About this artist
British producer and DJ Luke Vibert has explored numerous styles of electronic music since the early 1990s, with constant factors being a mastery of groove construction, a whimsical sense of humor, and a sincere love for dance music’s history. His lengthy, productive career has brought acclaimed releases on several esteemed labels, including Warp, Rephlex, Mo’ Wax, and Ninja Tune. During the mid-’90s, his material as Wagon Christ (including 1995′s Throbbing Pouch) redefined trip-hop’s more abstract side, while his work as Plug (1996′s Drum'n'Bass for Papa) pioneered the experimental jungle offshoot dubbed drill’n’bass. Vibert’s subsequent releases under his own name ranged from chilled-out downtempo (including 2000′s Stop the Panic, with B.J. Cole) to acid house homages (2003′s YosepH), while his Kerrier District explored electro and disco, and he further subverted jungle as Amen Andrews. Keeping up his prolific pace several decades into his career, he issued a triptych of 2020 albums each dedicated to a different style (Luke Vibert Presents... Amen Andrews, Modern Rave, and Rave Hop), in addition to the first Wagon Christ release in nine years (Recepticon). The playful, acid-heavy GRIT. appeared in 2022.
The native of Redruth, Cornwall, England got into performing through a punk band, and then with a rap group. He became interested in producing hip-hop and electronic music during the late ’80s. In 1993, he collaborated with Jeremy Simmonds for Weirs, an album of occasionally harsh IDM/neo-electro released on Rephlex, credited to Vibert/Simmonds. After he released influential material as both Wagon Christ and Plug, the first proper Luke Vibert album, a set of instrumental hip-hop titled Big Soup, followed for Mo’ Wax in 1997.
Vibert’s activity during the 2000s, including records on retro-futuristic post-disco outlet Kerrier District, played out like a series of diversions rather than as a linear, predictable run of releases. Much of the output released under his birth name, however, incorporated acid — the liquid wriggles pioneered by Chicago house act Phuture’s overdriven Roland TB-303 basslines. Stop the Panic (Astralwerks, 2000) was a collaboration with pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole. Vibert selected two volumes of library music, Nuggets: Luke Vibert's Selection (2001) and Luke Vibert's Further Nuggets (2002), for the Lo label. The compilations seemingly informed the synthesis of ’70s avant-electronics, electro, and acid heard on YosepH (Warp, 2003).
Lover's Acid (Planet Mu, 2005) applied acid to mostly downtempo productions; one of its track titles, “Analord,” was used by Cornwall pal Richard James for an extensive series of like-minded AFX EPs. Chicago, Detroit, Redruth (Planet Mu, 2007) wasn’t a total break from the previous release but roamed from alien, ambient soundscapes to Edwin Birdsong-sampling acid-rap fusions. For Moog Acid (Lo, 2007), he teamed with French musique concrète figure Jean-Jacques Perry. Rhythm (Soundofspeed, 2008) anthologized a series of sample-heavy instrumental hip-hop EPs. Vibert closed out the decade with the diverse and typically humor-laced We Hear You (Planet Mu, 2009).
During the early 2010s, Vibert kept Wagon Christ active and revived drum’n’bass alias Plug for a collection of previously unreleased material. A third Nuggets compilation was released on Lo in 2013. Armed once more with the TB-303, he recorded Ridmik. Credited to Luke Vibert, it was released on the Hypercolour label in 2014. The following year saw the release of the mischievous Vibert album Bizarster and Kerrier District 4 (his first full-length under that name in nine years). Two contributions to the I Love Acid series preceded Luke Vibert Presents UK Garave, Vol. 1, an homage to the heyday of U.K. garage and rave that arrived in 2017. A full-length on I Love Acid, Valvable, appeared in 2019. In 2020, Vibert returned to Hypercolour with three albums each dedicated to a specific style. Luke Vibert Presents... Amen Andrews was a return to his jungle alias, Modern Rave paid tribute to the early days of breakbeat hardcore, and Rave Hop focused on downtempo breakbeats. Capping off a prolific year, he returned to his Wagon Christ alias with Recepticon. In 2021, Vibert released an acid house EP on the We’re Going Deep label. The bouncy, acidic full-length GRIT. was issued by Hypercolour in 2022. ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson