C. J. Bolland
Encyclopedia
C. J. Bolland is a British
electronic music
producer
and remix
er.
Born in Stockton-on-Tees
, County Durham
, Bolland's family moved to Antwerp, Belgium
when he was three years old. As a teenager he was strongly influenced by the Belgian underground scene of new wave, electro and EBM
embodied by artists such as Front 242
, Neon Judgement and The Klinik. His first productions were aired in the early 1980s on Belgium's 'Liaisons Dangereuses' radio
show, and Bolland was one of the first record producers to be signed to the fledgling Belgian techno record label
R&S. His first release, "Do That Dance" in 1989, was followed by several more under different aliases such as 'Space Opera', 'The Project', 'Cee-Jay' and 'Pulse'. Bolland's first major success with the track "Horsepower" on 1991's Ravesignal III EP
earned him industry attention and respect with wide airplay amongst European techno DJs, and 1993's 4th Sign album
, including the singles "Camargue" and "Nightbreed" saw him garner further acclaim and commercial success. Bolland's second album for R&S, Electronic Highway, was released in 1995.
In late 1994 Bolland left R&S to sign a five album recording contract
with Internal/Polygram Records. During this time he became notable as the first artist to release an album
in the DJ-Kicks
series for Studio !K7
independent record label
, 1995's DJ-Kicks: C.J. Bolland
. His first studio album for Polygram was 1996's The Analogue Theatre from which his greatest commercial success came with the single "Sugar Is Sweeter" hitting #1 in the United States
Hot Dance Club Play
chart
, and reaching #11 on the UK Singles Chart
. Further UK hits followed with "The Prophet" (#19) and "It Ain't Gonna Be Me" (#35). Bolland is also a prolific remixer with a long résumé, including work with Orbital
, Depeche Mode
, Moby
, The Prodigy
and Tori Amos
. His song "The Prophet", sampling
Willem Dafoe in Martin Scorsese
's 1990 film The Last Temptation of Christ
was an underground club
hit.
In 2000 Bolland released the song "Enter The Robot", a collaboration with the Australian producer, Honeysmack, and in 2002 started his own record label
, Mole Records. February 2004 saw the release of The Body Gave You Everything, the debut album by Magnus
, a dance music
/pop
collaborative project with Tom Barman
, founder and singer for the Belgian
rock band
, dEUS. In December 2006 Bolland released a solo
album called The 5th Sign with the Belgian online record label, The Wack Attack Barrack, followed in October 2009 by 500€ Cocktail. This album is released on Wikkid Records, Beatport and on iTunes.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
er.
Born in Stockton-on-Tees
Stockton-on-Tees
Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in north east England. It is the major settlement in the unitary authority and borough of Stockton-on-Tees. For ceremonial purposes, the borough is split between County Durham and North Yorkshire as it also incorporates a number of smaller towns including...
, County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
, Bolland's family moved to Antwerp, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
when he was three years old. As a teenager he was strongly influenced by the Belgian underground scene of new wave, electro and EBM
Electronic body music
Electronic body music or industrial dance is a music genre that combines elements of industrial music and electronic dance music...
embodied by artists such as Front 242
Front 242
Front 242 is a pioneering Belgian electronic music group that came into prominence during the 1980s. They are known for being the premier pioneer of electronic body music and as a major influence on the electronic and industrial music genres.-Formation:...
, Neon Judgement and The Klinik. His first productions were aired in the early 1980s on Belgium's 'Liaisons Dangereuses' radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
show, and Bolland was one of the first record producers to be signed to the fledgling Belgian techno record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
R&S. His first release, "Do That Dance" in 1989, was followed by several more under different aliases such as 'Space Opera', 'The Project', 'Cee-Jay' and 'Pulse'. Bolland's first major success with the track "Horsepower" on 1991's Ravesignal III EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
earned him industry attention and respect with wide airplay amongst European techno DJs, and 1993's 4th Sign album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, including the singles "Camargue" and "Nightbreed" saw him garner further acclaim and commercial success. Bolland's second album for R&S, Electronic Highway, was released in 1995.
In late 1994 Bolland left R&S to sign a five album recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with Internal/Polygram Records. During this time he became notable as the first artist to release an album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
in the DJ-Kicks
DJ-Kicks
DJ-Kicks is a series of DJ mix albums, mixed by various artists for the independent record label !K7 Records.-History:...
series for Studio !K7
Studio !K7
Studio !K7 is an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 . !K7 has since opened branch offices in New York City, Hamburg, London, and Tokyo.It has four independent...
independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
, 1995's DJ-Kicks: C.J. Bolland
DJ-Kicks: C.J. Bolland
DJ-Kicks: C.J. Bolland is a DJ mix album mixed by C.J. Bolland. It was the first album in the DJ-Kicks series, and was released on 4 September 1995 on the Studio !K7 independent record label.-Track listing:# Patrick Pulsinger - Construction Tool...
