RAF & ILL LOGIC
Alex (Ill Logic) & Raf met at the age of fifteen at school in London. Both sharing a love for drum 'n' bass and music of all genres, they focused on DJing and went out record shopping together. Alex's passion for jazz rubbed off on Raf, who was in a punk band when he was 12, and they began to broaden their musical tastes. Avid followers of the Bristol sound, both of them made sure they owned every Full Cycle release and were huge fans of Krust, Roni Size as well as the sounds of Goldie, Photek, Lemon D and other Metalheadz stalwarts. Reprazent's New Forms album in 1997 became an inspiration for the two to make music themselves.
At the age of 17, Raf bought a sampler and they began sampling everything from Miles Davis and Marvin Gaye to Indie and Punk. Raf and Alex built up their equipment, and at the age of 18 they pooled their resources and created a combined studio. This was the point where their production began to take shape, incorporating their diverse influences and producing tracks they were keen to play out. Raf was a regular on Rude FM at the time and Alex played on Rude Awakening, and they both won sets in the Movement bar.
The boys spent much of their time going out to London's legendary Metalheadz nights at the Blue Note, and regularly went to Movement, where they got their first break. Whilst DJing there, they immediately caught the ear of Martin from Emotif and Double Zero records, and the promoter of Movement. The two sent him their early productions and in 2000 Spacewalk was released, catching the attention of many DJs and producers in the scene. Their next release, Water Torture on Double Zero was a deep, soulful groove that set the standard for the boys to follow.
Not content with producing only one style of music, the duo released a breakbeat single on Botchit Breaks, under their Chameleon moniker, as well as a Raf solo project, Get Loose, which received regular radio play from Fabio, Flight and others. This was followed by the duoÕs memorable remix of Forever Young, featuring Elizabeth Troy, in memory of the Botchit label boss Vini Medley, which received attention across the scene. At this point, Fabio's legendary Swerve sessions were in full swing down at the Velvet Rooms, where they were to hook up with Shy FX and T Power. A CD of new material caught their ear and releases followed on Ebony's Music Lounge imprint, including the liquid anthem Could It Be and the slinky remix of Shy FX and T Power's Everything.
Ill Logic & Raf material has featured on a wide array of compilation albums, from Movement to React's 21st Century Drum'n'Bass collection. Largely inspired by US nu-soul and hip hop producers like Jay Dee, The Neptunes and The Soulaqaurians, the producers are keen to experiment with different tempos, styles and live musicians.
They have increasingly worked with vocalists, on tracks like The Price featuring the mighty Spoonface for Hospital Records. A memorable collaboration also saw the two join forces with legendary UK R'n'B vocalist Don-E in 2004 to produce the anthemic One Stop To Glory for DZR, which was championed by the scene's top DJs. The track was given A-list support from BBC Radio 1xtra, was regularly played on Radio 1 and the video was featured on MTV. Remixes by Paradox and Total Science were later to be commissioned. The dynamic duo have now fully broken into the top tier of drum n bass producers, having signed tracks to legendary labels such as: Hospital, Liquid V, 31 Records, Bingo, Soul:r and Metalheadz Platinum. Watch out for an album in the pipeline, planned for release in late 2007.
Fusing elements of Jazz, Soul, Techno and Hip Hop, Alex and Raf have developed a unique sound that stands out from the rest. Given the superb quality of what they have released to date, it can only go from strength to strength, finding new heights in LP format. Mixmag recognised this potential in early 2006, featuring Ill Logic and Raf in a series entitled Future Heroes, earmarking them as leaders of the new school.
