* En anglais uniquement
The electronic trio
South began out of a bond between friends.
Joel Cadbury,
Brett Shaw, and Jamie McDonald met as teenagers while attending Haverstock Secondary School in London. To beat the doldrums of working-class life, they opted to start a band. All are multi-instrumentalists -- McDonald takes on vocal duties whereas all three participate in playing guitar, bass, percussion, and keyboards.
South first delved into professional music by remixing cuts, later tinkering around with
Ian Brown.
UNKLE's
James Lavelle was the one who was most impressed by these young lads' intricate talents and took them under his wing, signing them to his Mo' Wax Recordings by the near end of the '90s. Several 7" limited-edition singles were released alongside a 12" EP, leaving NME, Melody Maker, and Flipside praising
South to be one of the major facets of music for 2000.
Of course, this led to their stunning debut,
From Here on In, which took shape later that spring. It was an impressive mix of dark acoustics, hushing vocals, and breezy yet rough-cut dance beats.
Lavelle's love for
South also allowed the band to collaborate on the soundtrack to Jonathan Glazer's thriller Sexy Beast in early 2001. Breaks spinning at Fabric and
Damian Harris' Big Beat Boutique also electrified the trio's double musical stance as dance innovators and cross-cultural space rockers. In 2003,
South returned with the
Dave Eringa-produced With the Tides. The limited-edition Speed Up/Slow Down EP marked
South's first release for Young American Recordings in late 2005. For
South's third album, 2006's Adventures in the Underground Journey to the Stars, the English trio did away with its signature electronic layers for a stripped-down, straightforward pop affair. North American dates with
Something for Rockets and
Margot & the Nuclear So and So's coincided with the album's April release date. The band's first-ever concert CD/DVD package, Safety in Numbers: South's Tour Diary, followed six months later. In 2008,
South released You Are Here. ~ MacKenzie Wilson