| JeffAlford |
Feature Press Article/18 May 2007
Jeff Alford waves the French music banner in America.
Jeff Alford just might hold the key for igniting another dance floor revolution. He certainly holds the key for exporting electronica that captures the imagination of dance music enthusiasts outside of his adopted French homeland. While dance music was overtaken by superstar trance DJs, drug culture, and glow-stick bearing ravers, the new dance music movement is based on something more intangible, something that might be called artistic integrity. Those who previously came to shut out dance music DJs and clubs from their weekend pursuits now find themselves dancing to the beats of Jeff Alford's new album, 'Heart of Trance', released on the UK record label Aardvark Records.
Alford has set Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on fire with his hot trance single 'Visions in Space'. The single has been a 'breakout' chart hit on Belgium's Tempo Radio. DJ record pools, services that send out singles to thousands of club and radio DJs, have also been big supporters of the single. It has gone on to grab top chart spots with American DJ and record pool services such as Masspool and Infamous Record Pool, to name just a few.
The accompanying promotional music video, produced by Alford himself, is a 3D animated opus featuring a galactic rabbit. It was immediately snapped up by American sports retail chain Foot Locker as part of their in-store entertainment. The exposure through Foot Locker's 2,500 North Americans retail outlets alone will bring Alford's video to 38 million. The video has also aired this month on Canada's main dance music video broadcast channel BPM:TV, which boasts 20 million viewers. Video pool companies such as DMX, Promo Only and Screenplay Inc in America; Promo Only in the UK; and Nightlife and SBA Music in Australia and New Zealand have ensured that the video has been viewed by millions in bars, clubs, malls, gyms and other establishments which play music videos. Feedbacks from all sources have named Alford as a 'hot property' and 'One to Watch'.
Terra Rizzuto from BPM:TV in Canada is an enthusiastic supporter of the video. "This is an impressive debut video from Jeff Alford. It's uplifting trance at its best! This animated video hit is getting lots of airplay on 'Cartunes' on bpm:tv!"
Max Leinwand, Foot Locker's Director of Programming, gave his reasons why Alford's video has been so well received in Footlocker stores. ""Jeff's video worked perfectly for the Foot Locker Network. Its CG ambient visuals look great on the stores' screens and the lively instrumental track enhances the in-store shopping experience. This is a big hit for us!"
Import Sound and Vision is the California-based video promotions company which handles Aardvark Records' videos for North America. Company President, Kevin Sheehan, said: "Not since Air has there been such interest in America for music coming out of France. Jeff Alford is taking the US and Canada by storm." Sheehan continued by saying: "Jeff Alford is truly a musical genius. 'Visions in Space' has successfully bridged the gap between dreamy new age euphoria and peak hour club anthems."
"The video playfully blasts us off on a non stop rollercoaster ride into the furthest reaches of our imagination," Sheehan mentioned when asked about the video. He continued with: "The single and the video have made a huge impression in North America. We're really proud of that because Jeff has been a pleasure to work with."
Alford initially caught fire in 2002 with the release of his album 'Down to Earth' which was released on Nonego Records. This album featured 30 tracks on 2 CDs which blended the sounds of hard trance and hard House.
In 2003, Alford and his tracks were covered in the UK by the likes of The Daily Star, MTV, Virgin Radio and many others. In the same year, he produced the track "Reaching the Top", a trance track selected for inclusion on the 'Hot Clubbing Vol.5' dance compilation CD released in conjunction with The Daily Star and The Express newspapers. His mix was also selected to be the background music in the television advertising campaign for the CD compilation which was broadcast on MTV, Paramount, C4, C5 and Sky One.
Alford came to the attention of Aardvark Records in 2006. The label, home to artists such as Yahel, Zetan Spore, QED and EricM, immediately offered him a deal halfway through listening to the album he had submitted. That album was 'Heart of Trance'.
Aardvark Records Head of Dance Music, Alessandro di Savoia, said: "Jeff's album was by far the best submission we had received last year. I knew I wanted to promote the album and I knew I wanted to work with Jeff. I felt both would translate very well on the international dance music scene. Recent events are proving me correct."
When asked where his love of synthetic sounds and electronic music comes from, Alford never hesitates when giving his answer. He quotes the electronica soundscape pioneer JMJ as his source of inspiration. Stumbling across JMJ's sounds at the age of 10, Jeff never looked back. Jeff flirted with the sounds of Hip Hop at 16 and by 18 he was producing Progressive Trance; albeit with an underlay of breaks in his rhythm sections.
"The first time I heard JMJ for instance, I said to myself 'this is what I want to do'", Alford said while discussing his main source of inspiration. "I want to make up colourful melodies with strong emotions and energy, creating new worlds and dimensions in sound."
