| Bomb The Bass |
| Background
information |
| Birth name |
Tim Simenon |
| Born |
21 June 1968 |
| Origin |
Brixton, London, England  |
| Genre(s) |
Acid House, Electronica,
Trip-hop |
| Occupation(s) |
producer, mixer, musician |
Associated
acts |
Coldcut, Kruder
& Dorfmeister |
Tim Simenon (born on 21 June 1968) is a record
producer.
Early career
He started off his music career in the late 1980s, DJing at London's Wag Club.
From his record collection, and experience on a music production
college course, he used a basic music production set up, to produce
"Beat Dis". "Beat Dis" was a cut and paste record,
fusing old
school hip hop, funk including the Jimmy Castor Bunch, and
samples from 'The Good, the Bad and
the Ugly' and 'Thunderbirds' soundtracks.
The record reputedly cost £500 to make, in between Simenon's
then work as a shelf stacker in a supermarket and as a DJ.
The record first appeared on the Mister-Ron imprint, a ruse
designed to pretend that the record was a U.S.
import, fresh out of New York. The record went straight into the
UK
singles chart at number two when released by Rhythm King records. Its
Smiley artwork, borrowed from the Watchmen comic books, influenced much of
the imagery surrounding the 'acid house' and 'rave' scenes.
Success
Simenon went on to follow up the track with three more singles
taken from a hastily recorded album Into the Dragon.
Into the Dragon acknowledged the debt it owed to the
Japanese
hip-hop label Major Force, New York
producer Steinski, UK
artists Massive Attack / Wild Bunch
and the 23
Skidoo / Ronin
collective.
Alongside production on the album, Simenon also was part of
Nation 12, along with John Foxx, a music veteran who
had been in various electronic and new romantic bands since the early 1980s. Nation 12's
releases enjoyed a measure of success in clubs and raves across the UK.
In the late 1980s Simenon produced the wildly popular single
"Buffalo Stance" by Swedish/African artist Neneh
Cherry. The song features lyrics which pay homage to Simenon ("Bomb
the Bass, rock this place"). The song reached number three on the UK
singles chart and number 1 on the US dance chart.
In the early 1990s
Simenon changed his sound, to incorporate raw rock guitars, pioneering trip hop on
his two albums Unknown Territory and Clear.
Unknown Territory was delayed when Pink
Floyd refused to allow a piece of "Money" to be sampled on
one of the album's tracks. Unknown Territory
continued the motif of borrowing from popular culture, with samples
from both The Good, the Bad and
the Ugly and Death Race 2000 soundtracks, and
films like Videodrome.
Clear was released on the Stoned Heights imprint of Island
Records. It was heavily influenced by the writings of William
Burroughs, and featured a number of contributors including rapper
Justin Warfield, singer Sinéad O'Connor and novelist Will Self.
Later on
Simenon has remixed, and produced, a wide range of artists
including Bjork, Massive Attack, Ash, Seal,
rap act Consolidated,
French producer Hector Zazou, Gavin
Friday and Depeche Mode.
He now lives in Amsterdam, and releases records under both
the Bomb
the Bass, and Flow Creator monikers. A new Bomb the Bass album titled
"Future Chaos" is currently being mixed and features collaborations
with Toob, Jon Spencer, Jack Dangers from Meat Beat Manifesto, Justin
Warfield and Paul Conboy.
More recently Simenon has produced the latest album by the Bangkok based electro clash band Futon, remarking
that he'd become addicted to the city of Bangkok, enjoying the pace of
life and excellent nightlife.
