Lex Johnson

Last updated

Lex Johnson
Born
London, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
CitizenshipUK
Alma mater UWE Bristol
Occupation(s)Director and Designer
Notable work RWD Magazine | The Booo Krooo | GoldenEye 007 | DAZZLE SHIP | Drone Racing League | Hyper Island

Lex Johnson is a British designer, director and creative executive. He is the founder of creative agency DAZZLE SHIP, a former lecturer at Swedish design institute Hyper Island, and the founding online director of RWD magazine and RWD Forum.

Contents

Career

RWD Online / RWD forum

In 2001, Johnson became founding Online Director of RWD magazine created to push UK garage, grime and dubstep, and RWD became the first platform to champion grime music and feature UK artists Dizzee Rascal, Skepta and Tinchy Stryder. [1] [2] [3] [4]

The RWD forum is mentioned in grime MC's lyric; the most notable incidents were in its earlier years when Wiley would frequently post and often argue or troll with users. [5] In the book This is Grime by Hattie Collins, Wiley states "the RWD forum was a good place" and Matt Mason added "Grime had always been a conversation and Alex understood this and grew RWD forums, making RWD one of the most popular music websites in the UK" [6] [7]

During this period the website received London Business of the Year, UK Garage Awards : Best Website 2002 and Sidewinder Peoples Choice Awards : Best Magazine 2003. Johnson was also personally awarded an "Ernst & Young Future 100" Award in 2011. [8] [9] [10]

The Booo Krooo

The Booo Krooo was an adult animated TV series. Lex Johnson was the producer/animator working in collaboration with Matt Mason (writor) and Julian Johnson (Art). Taking hints from underground music culture and the intersection between UK Garage and Grime, the 3 episode web series [11] was shortly co-signed by Missy Elliott after her PR team asked to feature the artist as part of the campaign for her hit single 'Work It'. [12] [13] [14] The series then acquired a 6-episode deal on Channel U [15] (now named Total Country) and recorded a music video with UK Garage producer 'Sticky' [16] [17] known for hits such as Ms Dynamite's track (also named) 'Boo'. Music publication Ransom Note cited the series as the first 'grime comedy' saying it was 'essentially a proto(type) version of People Just Do Nothing" [18]

Creative consultant

From 2009 - 2013 Johnson worked as a freelance consultant providing strategy for various fashion brands [19] creating campaigns such as the 'adidas About to Blow London Olympics 2012' campaign featuring Tinie Tempah and Mo Farah. [20]

Dubstep / EDM / Grime

Johnson was responsible for design collaborations with dubstep / techno artists such as Appleblim, Headhunter, Pinch, Komonazmuk, Joker (Kapsize) and 2562. [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] The most notable being an Audio Visual live show with Headhunter (Tempa) now called Addison Groove. [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] He also directed music videos for Appleblim and Addison Groove. [31] [32] The most notable was 'Changa' which premiered on the Adult Swim YouTube Channel [33] and gained official selection status and was nominated for awards at Aesthetica, London Short Film Festival, Berlin Music Video Awards, The Smalls, Stockholm Independent Film Festival. [34] His work has been mentioned in books including: Dubstep Graphics [35] [36] and Contemporary Colour Theory. [37] [38] Artwork has been featured in Vice [39] Adult Swim [40] Tech Crunch [41] and includes collaborations with musician Tinie Tempah. [42]

James Bond - GoldenEye

Johnson worked as a motion graphics director with video game developer Eurocom , commissioned by Activision to work with the James Bond franchise to develop GoldenEye 007 and 007 Legends . [43] [44] [45]

Animation / Short Films

He created a handful of films entitled 'Monotone' 'Monkey Business' and 'Do Not Feed The Horses'. Screenings include : AniFest, Resfest, British Film Council and Channel Frederator [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] He was invited to resident at The Pervasive Media studio in Bristol as part of art collective 'Lumiere Digitale' as Technical Director and Developer, Johnson was responsible for animation and visual art direction. [51]

Hyper Island

The business school Hyper Island recruited Johnson between 2014–2017 to teach 'storytelling' to the motion creative course in Stockholm/Karlskrona. [52]

DAZZLE SHIP

In 2013, Johnson founded the design and motion graphics studio - DAZZLE SHIP. The studio divides its time between self initiated projects and client service work. Their clients include Wateraid, Bloomberg, SAP, The Drone Racing League and Blockchain. [53] [54] [55] [56] [57] [58] [59] Their most recent work includes branding the sport of the future 'Drone Racing' [60]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deadbolt (band)</span> American rock band

Deadbolt is an American rock band from San Diego, California. Fusing rockabilly and surf music with tongue-in-cheek horror-themed lyrics, Deadbolt has called itself the "scariest band in the world", classifying their musical style as "voodoobilly".

