Mixmasters was a late-night music show, and later a DVD series, of audio-visual and DJ:VJ mixes produced by AV artists Addictive TV. [1] The series ran from 2000 to 2005 and aired in the United Kingdom on ITV. It has since been screened in a number of countries worldwide. The show consisted of 2 short ten-minute DJ sets from independent record labels mixed with innovative visuals, motion graphics and animations by VJs, often with trippy results to psychedelic effect.
The entire Mixmasters project featured nearly 400 artists worldwide, including DJs like Miss Kittin, Ellen Allien, Matthew Dear, Derrick Carter, DJ Spooky, Plump DJs, DMX Krew, Slam and many others including Addictive TV themselves. International labels included the likes of BPitch Control, Soma, Kompakt, Ninja Tune, Ghostly International, Sublime and many others.
It was a ground-breaking and innovative series being the first to put VJs onto broadcast television. LA based label Moonshine Music released five DVDs from the Mixmasters series.
The success of the show resulted in the project's producers, Addictive TV, creating the visual music festival Optronica, a high-profile international event focussing on AV artists and the VJ arts, organised with the British Film Institute.
Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, which featured cut-up samples of hip-hop, soul, funk, spoken word and various other types of music, as well as video and multimedia. According to Spin, "in '87 Coldcut pioneered the British fad for 'DJ records'".
Mixmaster Morris is an English electronica DJ and underground musician who has also recorded as The Irresistible Force. His work in the 1990s blended ambient music and chill-out influences with UK dance styles.
Ninja Tune is an English independent record label based in London with a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More and managed by Peter Quicke and others.
A video jockey is an announcer or host who introduces music videos and live performances on commercial music television channels such as MTV, VH1, MuchMusic and Channel V.
Go Home Productions is the alter ego of Mark Vidler, a producer/remixer/DJ based in Northampton, England. GHP has produced well over 200 mash-ups since May 2002, many of which have been played on both national and independent radio stations around the world. He was born on May 4, 1967 in Barnet, Middlesex, England.
The Big Chill was an annual festival of alternative, dance and chill-out music and comedy, held in the grounds of Eastnor Castle during early August. The 2011 line-up included The Chemical Brothers, Kanye West, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Jessie J, Robert Plant, Calvin Harris, Neneh Cherry, Aloe Blacc, Chipmunk, Katy B & Example. The festival has not been staged since 2011.
Bad Boy Bill is a disc jockey (DJ) from Chicago, Illinois, U.S. who plays an assortment of house music.
Hexstatic are an English electronic music duo, consisting of Stuart Warren Hill and Robin Brunson, that specializes in creating "quirky audio visual electro." Formed in 1997 after Hill and Brunson met while producing visuals at the Channel 5 launch party, they decided to take over for the original members of the Ninja Tune multimedia collective Hex that had disbanded around the same time. They soon collaborated with Coldcut for the Natural Rhythms Trilogy, including the critically acclaimed A/V single "Timber".
Emergency Broadcast Network is a multimedia performance group formed in 1991 that took its name from the Emergency Broadcast System. The founders were Rhode Island School of Design graduates Joshua Pearson, Gardner Post, and Brian Kane. Kane left EBN in 1992. The EBN Live Team included DJ Ron O'Donnell; video artist-technologist Greg Deocampo, founder of Company of Science and Art (CoSA); founding CTO of IFilm.com), artist-designer Tracy Brown; and programmer-technologist Mark Marinello.
Michael Schwartz, better known by his stage name Mix Master Mike, is an American turntablist best known for his work with Beastie Boys.
TMF was a 24-hour music channel operated by Viacom International Media Networks in the Netherlands. The channel was previously in every standard TV package, but it ceased operating on 1 September 2011. The channels operations were based in Amsterdam. The channel was previously known as TMF6 and TMF9.
MTV India is an Indian pay television channel specialising in music, reality and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 as the Indian version of MTV and is owned by Viacom 18, a joint venture operation between MTV International owner Paramount Global and Reliance Industries' TV18. Most of the programming on the channel is produced in Hindi. MTV India has its headquarters in Vile Parle in Mumbai.
The Winter Music Conference (WMC) is a week-long electronic music conference, held every March in Miami Beach, Florida, United States since 1985. It is also known as the premiere platform for electronic dance music. The conference brings together professionals such as artists, DJs, record label representatives (A&R), producers, promoters, radio and the media for seminars and panel discussions. Thousands of attendees attend the WMC each year from around the world.
VJing is a broad designation for realtime visual performance. Characteristics of VJing are the creation or manipulation of imagery in realtime through technological mediation and for an audience, in synchronization to music. VJing often takes place at events such as concerts, nightclubs, music festivals and sometimes in combination with other performative arts. This results in a live multimedia performance that can include music, actors and dancers. The term VJing became popular in its association with MTV's Video Jockey but its origins date back to the New York club scene of the 70s. In both situations VJing is the manipulation or selection of visuals, the same way DJing is a selection and manipulation of audio.
Addictive TV are digital artists known for their movie supercuts and creation of audiovisual remix material, sampling movies and TV. After a number of years recording and filming musicians around the world, in 2017 they signed with German label !K7 to release the album of their Orchestra of Samples project, fusing electronic and world music. Based in London, the group comprises Graham Daniels and Mark Vidler. From 2000 to 2005 they produced the DJ:VJ music television series Mixmasters, and in DJMags 2006 annual poll, Addictive TV were voted #1 VJ in the world for a second time - the first being 2004.
Eclectic Method is the name of an audio-visual remix act, originally formed in London in 2001 by Jonny Wilson. Geoff Gamlen and Ian Edgar. Wilson is the sole remaining member.
Peewee Ferris is a DJ from Sydney. Ferris began mixing at an early age, being inspired by his older brothers Stephen and John who are also DJs.
D-Fuse are a London-based audiovisual artist collective, who use emerging creative technologies to explore social and environmental issues.
System D-128 also known as Duey FM, born name Brian Torres Korlofsky is a music video and film director, editor, video artist, new media artist and producer.
Pascal Kleiman is a French DJ based in Valencia, Spain, who also produced music as DJ RamBam.