and with a BPM set to too high, the duo liked what they heard and signed him on immediately. Just as he graduated!

The Return To The Tobacco Road Of The Forever Voyaging Mind

I already let out a ton of fun tidbits, but fair warning, this is the part I'll have to actually race through to fit this format. In a Green way. Any remaining Questions will be answered another time!

As one of the earliest signings of Hospital Records, his sample-heavy, straight-up lovely creations were crucial in shaping the early "Hospital sound", and after a couple of singles, with Make It Tonight being an early highlight, it was Return Of Forever in 2002 that became a proper turning point for everyone involved. Later that year, his first ever album, True Colours, launched at Catapult (heh) and named after his mild synesthesia, took the scene by storm, his remix obsession started, and the Welsh Music Awards heaped some nominations onto him, but that still was only the beginning! One instant classic after the other, like Mr. Majestic with Calibre, Days Go By, or The Basement Track, massive remixes for legends like Omni Trio and Roni Size, and huge names like Adele, Imogen Heap, Missy Elliot, The White Stripes, Eric Prydz and, like, genuinely too many to name, and of course, his main focus: the albums.

After his aforementioned debut effort, High Society was his attempt at commentary on the British class system, which he admits limited him so much that he ditched the concept later on, but still ended up working out so well it became 2004's most successful DnB album in the UK. Learning from this experience, Lincoln ditched the "concept first" approach and went "music first" for a while, the result of which he pulled together on his heavily film noir inspired Tough Guys Don't Dance in 2007. Not only was he able to pull off samples he had been wanting to use for a decade, he also went all-in on the complexity of it all, focusing more on narrative surprises and a tune's evolution over time. Technically, there was also his best-of album Confidential in 2009, but the real big next thing came in 2012. After so many long players under his belt, he went back to intentionally limiting himself in his productions to get the creative juices flowing: no samples, more songwriting and a film-esque structure (with him even directing the music videos!) - the result being The Agony and the Ecstasy!

Running out of space already, so even more condensed: He worked with Underworld on the actual 2012 London Olympics, mixing and sequencing the music for the athlete's parade (and released a companion album of reworked HC tunes alongside it); toured the world; signed on with 3Beat; debuted his first-ever live show in 2016; produced Underworld's Barbara, Barbara, We Face A Shining Future; became part of Trainspotting 2's official soundtrack; went back to sampling action on his Night Gallery LP in 2017; had Unglued deliver an absolutely insane remix of If We Ever; creatively explored the underground, 90s, jungle ways of doing things with his 2020 album Notes From The Underground; remixed, like, everyone; and started his very own label, Highly Contrasting. Which brings us to this seventh, or if you count all the variations, ninth, album of his, a return to the classic 2000s High Contrast Liquid Funk sound full of Soul, Funk, Disco and Jazz samples: Restoration!

Restoration

After obliterating all of the above paragraphs with his opening statement intro Overture, Lincoln launches into the fun with his guess who's back style opener Remember Me. Strings galore, 2010s wubs, lovely synth flurries, paired with a sample of Marlena Shaw's Woman Of The Ghetto, famously sampled and resampled into a ton of 90s dance tracks (like Blue Boy - Remember Me) and resung by Sharlene Hector on this particular rendition - classic High Contrast is back, baby! Don't believe me? Well, next we've got reel-idea-turned-tune Be No Rain, which just oozes summery vibes with its wide assortment of soulful samples, from all sorts of pianos and even some saxiness to the titular vocal sample, assembled on his trusty S2400 sampler. Still not convinced? Well, how about Lord, a reimagination of Bob James' Dream Journey, famously previously sampled in Technimatic's Night Vision, all spliced together with passionate oh's, screams, strings, wind chimes and harps, evolving throughout!

Or how about Happy People, stuffed full of most lovely soul samples, from the various, uplifting vocals to the incredibly catchy guitar riff fading in and out throughout! Or how about the absolutely gorgeous Realise, whose wonderful, melancholically beautiful, early Fred V & Grafix-esque synths will pluck at your heartstrings while going through all sorts of evolutions, while a lethal (for your heart) vocal sample and bass whomps fill out the blanks. Right as you might think Lincoln has already reached peak sample action, he then hits us with the wildly chopped-up arrangement of It's Alright, which is simply bursting with creatively assembled and reassembled vocal chops, trumpets making all sorts of amazing appearances, a middle section that most definitely works, and just heaps upon heaps of pure vibes. My favourite probably. Of course, we're only barely past the halfway mark yet, so we roll on with even more classic vibes, on Loved You So, which contrasts the janky, weird noises making £20 organ he bought at an old market and the classic soul sample, with some grade A gritty bass wobbles. Might sound simple, but you know damn well that Lincoln thrives on these sorts of combinations, and of course the end result is fantastic!

Home stretch now. Triumphantly trumpeting, we continue the wobbly bass action with the orchestral On Bass, with each arrangement part weaving in and out on the wonderful announcer's cue. No Words' impeccable, even more audio crackling than usual vibes, combined with the heartbreaking vocal sample, really don't need more of my unnecessary descriptors. Penultimate stop Patience's dramatic, ever-evolving string back-and-forth, paired with yet another great vocal sample on top of some truly head-nod-inducing drums, takes us on one last ride, before we reach the finale, and title track, Restoration. Seemingly a, well, restoration of his long-forgotten unreleased tune of the same name, but, from what I can tell, having lived through so many iterations that the end result is on a whole 'nother level - excellent pianos, string loveliness, a whole bunch of soulful vocals working in tandem, all the greats really. What makes this one special for me are all the vocal sample touches making us aware of the finality of it all: thanking us, the listeners, for our time, and ending the whole experience with a mere "that'll do". I love it.

Conclusion

Albums by Alix Perez, Zar, BCee, Redeyes - liquid lovers are truly living in great times right now. However, no one can capture that early 2000s Liquid Funk vibe quite like the legendary maestro Lincoln J. Barrett himself. Not only is every single tune exuding that special nostalgic magic that can only come from the steady sampling hand of monsieur Contrast, Lincoln has also wrapped it all into such a delightful packaging with his incredibly high effort promotional strategy, that you can't help but fall in love with it all. Seriously, everything from the watercolour artworks, digitally ripped up for maximum contrast, to the behind-the-scenes videos, full of sampler action, corded telephones and his very own doppelgänger, is simply astonishingly well made. High Contrastonishing, even. I only wish I was good at sample spotting, because there is so much to unpack here that I feel I'm missing out on. I need one of those sampling breakdown videos for each and every single tune!

Absolutely excellent in every single way, a true joyride through Lincoln's imagination, sparkling with retro sampling magic at every corner. I love it so much.