James Adrian Brown

Last updated

James Adrian Brown
J A Brown 2024.png
J A Brown in 2024
Background information
Born (1982-06-19) 19 June 1982 (age 42)
Origin Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Genres electronic music, Indie rock, alternative rock
Occupation(s)Guitarist, composer, songwriter
Instrument(s)Guitar, Piano, Synth
Years active2008–present
Labels Transgressive, Sony, Caroline International, Universal Music, EMI Music Publishing
Formerly of
Website www.jamesadrianbrown.com

James Adrian Brown (born June 1984 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England) [1] is a musician, solo electronic artist, composer and former guitarist and songwriter with the English alternative rock band Pulled Apart by Horses.

Contents

He has been described as an icon in the making, throwing himself around the stage with a blatant disregard to health and safety. [2] [3]

Solo electronic project

Brown embarked upon creating electronic compositions during the nationwide lockdown of the UK brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. It was stated this was a way to combat his ongoing mental health issues and to continue creating music. It wasn't until a year later in October 2021 that the first of these recordings were heard and released by Leeds, West Yorkshire based electronic/ambient record label Analog Horizons.

The first track "To Be In Two Places At Once" was released 26 October 2021 and was shortly followed by another single titled "Everything Follows" released 25 November 2021 and was accompanied by a short psychological horror film shot on Saddleworth Moor in North West England.

A third single titled "Cadence" released 22 July 2022, featuring a music video [4] created by an Artificial intelligence program called WZRD built by Xander Steenbrugge. Brown referenced the track as being influenced by 'a world full of algorithms and bots learning what we do and want'. [5]

Alongside writing and releasing his own compositions of original work, Brown has also remixed music by the post-punk band I Like Trains [6] and former Wild Beasts frontman Hayden Thorpe. [7]

On 31 March 2023, James released 200 limited copies of a rose red 7" single titled 'There Is Space Under Your Seat' with UK based electronic record label Castles In Space. [8]

On July 19, 2024, Castles In Space released a six-track EP titled Terra Incognita. The EP was made available in two distinct vinyl editions. Brown has mentioned that the music was inspired by and crafted as a means to address some of his mental health challenges. [9]

Brown has commented on a full length debut studio album being in the works. [10]

Pulled Apart by Horses

Brown formed the band in 2008. They were signed by Transgressive Records in 2009, and released their debut self-titled album Pulled Apart by Horses on 21 June 2010. In August 2011, the band went into Monnow Valley Studio in Wales to record with record producer Gil Norton, and their second album Tough Love was released to critical acclaim on 20 January 2012. [11]

Brown performing in Pulled Apart By Horses Pulled Apart By Horses (6896125903).jpg
Brown performing in Pulled Apart By Horses

After Tough Love, the band sold out their first European tour, and went on to support Biffy Clyro and Foals. In 2010 they supported Muse at the Manchester County Cricket Ground. [12]

In September 2014 the band's third album Blood became their first top 40, entering the charts at 38. [13] In 2016, Brown and bandmate, Tom Hudson, recorded a take over for Annie Mac and the BBC's Radio 1 in the United Kingdom. [14]

The band's next album, The Haze was released in March 2017 and reached number 12 in the charts. [15] [16]

On 25 May 2022, after 14 years as the band’s lead guitarist, Brown announced his departure from the band via his Instagram page.

Other musical projects

Since 2017, Brown has been collaborating with the composer Benson Taylor. [17] In 2018 Brown travelled to Beirut, Lebanon to perform with singer songwriter Nadine Shah live and collaborated with her on an original piece of music for a BBC Radio 4 documentary. [18]

It is believed he also began composing and writing original music for TV & film during the latter part of 2018 with Benson Taylor. [19]

In early 2020 Brown collaborated with Welsh poet and play-wright Patrick Jones, British/Singaporean film director Paul Sng and BBC Radio 1 presenter and DJ Huw Stephens. Their collaboration brought about the creation of a short film titled "Ghosts Of '39" which visually follows in the weary footsteps of the Chartists march during the Newport Rising of nearly 200 years ago while bearing witness to the inequality still obvious along the route today. Brown composed an original score for the production featuring live string orchestration and analogue synthesisers. [20]

During the beginning of 2021 Brown announced he had begun working on an original film-score for a Mexican feature film. The post apocalyptic horror production is titled ‘La Ultima Flor del Cerezo’ (The Last Cherry Blossom) with director Héctor Hernández. It is due for release later in 2021. [21]

Awards

Brown received the award for 'Best Original Music Short Film' at the 7 Colors Lagoon, Bacalar International Film Festival in 2023 for his work on ‘La Ultima Flor del Cerezo’ (The Last Cherry Blossom). [22]

Personal life

Brown studied art at college and university for five years in Leeds, UK. He has been a keen gamer since he was a young child. [23] He is a clothing ambassador for the British brand Farah. [24]

In 2012, Brown commented to Clash Magazine what it is like sharing a name with the soul legend, James Brown, "I'll never forget Christmas Day of 2006 when he passed away, I was drunk as a sailor the night before and awoke in the morning to find 26 text messages from friends saying 'R.I.P James' and 'Papa's Got A Brand New Body Bag'. I thought I'd died or something." [25]

Gear

Brown uses a variety of Fender American standard Telecaster electric guitars and a 50 watt Hayden Speakeasy amplifier, which is an all-valve hand-wired head with two channels that have been modified for extra gain. He plays that through a 2x12 cab. Overall Brown is noted for using high gain treble sound so that the two guitar sounds are separated and balanced out.

