South London
big beat trio
Headrillaz produce caustic, bombastic up-tempo
trip-hop in the
Chemical Brothers/
Monkey Mafia mold, fusing rock-based samples and attitude with elements of
house,
techno, and club-bound hip-hop. Formed in 1995 as an offshoot of Ninja Tune acid-jazz/
trip-hop group
Slowly,
Headrillaz is the brother/stepbrother team of
Casper,
Saul, and
Darius Kedros, all of whom had produced music in one form or another since their early teens. The name
Headrillaz first surfaced as a remix credit on one of a string of experimental Brit-hop 12"s following
Slowly's demise (the
Kedros brothers released a number of singles as
Tranquil Elephantizer and
Trunk); and continued as a proper project after London producer
Howie "B" Bernstein saw the group dirty up a DATs'n'tables performance in a club.
Bernstein insisted on releasing their 1996 debut 12", Weird Planet, on his own Pussyfoot label, and the group followed up with two more 12"s -- Screaming Heads and Spacefuck 2010 -- before releasing the full-length Coldharbour Rocks in 1997. A singles compilation mostly, Coldharbour collected the best of the group's Pussyfoot output to date and added a few unreleased cuts. The trio's live performances also escalated to the band level, with a full touring ensemble landing gigs at major U.K. festivals such as
Tribal Gathering and
Glastonbury. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide
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The Right Way [CD]