Katalyst (musician)

Katalyst
Birth name Ashley Anderson
Also known as Katalyst
Origin Sydney, Australia
Genres Hip hop, Soul
Years active 1998–present
Labels Stones Throw Records
Invada Records
BBE
Universal Music
Associated acts Quakers
Space Invadas
Website Official website

Katalyst (real name Ashley Anderson) is an Australian DJ/Producer. He won awards at the 2002 Australian Dance Music Awards for Best Album and Best Producer.[1]

Biography

Anderson initially recorded under the name Moonrock with fellow producer Michael Wright (aka Illpickl). Moonrock released a self-titled album in 1998,[2] and went on to contribute tracks to the internationally renowned Cafe Del Mar compilation albums (Volume 6 (1999) and The Best Of (2003)).[3]

As Katalyst, he had his first solo release with a track on the Dope on Plastic compilation in 2001. That year also saw him form experimental record label, Invada Records, together with Portishead's Geoff Barrow. Invada Records' has released records from acts like Amusement Parks on Fire, Flow Dynamics, RuC.L, ARIA-award-winning group Koolism[4] and Space Invadas.

May 2002 saw the release of the Katalyst's debut album Manipulating Agent, the first release for Invada Records. The album was nominated at the 2002 ARIA Awards for 'Best Dance Release' and received two awards; 'Best Producer' and 'Best Album' at the 2002 Australian Dance Music Awards.[5] In late 2002 Katalyst enlisted a number of Australian and UK producers to remix tracks from his album, the result was the remix album Agent Manipulated, released in April 2003.[6]

Katalyst's next release, Katalyst Presents: Dusted – Essential Mix Of Rare Groove & Hip Hop Joints (March 2005), a mix of rare groove and hip hop songs, the two CD compilation features Anderson's favourite artists (including Public Enemy, Run DMC, A Tribe Called Quest, Nina Simone, Portishead and Sérgio Mendes) together with a Katalyst track, "Let The Music Talk", featuring RuCL.[2][7]

In August 2007 Katalyst released his second album What's Happening, enlisting guest vocalists from the US, the UK and Australia (J-Live, Stephanie McKay, Steve Spacek, Supernatural, Mat McHugh (The Beautiful Girls), Adalita (Magic Dirt), Ru C.L, Hau (Koolism). The album was nominated for Triple J's J Award[5] and 'Best Urban Release' at the 2008 ARIA awards[8]

In 2009 he began working on a project with Steve Spacek under the name Space Invadas.[9] An album, Soul-Fi, was released in March 2010. The album was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Urban Release.[10]

His third solo album in the Katalyst trilogy was entitled Deep Impressions and was released in 2011 on INVADA / BBE.[11] Of the title and creative method behind his third release, Katalyst says "Writing music for me is a continual process so when it came time to put the third Katalyst album together I looked at the songs I had written and recorded for the new release. As a body of work it was clear that many styles of music have made a deep impression on me as a producer. Hence the name of my album."[12] This album was also met with critical acclaim. It was nominated for an ARIA Award in 2012 for Best Urban Album.[13]

2012 has seen Katalyst making big moves internationally, being signed to legendary Californian label Stones Throw Records with his latest release Quakers. A collaboration with Geoff Barrow, Quakers is a hip-hop collective currently boasting 35 members which orbits around a core of three producers: Katalyst, Fuzzface and 7-Stu-7. Fuzzface is better known as Portishead's founder and producer Geoff Barrow. 7-Stu-7 is Portishead’s engineer and in-house producer at Invada Records in the UK. Some of the 32 MCs on the record include Dead Prez, Guilty Simpson, Aloe Blacc, Phat Kat, Prince Po and Booty Brown to name just a handful.

Quakers album has been hailed by many as an instant classic, with reviews like 91/100 on Okay Player.[14] The album has been listed as No. 41 in Amazon UK's top 100 albums of 2012.[15] Also iTunes UK named it Best New Hip Hop Album of the Year and Best New Hip Hop Artist 2012. It made Gilles Peterson's BBC Radio Best of 2012.[16]

Katalyst has produced/remixed for artists, including Stephanie McKay, Jack Johnson, Gift of Gab, Ugly Duckling, Vassy, King Kapisi and The Beautiful Girls.[17]

He has toured with/supported live with The Roots, Jurassic 5, Ben Harper, DJ Shadow, Jack Johnson, DJ Premier, Guru, Mix Master Mike, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and The Black Eyed Peas.

Discography

Moonrock

Katalyst

Space Invadas

Quakers

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ↑
  2. 1 2 "Katalyst". rage. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2008.
  3. ↑ "Moonrock discography". Discogs. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  4. ↑ "Invada Records discography". Discogs. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  5. 1 2 "J Award nominee". Triple J. Retrieved 20 November 2008.
  6. ↑ "Katalyst: Agent Manipulated". Discogs. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  7. ↑ "Katalyst Presents: Dusted". Discogs. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  8. ↑ "Major ARIA award nominations". Sydney Morning Herald. 10 September 2008. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
  9. ↑ "Space Invadas". Invada Records. Archived from the original on 29 October 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2009.
  10. ↑ Archived 3 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ "Katalyst – Deep Impressions – out on BBE". Paris DJs. 11 October 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  12. ↑ "Katalyst – Deep Impressions | Review". Pulse Radio. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  13. ↑ "Aria Awards / 2012 Best Urban Album – 26th ARIA Awards 2012". Ariaawards.com.au. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  14. ↑ "Quakers " Okayplayer Okayplayer". Okayplayer.com. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  15. ↑ "Best of 2012: Buy CDs and MP3s from the top 100 albums of the year". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  16. ↑ "BBC Radio 6 Music – Gilles Peterson, Best of 2012". Bbc.co.uk. 22 December 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  17. ↑ Biography, on Katalyst official website
  18. 1 2 Dance Music Awards History
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