Brown uses an Ibanez analogue delay pedal for his atmospheric lead guitar parts [26] and a Korg MS-20 synthesizer for his composing work. [27]

Pulled Apart by Horses - James Brown (Krach am Bach 2014) Pulled Apart by Horses - James Brown (Krach am Bach 2014) IMGP9350 smial wp.jpg
Pulled Apart by Horses – James Brown (Krach am Bach 2014)

Discography

Pulled Apart by Horses studio albums

TitleAlbum detailsPeak chart positions
UK
Pulled Apart by Horses –
Tough Love
  • Released: 23 January 2012
  • Label: Transgressive Records
  • Format: Vinyl, CD, digital download
67
Blood
  • Released: 1 September 2014
  • Label: Sony Music
  • Format: Vinyl, CD, digital download
38
The Haze 12
"—" denotes album that did not chart or was not released

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References

  1. ↑ "James Brown (Pulled Apart By Horses) blows candles on his birthday cake". YouTube. 19 June 2010.
  2. ↑ "Pulled Apart By Horses | TV is Better". 1 December 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  3. ↑ "Pulled Apart by Horses". Dazeddigital.com. 25 September 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  4. ↑ "James Adrian Brown – Cadence". YouTube . 21 July 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  5. ↑ "James Adrian Brown on Instagram: "In a world full of algorithms and bots learning what we do and want, it seemed fitting to let AI have a go at making the video for my new track Cadence. The video was entirely created by AI and a machine learning technique called GAN (generative adversarial network). The system decided what to output based on nothing other than frequencies, tempo and rhythm. I'm still quite confused by it all, but embrace it with open arms. Let them make art, not just direct us towards adverts and better routes to and from work. Skynet is coming, but we'll all be friends. Head to the link in my bio to watch. Hope you like // JABx Scaling by Sanjay Jayan AI – WZRD @wzrd.ai.official Creator – Xander Steenbrugge @analoghorizons #ai #artificialintelligence #videoart #visualart #filmart #visualarts"". Instagram. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  6. ↑ "PRISM – JAB Remix". Spotify . 26 May 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  7. ↑ "Metafeeling – James Adrian Brown Remix". Spotify . 19 August 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  8. ↑ "Label Site". Castles In Space shop.
  9. ↑ Matt (7 August 2024). "James Adrian Brown's "Limbic System": An Immersive Sonic Exploration". Electronica: In-Depth Reviews and News on Electronic Music. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  10. ↑ Seaman, Duncan (22 February 2022). ""James Adrian Brown: 'I realised I love making music for moving pictures'"". Yorkshire Post . Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  11. ↑ "Thekla: Pulled Apart By Horses". Theklabristol.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  12. ↑ "Pulled Apart By Horses: 'Muse Asked Us To Support Them On UK Tour'". Gigwise.com. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  13. ↑ "ROYAL BLOOD SLIP TO NUMBER 2 AS LONELY THE BRAVE AND PULLED APART BY HORSES HIT TOP 40 ALBUMS CHART". DIY . 7 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "Radio 1 Artist Takeover: Pulled Apart by Horses' Playlist's playlist's Top Tracks – BBC Playlists". Bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  15. ↑ "Pulled Apart By Horses announce new album 'The Haze'". DIY. 18 January 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  16. ↑ "Pulled Apart By Horses Announce New Album 'The Haze', Out 3/17". Broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  17. ↑ Brown, James. "Been cooking up some new beats and sounds with @_bensontaylor this week pic.twitter.com/kvVzN4KiqQ". Twitter.com. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  18. ↑ "BBC – The Sound Odyssey – Media Centre". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  19. ↑ "James Brown on Instagram: "Recording an album of soundscapes and drones with Benson Taylor & @greaves_alex in the mega @nave_studios in #Leeds all this week 😍 Loving…"". Instagram.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  20. ↑ "Ghosts of '39 (Original Score)". Spotify . 14 August 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  21. ↑ "James Brown on Instagram: "🧟‍♀️🌺😃 Pretty god damn freaking excited to be scoring a short Mexican film titled 'La Última Flor del Cerezo – (The Last Cherry Blossom)'…"". Instagram. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  22. ↑ "James Adrian Brown on Instagram: "Pretty sure I've never won a single thing for anything…. So I'm utterly overjoyed to have won best original music for short film at Bacalar International Film Festival 🤯 Didn't see that coming one bit haha. Hats off to @hector_he95 and all the team involved in making The Last Cherry Blossom 🫡😘 F*ck yeah xxx"". Instagram. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  23. ↑ "The top 10 best video games of all time, by Pulled Apart By Horses' James Brown". Teamrock.com. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  24. ↑ "JAMES BROWN (PULLED APART BY HORSES) INTERVIEW – Farah Blog". Farah.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  25. ↑ "Pulled Apart By Horses Guest Blog". Clasmusic.com. 11 June 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  26. ↑ "Planet Gear: Pulled Apart By Horses on making Tough Love". Drownedinsound.com. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  27. ↑ "James Brown trên Twitter: "Gone and got myself a @KorgUK MS-20 and it's beyond fun 🤯🤯🤯 So good! 🎹💥… "". Archived from the original on 3 October 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
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