Grime is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) that emerged in London in the early 2000s. It developed out of the earlier UK dance style UK garage, and draws influences from jungle, dancehall, and hip hop. The style is typified by rapid, syncopated breakbeats, generally around 140 beats per minute, and often features an aggressive or jagged electronic sound. Emceeing is a significant element of the style, and lyrics often revolve around gritty depictions of urban life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bucky Done Gun</span> 2005 single by M.I.A.

"Bucky Done Gun" is the third single from musician M.I.A.'s album Arular. The song was composed in London in 2004 as one of the last compositions for her debut album and credited to Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam, Carol Conners, Bill Conti, Wesley "Diplo" Pentz, Ayn Robbins and Deize Tigrona. It was released by XL Recordings in the UK, Interscope Records in the US and Remote Control Records in Australia on 11 July 2005 in 12-inch vinyl and CD single formats. The B-side of the release is the song "Pull Up the People" from Arular. Upon release, the song reached number 88 on the UK Singles Chart.

Dotmusic was a music webzine that existed as a standalone website from 1 June 1995 to December 2003. Initially intended as the web complement to the UK music industry trade magazine Music Week, the site was relaunched in December 1998 as a website for music fans with features, interviews and the UK charts. The site was edited by Andy Strickland and among its most prominent writers were Nimalan Nadesalingam who contributed artist biographies and James Masterton who contributed a weekly UK chart commentary. After an internship in summer 2000, Alex Donne Johnson used his experience at Dotmusic to go on and found the urban music website RWDmag, which later become one of the key players in the development of grime, UK garage and dubstep online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Now 70s</span> British TV music channel, formerly known as Channel U and Channel AKA

Now 70s is a British free-to-air music television channel, owned by All Around the World Productions, available through Sky UK, Freeview and Virgin Media within the UK. It focuses on music from the 1970s, being the third decade-oriented channel in the Now portfolio, along with Now 80s and Now 90s & 00s.

Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken beat, grime, and drum and bass. In the United Kingdom, the origins of the genre can be traced back to the growth of the Jamaican sound system party scene in the early 1980s.

RWD Magazine is a British-based magazine which features music, style, sport, gaming, film, technology, news, interviews and charts on hip hop, grime, dubstep, R&B, UK garage, drum and bass and U.S. house music. Running from 2001–2014 It was released monthly, distributing 98,300 copies each time and was ABC certified. It was considered the largest magazine on youth music and lifestyle in the United Kingdom.

Bassline is a music genre closely related to UK garage that originated in South Yorkshire and the West Midlands in the early 2000s. Stylistically it comprises a four-to-the-floor rhythm normally at around 135–142 beats per minute and a strong emphasis on bass, similar to that of its precursor speed garage, with chopped up vocal samples and a pop music aesthetic.

So Solid Crew are a British UK garage and hip hop collective originating from Battersea, London, which achieved wide success in the early 2000s. The group consisted of many members, the most notable being Asher D, Lisa Maffia, Harvey and Romeo. So Solid have been credited for being pioneers in the UK music scene. By turning UK garage from a dancey-genre to one that was darker and more MC-oriented, and gaining mainstream success, they inspired London youth to experiment with their own darker sounds, leading to what would become known as grime music.

