Luke Vibert (born 26 January 1973) is a British electronic musician and producer, also known for his work under several aliases such as Plug and Wagon Christ. Raised in Cornwall, Vibert began releasing projects in the 1990s across varied genres, including techno, drum and bass, and trip hop. He has recorded on labels such as Rephlex, Ninja Tune, Planet Mu, and Warp.
Luke Vibert | |
|---|---|
 Luke Vibert performing at Liquid Lounge in Cork City on 21 November 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Luke Francis Vibert |
| Also known as | Plug, Wagon Christ, Kerrier District, The Ace Of Clubs, Amen Andrews, Spac Hand Luke, Butler Kiev, Luke Warm |
| Born | 26 January 1973 |
| Origin | Redruth, Cornwall, UK |
| Genres | Electronic, IDM, acid techno, drum and bass, trip hop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, record producer |
| Instrument(s) | Keyboards, synthesizer |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Labels | Rephlex, Ninja Tune, Astralwerks, Warp, Nothing Records, Mo' Wax, Planet Mu |
| Website | Brainwashed page |
Early years: 1990s
editVibert's first musical output was in a variety of bands, including a punk act called Five Minute Fashion and later a Beastie Boys-esque group called the Hate Brothers, but he quickly moved into the low-cost environment of solo electronic composition.[1]
Vibert grew up in Cornwall and attended the Wesleyan Methodist Truro School along with a number of key members of Aphex Twin's Rephlex Records crew.[2] Luke and another school friend, Jeremy Simmonds, released an album on Rephlex under the name of Vibert/Simmonds which attracted attention from the Rising High music label. As a result of the popularity of the style in the early 1990s, Rising High commissioned an ambient music album from Vibert, who delivered Phat Lab Nightmare under the alias Wagon Christ in 1993.
Vibert pioneered the "drill 'n' bass" subgenre, which experimented with jungle and drum 'n' bass breakbeats, on his 1995 EPs under the name Plug.[3] He would go on further over the next few years to produce more music under the Wagon Christ name for Rising High and Ninja Tune.
2000 and onwards
editIn late 1999 and 2000, Vibert began touring with BJ Cole to promote their fusion album Stop the Panic. In 2002, he would begin a series of live collaborations with Aphex Twin. Although Aphex Twin and Luke Vibert never released an album together, Aphex Twin used the song name "Analord", from Vibert's album Lover's Acid, for a series of EPs. Vibert's later releases varied in style as he released albums under various names, including Plug, Amen Andrews, Kerrier District and Spac Hand Luke. "Amen Andrews" is a word play on the name of Irish game show host Eamonn Andrews, referring to the fact that each Amen Andrews track uses the Amen break. In 2004, Vibert explored acid disco when he remixed a Black Devil song, which was released on Disco Club (Remix) and released his first album under the alias Kerrier District.
In 2006, Vibert's song "Shadows" was featured on the DJ mix album A Bugged Out Mix by Miss Kittin,[4] which charted at number one-hundred seventy on the French Albums Chart.[5]
In 2007 he founded a club night with Posthuman called "I Love Acid" after his track. In 2019 it won Best British Club Event in the DJ Mag awards. A vinyl-only record label of the same name was founded in 2014, with Luke contributing two EPs and an album "Valvable" written entirely on three pieces of Roland equipment: TB303, TR808, and JX3P.
In 2015, he participated in the musical transmedia Soundhunters broadcast on the Franco-German channel Arte. For this project, Vibert appeared in the film Speak the way you breathe [6] directed by the American film director Antonino D'Ambrosio and composed an original music of the same name.
Discography
editAlbums
edit| Title | Alias | Release | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weirs | Vibert/Simmonds | 1993 | Rephlex |
| Phat Lab Nightmare | Wagon Christ | 1994 | Rising High |
| Throbbing Pouch | Wagon Christ | 1995 | Rising High |
| Drum 'n' Bass for Papa | Plug | 1996 | Blue Planet |
| Big Soup | Luke Vibert | 1997 | Mo' Wax |
| Tally Ho! | Wagon Christ | 1998 | Astralwerks |
| Stop the Panic | Luke Vibert & B. J. Cole | 2000 | Astralwerks |
| Musipal | Wagon Christ | 2001 | Ninja Tune |
| YosepH | Luke Vibert | 2003 | Warp |
| Kerrier District | Kerrier District | 2004 | Rephlex |
| Sorry I Make You Lush | Wagon Christ | 2004 | Ninja Tune |
| Lover's Acid | Luke Vibert | 2005 | Planet Mu |
| Amen Andrews Vs. Spac Hand Luke | Amen Andrews, Spac Hand Luke | 2006 | Rephlex |
| Benefist | The Ace of Clubs | 2007 | First Cask |
| Chicago, Detroit, Redruth | Luke Vibert | 2007 | Planet Mu |
| Moog Acid [7] | Jean Jacques Perrey and Luke Vibert | 2007 | Lo Recordings |
| Rodulate | Vibert/Simmonds | 2008 | Rephlex |
| Rhythm | ルーク・ヴァイバート | 2008 | Sound of Speed |
| We Hear You | Luke Vibert | 2009 | Planet Mu |
| Toomorrow[8] | Wagon Christ | 2011 | Ninja Tune |
| Back On Time | Plug | 2011 | BEAT Records |
| Ridmik | Luke Vibert | 2014 | Hypercolour |
| 4 | Kerrier District | 2015 | Hypercolour |
| Bizarster | Luke Vibert | 2015 | Planet Mu |
| Luke Vibert Presents UK Garave Vol. 1 | Luke Vibert | 2017 | Hypercolour Records |
| Smell The Urgency | Bluke (Luke Vibert and BluRum13) | 2017 | Besides Records |
| Sense The Urgency | Bluke (Luke Vibert and BluRum13) | 2019 | Ropeadope |
| Valvable | Luke Vibert | 2019 | I Love Acid |
| Luke Vibert Presents Amen Andrews | Luke Vibert | 2020 | Hypercolour Records |
| Luke Vibert Presents Modern Rave | Luke Vibert | 2020 | Hypercolour Records |
| Luke Vibert Presents Rave Hop | Luke Vibert | 2020 | Hypercolour Records |
| Recepticon | Wagon Christ | 2020 | People of Rhythm |
| GRIT | Luke Vibert | 2022 | Hypercolour Records |
| Machine Funk | Luke Vibert | 2023 | De:tuned |
EPs
edit| Title | Alias | Release | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunset Boulevard EP | Wagon Christ | 1994 | Rising High |
| At Atmos EP | Wagon Christ | 1994 | Rising High |
| Rissalecki EP | Wagon Christ | 1995-03 | Rising High |
| Redone EP | Wagon Christ | 1995-09 | Rising High |
| A Polished Solid | Luke Vibert | 1995 | Mo' Wax |
| Me & Mr. Sutton | Plug | 1997-07 | Blue Planet |
| The Power of Love | Wagon Christ | 1998-06-02 | Astralwerks |
| Lovely | Wagon Christ | 1998-08-25 | Astralwerks |
| '95-'99 | Luke Vibert | 2000-06 | Planet Mu |
| Homewerk | Luke Vibert | 2002-05-10 | Planet Mu |
| Shadows | Wagon Christ | 2004 | Ninja Tune |
| Sidthug | Spac Hand Luke | 2006-06-06 | Rephlex |
| Moog Acid | Jean Jacques Perrey and Luke Vibert | 2006-06-26 | LoEB |
| Kerrier District 2 | Kerrier District | 2006-07-11 | Rephlex |
| Here It Comes EP | Plug | 2006-11-30 | Rewind |
| Rubber Chunks EP | The Ace of Clubs | 2007-06-04 | First Cask |
| Mate Tron | Luke Vibert | 2007-07-02 | Planet Mu |
| Instant Vibe | Luke Warm | 2014-04-21 | Blueberry Recordings |