. His first studio album for Polygram was 1996's The Analogue Theatre from which his greatest commercial success came with the single "Sugar Is Sweeter" hitting #1 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Hot Dance Club Play
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
, and reaching #11 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. Further UK hits followed with "The Prophet" (#19) and "It Ain't Gonna Be Me" (#35). Bolland is also a prolific remixer with a long résumé, including work with Orbital
Orbital (band)
Orbital are a British electronic dance music duo from Sevenoaks, England consisting of brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll. Their career initially ran from 1989 until 2004, but in 2009 they announced that they would be reforming and headlining The Big Chill, in addition to a number of other live shows...
, Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
, Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
, The Prodigy
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
and Tori Amos
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
. His song "The Prophet", sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
Willem Dafoe in Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
's 1990 film The Last Temptation of Christ
The Last Temptation of Christ (film)
The Last Temptation of Christ is a 1988 drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the controversial 1953 novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis. It stars Willem Dafoe as Jesus Christ, Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot, Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene, David Bowie as...
was an underground club
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
hit.
In 2000 Bolland released the song "Enter The Robot", a collaboration with the Australian producer, Honeysmack, and in 2002 started his own record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, Mole Records. February 2004 saw the release of The Body Gave You Everything, the debut album by Magnus
Magnus (band)
Magnus is a Belgian joint dance project of Tom Barman and CJ Bolland. Magnus' debut album, The Body Gave You Everything, was released on March 29, 2004...
, a dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
/pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
collaborative project with Tom Barman
Tom Barman
Tom Barman is a Belgian musician and film director.Barman studied at the film school of St.-Lucas in Brussels, but didn't finish his studies because of he wished to pursue a career in music. He began by forming the rock band, Deus in Antwerp, in 1989...
, founder and singer for the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
, dEUS. In December 2006 Bolland released a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
album called The 5th Sign with the Belgian online record label, The Wack Attack Barrack, followed in October 2009 by 500€ Cocktail. This album is released on Wikkid Records, Beatport and on iTunes.
Discography
- 1990 The Project - Do that dance
- 1991 Space Opera - Space 3001
- 1991 Cee-Jay - The Ravesignal
- 1991 Pulse - Catvoice
- 1991 The Project - Kick The House
- 1991 Space Opera - Space 3001 Remixes
- 1991 CJ Bolland - Ravesignal Vol. II
- 1991 Sonic Solution - Quest EP
- 1991 Angel - 1st Voyage
- 1991 CJ Bolland - Ravesignal III
- 1991 Sonic Solution - Beats Time
- 1992 Sonic Solution - Beats Time Remixes
- 1992 CJ Bolland - The Fourth Sign
- 1993 CJ Bolland - Camargue (radio edit)
- 1993 CJ Bolland - Live at Universe
- 1993 CJ Bolland - Camargue (remixes)
- 1993 Sonic Solution - Bagdad
- 1994 Sonic Solution - Turbulence
- 1995 CJ Bolland - Neural Paradox
- 1995 CJ Bolland - Electronic Highway
- 1995 CJ Bolland - There Can Be Only One
- 1995 CJ Bolland - Starship Universe EP
- 1995 Schism - Red Shift
- 1996 CJ Bolland - The Analogue Theatre - UKUK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
#43 - 1996 CJ Bolland - Sugar is Sweeter - UK #11
- 1997 CJ Bolland - The Prophet - UK #19
- 1999 CJ Bolland - It ain't gonna be me - UK #35
- 2002 CJ Bolland - See Saw
- 2002 The Silence/C.J.Bolland. - Acid Attack
- 2002 The Silence/C.J.Bolland. - Rhythm Freak
- 2003 CJ Bolland - Digger
- 2003 Magnus - Summer's Here
- 2003 Magnus - Jumpneedle
- 2004 Magnus - The body gave you everything
- 2006 Club Acanthus - I Want Your Sex
- 2006 Ghostland - Kranken Zentrale
- 2006 Stereo City - Change The World (City Parade Anthem)
- 2006 Phantom - Ghostmachine
- 2006 CJ Bolland - Riot
- 2006 CJ Bolland - The 5th Sign
- 2006 CJ Bolland - Classics
- 2009 CJ Bolland - 500€ Cocktail
See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. dance chart
External links
- C. J. Bolland -- official website..
- C. J. Bolland discography at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
.