Nabil Elderkin is an American-born Australian film and music video director and photographer, who is of Iranian and American descent. He is mononymously credited as Nabil in his videos. Elderkin has directed videos for musical artists such as: Dua Lipa, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, John Legend, and Foals. Born in Chicago and raised in Australia, he is most recently based in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D Double E</span> British rapper

Darren Jason Dixon, known professionally as D Double E, is a British grime MC, DJ and record producer from Forest Gate, East London. He performs both as a solo artist and as a member of the grime duo Newham Generals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stormzy</span> British rapper (born 1993)

Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr., known professionally as Stormzy, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2014, he gained attention on the UK underground music scene through his Wicked Skengman series of freestyles over classic grime beats. Stormzy's song "Shut Up", which was initially released as a freestyle on YouTube, became popular and peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart after he launched a campaign to reach Christmas number one.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Mason (author)</span> English author and businessman (born 1978)

Matt Mason is an English author and creative executive. He is the former chief content officer for BitTorrent Inc. and studio head at 1-800-N0TH1NG, an innovation lab financed by Sony Pictures Entertainment. He is the author of The Pirate's Dilemma and the founding editor-in-chief of RWD Magazine. He has written for VICE, The Observer, Complex, and other publications in more than twenty countries.

Channel U was a British digital satellite TV music channel that focused on the British grime scene which ran from February 2003 to June 2018.

Tony Williams, better known as Addison Groove, is an electronic music artist from Bristol, United Kingdom. Noted for his fusion of styles such as Techno, Jungle, Soul, Juke and Dubstep, he released his first album 'Nomad' on Tempa in 2008.

<i>The Booo Krooo</i> British animated series

The Booo Krooo started life as a comic strip and then turned into a web-series and then a UK adult animated sitcom created by Matt Mason, Alex Donne Johnson and Julian Johnson for the now defunct British TV network Channel U . The series follows the mis-adventures of three up-and-coming grime/rap MCs who are constantly trying to find ways to get famous, get girls or save the world.

GRM Daily, formerly Grime Daily, is a British urban music outlet and entertainment platform. As the name suggests, the platform is an outlet for UK rap and its various genres, such as UK drill, afroswing, trap, and British hip hop. The platform also serves electronic genres such as UK garage and grime.

Lord of the Mics is a series of recorded grime clashes, headed by Jammer and Chad 'Ratty' Stennett. Each edition of LOTM features grime MCs participating in recorded clashes, in which they 'battle' each other over grime instrumentals. Various notable grime MCs have participated in Lord of the Mics, such as Skepta, Wiley, Kano, and P Money. LOTM was originally launched in 2004. The first clash to be filmed for LOTM, Wiley versus Kano, was filmed in Jammer's basement. The series was originally only published on DVD. LOTM was the first platform that released filmed grime clashes.

Vector Meldrew is a British artist and creative executive. He was a former lecturer at the Swedish design institute Hyper Island, and the creator of the grime website RWD Magazine, as well as the associated RWD forum. He is an established crypto artist and has auctioned his work at Bonhams.

Olivia Rose is a British portrait photographer and music video director, living in London. Her photographs are held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

