It would easy to pretend that I was already well familiar with Leftfield and their weighty influence on the world of electronic dance music long before the line up for Electric Fields was announced; to say that I owned a cupboard of camouflage gear, an army of bucket hats and had various tales to regale about the glory days of electronic dance music, the birth of the house scene and rotating chewing gum for days on end while living in the same warehouse rave for a full week or two in the 90s.
Alas, this was not the case. Despite a fervent passion for electronic music - yet evidently, not fervent enough - I had never had the pleasure. For those who find themselves in a similar boat, the London duo are one of the biggest electronic bands of the 90’s, and have even been described as "the single most influential production team working in British dance music" by the trusty lot over at MixMag.
As I say, it would have been easy to pretend that I knew all that long before the gig, but then this review would’ve just been another internet site saying good things about a band because, well that’s what you’re meant to do. This way, it’s a bit more interesting. Because the thing about band’s with lasting legacies is that often their actual music has become less and less accessible or relevant as time has gone on. For Leftfield, this is not the case. So this way, we get to say good things about the music because the music deserves it, and because to be able to draw in new customers 16 years after first ending the group (Leftfield initially ran from 1989 - 2002 before reforming in 2010), speaks volumes in itself.
I quickly went from completely ignorant to completely hooked on Leftfield’s hard-hitting electronic sound in the run up to Electric Fields. Perhaps it’s how blatant and apparent the influence of their music is to what followed and the modern day, even on first listen, that makes them so accessible. The term “progressive house”, used as a genre these days, was actually first coined to define Leftfield’s fusion of house with dub and reggae.
Alas, this was not the case. Despite a fervent passion for electronic music - yet evidently, not fervent enough - I had never had the pleasure. For those who find themselves in a similar boat, the London duo are one of the biggest electronic bands of the 90’s, and have even been described as "the single most influential production team working in British dance music" by the trusty lot over at MixMag.
As I say, it would have been easy to pretend that I knew all that long before the gig, but then this review would’ve just been another internet site saying good things about a band because, well that’s what you’re meant to do. This way, it’s a bit more interesting. Because the thing about band’s with lasting legacies is that often their actual music has become less and less accessible or relevant as time has gone on. For Leftfield, this is not the case. So this way, we get to say good things about the music because the music deserves it, and because to be able to draw in new customers 16 years after first ending the group (Leftfield initially ran from 1989 - 2002 before reforming in 2010), speaks volumes in itself.
I quickly went from completely ignorant to completely hooked on Leftfield’s hard-hitting electronic sound in the run up to Electric Fields. Perhaps it’s how blatant and apparent the influence of their music is to what followed and the modern day, even on first listen, that makes them so accessible. The term “progressive house”, used as a genre these days, was actually first coined to define Leftfield’s fusion of house with dub and reggae.
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