UK’s John B is one of my favorite DJs. He is the electro-rocker-glam boy of Drum & Bass. Over the past 11 years, his records have cycled through the jazzy, the dark and the techy through the first half of his career, then his signature Electro/Drum&Bass sound was defined with his 2002 LP, ‘Brain Storm’ and has continued on since. His sound is sometimes called ‘Electrostep’ Drum & Bass—it combines the sounds of sounds and themes associated with Trance, ‘Electroclash’ and New Wave with Drum & Bass. Often adding humorous tongue-in-cheek topics in his songs and employing some of my favorite low-key rapper chicks, including stand out performances by Star Eyes of Syrup Girls. It all makes for one very fun package.
John B. found cult status in 2005 via MySpace with his laugh out loud ode to internet stalkerdom titled, ‘I’ve Been Stalking You On MySpace’. This song exists in several forms and mixes, but this is my favorite. It isn’t new, but it’s still relevant and it’s certified banger, so turn the volume to 11:
MP3: John B - Ive Been Stalking You on MySpace (feat. Star Eyes)
I must confess that a motivating factor for this post was so we could tack on the fact that we just added links to our profiles on our favorite networking sites for you to get your stalk on. Please get at us though MySpace, Virb, Facebook or join our group on Last.fm, and while you’re there you can check my personal Last.fm and Disaster’s personal Last.fm and applaud and/or snicker at our listening habits. Stalk us!
Now back to John B.! Here’s another one from 2003’s ‘In:Transit’ LP that features Star Eyes and she talks like my dream date, or something:
MP3: John B - Take Me Home (feat. Star Eyes)
And this other one off the same ‘In:Transit’ LP is nice:
John B. released his latest LP, ‘Electrostep’ in 2006. The title, of course, is borrowed from the term that was coined to define his unique sound (buy the album from Amazon). On it John B. tackles a pair epic 80s tracks for some interesting cover versions. Hear John B.’s take on Toni Basil’s ‘Hey Mickey’ and Soft Cell’s ‘Tainted Love’:
MP3: John B - Hey Mickey
MP3: John B - Tainted Love (feat. Marcy Meow) (CD Mix)
The ‘Tainted Love’ vocals are provided by Marcy Meow, a former go-go dancer from S.F. (namely BootieSF), turned stripper, turned Spanish-language video-vixen. How’s that for multi-talented!
John B does remixes too, re-vamping my favorite Dirty Sanchez track, and slapping it on ‘Electrostep’.
MP3: Dirty Sanchez - Fucking on the Dancefloor (John B Remix)
And lastly, here’s a more recent remix of Bloc Party’s ‘The Prayer’ that I snagged off John B’s MySpace:
MP3: Bloc Party - The Prayer (John B. Remix)
Removed by request
John B. tours a grip and he’s about to roll through Europe and the US with dates in L.A., N.Y., Hawaii, and Dallas in the near future. You can can peep the details about the upcoming tour and stream more tracks on John B.’s MySpace. John B. owns several record labels, most prominently Beta Recordings. This label also serves as his personal website. You can cop many of his records from the Beta Recordings website. Also, view the official I Been Stalking You on MySpace profile and his more complete discography on Discogs.
Want lots of lots of free John B mixes? Get your’ Electrostep’ D’n'B O.D. starting with this 2.5 hour set from April on his site, available for free, with even more to be heard by clicking around the ‘audio’ and ‘news’ links in the sidebar.
…Still here? Go stalk us on MySpace already!
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Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” is a cover in itself.