Alford went to Florida at the age of 18 to gain more experience as a sound engineer. He did his apprenticeship at Orlando-based Full Sail Real World Studios. It was an opportunity to work with the most advanced technology and it took his music production to an entirely new level.
"When I start working on a new track, I always play around with my keyboard and let the music come to me," Jeff stated when talking about his creative process. "I blend in different sounds on top of each other to build stronger emotions. From there I continue to shape my emotions into visions. 15 years after first hearing JMJ I am still exploring the world of digital sounds. On top of that, I've gone on to create little stories out of my music with 3D animation."
Where do his ideas come from? "A lot of my ideas come naturally and I have to be in the right mood to create something cool. The music I listen to is also a big influence, especially trance mixes produced by some of the world's top DJs such as Armin Van Buuren, Paul Van Dyk, Tiesto, and many other talented artists. Trance music is a way of communication. I try to respond to what has been said, in my own way and with my own voice, through electronic music."
Alford looked to the finer side of dance music from the creation of his new release 'Heart of Trance'. Filled with soaring, euphoric energy and galactic vibe, it has a sincere passion and an artistic integrity that is often missing in today's computer-aided dance music. While it is filled with Alford's vision of the world, it is delivered in an open fashion and allows the listener or clubber to make up their own minds about what that vision means to them. Ironically, this is what dance music was all about. As a genre, dance music was never about the hype or production and DJ names. It was music that provided a vision and a narrative crafted in the music. Alford has brought things back full circle.
Make no mistake; Alford is a thoroughly modern producer. While he harkens back to an earlier ethos behind dance music, he produces his tracks with the latest technology.
"I've had so many different kinds of synthesizers in my life", Alford begins. "I kept on trying to find the right sound and style of music I actually have today. It's what you hear in 'Heart of Trance'. I used the latest Virus TI from Access and the Korg SX1 sampler with digital performer's plug-ins on my powerbook G4, rewired with Reason's modules integrating various samples on board. Things seem to run very smoothly indeed. I don't think I need anything else as I'm already flying with what I have."
Alford is a producer on the go. Instead of investing in an elaborate purpose built studio, he is a mobile producer. He feels this provides him with distinct advantages. "Everywhere I go I take my music with me since my studio is totally mobile. I really take the time needed to have a perfect mixdown; adjusting the levels for each track is just another way for me to take the mix to the next level.
"When I'm recording some melodies and having various rhythms and effects running, I look at the hottest sounds that I know will keep the crowd going. I take the time needed to enhance the progression in the mix by building up the intensity around it - the higher we go in emotions within a track, the closer we get to the mixes' climax. And that's when I know that all you can do is: 'trance and dance'".
Alford's enthusiasm was palpable when describing the more technical aspects of what he does. "To have the main base of a track takes me more or less than 3 days depending on my creative focus and inspiration. I translate the entire midi recording into audio tracks. Sometimes I have to record some of the midi tracks on audio while I'm actually still working on melodies using midi. That's because of the note playback limit capacity from the synthesizers. After all sounds are recorded separately for a better mixdown, I sometimes end up having over 30 audio tracks with different sounds. They are not all playing at once, but slowly integrated within the mix.
"Mixing all the tracks is really the fun part of electronic music production. It's all about being able to add plug-ins and all sorts of effects to experiment endlessly; for a final, perfect result. As a producer I know what to expect regarding the technical parts of electronic music production. At least 30% of technical problems or difficulties arise within a project. That's something I always have to keep in mind. So my work is more efficient and the ideas get recorded and saved instantly. I do save my work frequently just in case my computer crashes because of overloading its processors."
Aardvark Record's di Savoia had the closing words. "America is a difficult territory for any non-American artist to break. This is especially true for European acts. While Jeff isn't quite a household name there, he is off to a brilliant start. When you add what he has begun to achieve in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Belgium, Portugal and Sweden to his American success, you can understand why we are justifiably proud of him. Considering he is waving the banner for French dance music abroad, his adopted country will hopefully be equally as proud."
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Pictures: Pictures are available
Ends
Note to Editors:
Established in 2001, Aardvark Records is one of the UK's most creative record labels with an international reach disproportionate to its small size. Its staunchly independent stance and pioneering spirit have produced a string of well-received releases worldwide, spanning a variety of music genres: dance, pop and rock. Its current hit-making writers and producers include: EricM, Zetan Spore, Thabani, Everett Young and Jeff Alford.
Aardvark started life as a local record label handling a variety of Cornwall-based artists. It became a small national independent label in 2002 and has since grown into an international label with a network of in-house licensing agents and A&R spread around the globe.
Its directors bring a collective 25 years' music industry experience to the label.
Website: www.aardvarkrecords.co.uk
For more information, please contact Alex di Savoia on 00 44 (0) 1326 213 706 or email: [email protected] |
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