
Born in Leicester in 1972 and subsequently raised in the quaint
surrounds of Warwickshire's Victorian health mecca, Leamington Spa, the
story of Si Begg is intriguing, non conformist and riddled with
unexpected twists and turns.
By his mid teens he had cultivated a fascination with the mechanics of
sound, consuming sonic pioneers from Frank Zappa to contemporary noise
terrorists like Nalpalm Death and electronic futurists Kraftwerk. It
was inevitable that his burgeoning musical interests would soon inspire
him to take a more hands on role. By the late 80's he'd formed the
traditional school bands playing the guitar and drums but also began to
collate a primitive armoury of equipment. Antiquated reel to reels,
shortwave radios, borrowed analogue synths and even a ZX spectrum,
anything that made a sound was eagerly exploited. Spurred on by the
experiments of Cabaret Voltaire, Severed Heads and SST Records' agit
cut 'n' paste merchants Negativland, Begg made his first steps into
music production. The results were hours of recordings under the name
Cabbage Head, created with a loose group of like-minded musicians and
artists. These anarchic slice and splice affairs showed a complete
disregard for genres and stylistic concerns, anything and everything
was fair game. This was a blueprint Begg was to follow throughout his
career.
By the turn of the '90's the musical landscape had changed beyond all
recognition. Electronic music, which a mere half-decade previous had
seemed a futuristic form only available to the few, had become
accessible to all due the availability of cheap equipment. Clubs like
Amnesia in Coventry, the DIY ethic of far reaching labels such as
Sheffield's Warp Records and the pioneering spirit of John Peel who's
radio programme showcased talents from UR to Whitehouse acted as the
catalyst for Begg to delve further into his sonic pursuits.
By 1991 Begg had been DJing regularly in the Warwickshire area and was
continuing with his Cabbage Head projects. After a handful of aborted
attempts at higher education Begg had relocated to London and had begun
DJing at squat parties on a weekly basis. In 1994 Begg began to
establish himself as a force in electronic music. Inspired and spurred
on by close friend
Cristian Vogel they released the Inevitable Technology EP on Thomas
Heckmanns Trope label which garnered a considerable amount of critical
acclaim. By the turn of 1995 Begg had embarked on an unstoppable
musical path that would see him release a multitude of singles while
constantly shifting labels and forever plundering styles and genres
like a modern day electronic Fagan.
1996 to 1998 saw an explosion of releases. His workload became mammoth
as EP after EP was churned out under an alarming array of monikers
including Bigfoot, Cabbage Boy, Buckfunk 3000 and plain old Si Begg.
Work usually came via friends and close associates as Begg set about
mystifying expectations as he hopped between styles on a regular basis
recording for Tresor, Language, Eukatech and Ninjatune.
Typical of his approach were his first two albums. On the one hand
recording an album of plunderphonic experiments as Cabbage Boy on
N-Tone (Ninjatunes ‘experimental’ off-shoot) which encompassed the cut
and paste ethics of hip-hop, adding newly available digital
manipulation techniques. On the other hand his Buckfunk 3000 project on
Language was a blast of the future, mashing up Detroit techno, drum and
bass and electro p-funk adding to the work of T-Power and Freq Nasty
and what was fast becoming the nu-school breaks scene.
Never content to stand idle, Begg continued on his mission. Confounding
the critics with his anything goes approach to music making. Amazingly,
he also found time to run a number of labels such as Mosquito with
Cristian Vogel, Noodles and Noodles Discoteque. His first release on
Noodles, which Begg dubbed ‘the stupidest recording organisation in the
world’, was The Complete Death Of Cool (Noodles/Leaf label) A 38 track,
72min, cut 'n' paste compilation of his own work and his worldwide
league of ‘noodle-eers’, it both baffled and delighted the critics and
public alike with its musical chutzpah.
By the turn of the millennium Begg had settled in North London, set up
a studio, signed to novamute and hatched plans for his next album, The
Mission Statement under the guise of S.I. Futures. An electronic dig at
the corporate world of monotony and hegemony that Begg felt mirrored
the path that dance music was then heading down, the albums playful
feel and effortless ease was a long way from the rigid conformity of
his musical peers. Bold, brash and stylistically diverse, the album
hinted at the path ahead for the already critically lauded Begg.
Amongst the steady stream of releases Begg also finds time to travel
the world Djing and performing live. He's played some of the worlds
most renowned clubs including The Boutique at Fabric in London, Tresor
in Berlin and Liquid Rooms in Tokyo. Other recent projects have
included music for a short film, sound design for programs on the BBC
and experimental audio for a cover DVD for Creative Review magazine.
Director’s Cut started from nothing. No old ideas, no half finished
tracks from previous incarnations. Recorded over the past year in his
home studio, the intention was to produce an album that captured the
true spirit of Si Begg. "I wanted it to be a true reflection of my
aesthetics,” commented Begg, adding with an after thought "total self
indulgence at the end of the day". Yet his unstinting self-belief has
created a totally unique album brimming with unusual and far-reaching
ideas.
He may question its wide remit, yet an album of such virtuosity, scope
and courage is something to be applauded. For too long dance music has
remained staunchly ghettoised into hard-line scenes, yet with
Director’s Cut, Begg’s first solo album under his own name, he sets out
to smash the prevailing trends and set a new world order. As Begg
comments, "I have varied tastes so I make varied music. I can't
understand people who make an LP that all sounds the same - do they
only listen to one kind of music?"
Brave, uncompromising and astonishingly diverse, Director’s Cut points
towards the future of electronic music. Towards a world free of
stifling genre boundaries and inverted snobbery. Towards a future
beyond the functional realms of the dancefloor. Towards a time when
such music is judged equally alongside the more, so called, traditional
forms and styles. |