References

  1. ↑ Mason, Matt (5 May 2009). The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism. Simon and Schuster. ISBN   9781416532200.
  2. ↑ Pattenden, Siân (31 May 2012). How To Make it in the Music Business. Random House. ISBN   9781448132447.
  3. ↑ Collins, Hattie; Rose, Olivia (8 September 2016). This is Grime - Hattie Collins. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN   9781473639294.
  4. ↑ Collins, Hattie (2016). This is Grime. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN   9781473639270.
  5. ↑ "IN CONVERSATION W/ HATTIE COLLINS: THE 'RWD FORUM' LEGACY, "WILEY BEING WILEY", LIVERPOOL STYLEE, NEW MEDIA & MORE".
  6. ↑ Collins, Hattie; Rose, Olivia (8 September 2016). This is Grime - Google Books. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN   9781473639294.
  7. ↑ Collins, Hattie (2016). This is Grime. HODDER & STOUGHTON. ISBN   9781473639294.
  8. ↑ "Ernst + Young - FUTURE 100 2011 WINNERS – FULL SUMMARY". 16 November 2011.
  9. ↑ "FUTURE 100 2011 WINNERS – FULL SUMMARY". 16 November 2011.
  10. ↑ "RWD WINS AT THE SIDEWINDER & NSC PEOPLES CHOICE AWARDS »". Archived from the original on 30 June 2004.
  11. ↑ "RWDmag Booo Krooo Page". Archived from the original on 17 December 2002.
  12. ↑ Mason, Matt (2008). The Pirates Dilemma. US / UK: Penguin Books. pp. 215–218. ISBN   9780141920634.
  13. ↑ "RWDmag Web Archive". RWDMAG. 2002. Archived from the original on 22 November 2002.
  14. ↑ "THE BOOO KROOO WORK IT!". RWDmag. Archived from the original on 30 June 2004.
  15. ↑ "RWDmag Booo Krooo". RWDmag. Archived from the original on 22 April 2004.
  16. ↑ "Sticky on Ninja Tune". Ninja Tune.
  17. ↑ "The Boo Kroo Theme Music Video". YouTube. 2003.
  18. ↑ "Gone To A Rave: An Incomplete History Of Grime Comedy". 20 August 2021.
  19. ↑ "Ravensbourne".
  20. ↑ "adidas - About to Blow".
  21. ↑ "Subloaded is 6!!!". 16 September 2010.
  22. ↑ "2562 unbalance". October 2009.
  23. ↑ "discogs". Discogs .
  24. ↑ "Komonazmuk album artwork". Archived from the original on 26 December 2021.
  25. ↑ "Kapsize label artwork". Archived from the original on 26 December 2021.
  26. ↑ "HEADHUNTER at LEV FESTIVAL". Archived from the original on 3 May 2010.
  27. ↑ "Headhunter LIVE AV Set @ Stuk Belgium". YouTube .
  28. ↑ "Headhunter LIVE with VJ". YouTube .
  29. ↑ "Addison Groove's new funk-filled 'Changa' music video".
  30. ↑ "Frederator Studios Blogs | Channel Frederator Blog | Monkey Business, A Channel Frederator Featured Film!" . Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  31. ↑ "Lose Your Mind with the Warped and Wonderful Video for Addison Groove's "Changa"". 22 February 2017.
  32. ↑ "Dive into a trippy 3D world with his latest video for Addison Groove".
  33. ↑ "Addison Groove - Changa (MUSIC VIDEO) | Adult Swim". YouTube .
  34. ↑ "Addison Groove".
  35. ↑ "DUBSTEP GRAPHICS".
  36. ↑ Tàpies, Xavier A. (July 2014). DUBSTEP GRAPHICS. Graffito Books Ltd. ISBN   978-1909051119.
  37. ↑ Bleicher, Steven (25 July 2012). Contemporary Color Theory. Cengage Learning. ISBN   978-1111538910.
  38. ↑ Bleicher, Steven (2011). Contemporary Color: Theory and Use. CENGAGE Delmar Learning; International edition. ISBN   9781111538910.
  39. ↑ Vice. "Vector Meldrew Vice".
  40. ↑ Adult Swim. "Adult Swim". YouTube .
  41. ↑ "Tech Crunch". 15 March 2021.
  42. ↑ "Groundbreaking NFT Art Residency To Launch In The French Riviera This June". Harper's Bazaar Arabia. 29 June 2021.
  43. ↑ "James Bond Goldeneye". November 2010.
  44. ↑ "007". January 2011.
  45. ↑ "IMDB". IMDb .
  46. ↑ "MONKEY BUSINESS (2007)". Archived from the original on 31 December 2008.
  47. ↑ "Monkey Business, A Channel Frederator Featured Film!". Archived from the original on 2 January 2009.
  48. ↑ "MONOTONE (2006)". Archived from the original on 31 December 2008.
  49. ↑ "British Film Council Monkey Business".
  50. ↑ "British Film Council - Monotone".
  51. ↑ "Pervasive Media Bristol".
  52. ↑ "Hyper Island student animations 2014: Watch 13 brilliant short animated films created with Dazzle Ship and Echoic".
  53. ↑ "ALEX DONNE JOHNSON". February 2019.
  54. ↑ "Alex Donne-Johnson Art Director and Motion Designer".
  55. ↑ "The Design Jones".
  56. ↑ "GLUG PROFILES: ALEX DONNE-JOHNSON".
  57. ↑ "Visiting Speaker: Alex Donne-Johnson, Art Director & Motion Designer". 19 February 2016.
  58. ↑ "Prepare to be dazzled with Alex Donne Johnson".
  59. ↑ "Passionate about Design".
  60. ↑ "DRL Allianz World Championship // Brand Package".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.