| News of the World | Amen Andrews | 2014-11-10 | Blueberry Recordings |
| Turn EP | Luke Vibert | 2018-01-19 | People of Rhythm |
| Arcadia | Luke Vibert | 2014-04-12 | De:tuned |
Compilation albums
edit| Title | Alias | Release | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drum 'N' Bass for Papa/Plug EP's 1, 2 & 3 | Plug | 1997-09-09 | Nothing/Interscope |
| Nuggets: Luke Vibert's Selection | Luke Vibert | 2001-08-07 | Lo Recordings |
| Further Nuggets | Luke Vibert | 2002-05-20 | Lo Recordings |
| Luke Viberts Nuggets 3 | Luke Vibert | 2013-10-14 | Lo Recordings [9] |
Singles
edit| Title | Alias | Release | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Plug 1 Visible Crater Funk" | Plug | 1995 | Rising High |
| "Plug 2 Rebuilt Kev" | Plug | 1995 | Rising High |
| "Plug 3 Versatile Crib Funk" | Plug | 1995 | Rising High |
| "Do Unto Others" | Luke Vibert | 1997 | Mo' Wax |
| "Drum 'n' Bass 'n' Steel" | Luke Vibert & B.J. Cole | 1999-11-01 | Law & Auder |
| "Spring Collection" | Luke Vibert & B.J. Cole | 2000-10-31 | Cooking Vinyl |
| "Receiver" | Wagon Christ | 2001-02-20 | Ninja Tune |
| "Ataride/Tomorrow Acid" | Wagon Christ | 2001-06-12 | Ninja Tune |
| "Classid Trax" | The Ace of Clubs | 2002 | Paperplane |
| "Vol 01" | Amen Andrews | 2003-08-12 | Rephlex |
| "Vol 02" | Amen Andrews | 2003-09-09 | Rephlex |
| "Vol 03" | Amen Andrews | 2003-09-23 | Rephlex |
| "Vol 04" | Amen Andrews | 2003-08-12 | Rephlex |
| "Vol 05" | Amen Andrews | 2003-11-04 | Rephlex |
| "Shadows" | Wagon Christ | 2004-08-24 | Ninja Tune |
| "Lover's Acid" | Luke Vibert | 2005-03-14 | Planet Mu |
Compilation appearances
edit| Song title | Alias | Released on | Date released |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Get Your Head Down" | Luke Vibert | Ninja Cuts: Flexistentialism | 1996 |
| "Argos" | Plug | Mealtime (Planet μ Records Compilation) | 1997 |
| "Rewind Selecta" | Butler Kiev | μ Allstars - Criminal/Hang All DJ's Volume 3 | 2000/2003 |
Remixes
edit| Song title | Alias | Released on | Date released |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Vacuum Sucker" | Wagon Christ | Aural Expansion - Remixed Sheep | 1995 |
| "Turtle Soup (Wagon Christ Mix)" | Wagon Christ | DJ Food- Refried Food | 1996 |
| "The Lake Of Winter (Wagon Christ Mix)" | Wagon Christ | Nobukazu Takemura - Child's View Remix | 1996 |
| "The Perfect Drug (Remixed by Plug)" | Plug | Nine Inch Nails - "The Perfect Drug" Versions | 1997 |
| "Radio Babylon (Luke Vibert Mix)" | Luke Vibert | Meat Beat Manifesto - Original Fire | 1997 |
| "Genius (Luke Vibert Mix)" | Luke Vibert | Pitchshifter - Genius Single | 1998 |
| "Tank (Luke Vibert Remix)" | Luke Vibert | Cowboy Bebop Remixes: Music for Freelance | 1999 |
| "Shin Triad (Wagon Christ Mix)" | Wagon Christ | Squarepusher - Maximum Priest E.P. | 1999 |
| "Timing, Forget The Timing (Kerrier District Remix)" | Kerrier District | Disco Club (Remix) | 2004 |
References
edit
- ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (1998). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music (First ed.). Virgin Books. p. 361. ISBN 0-7535-0252-6.
- ^ Stuart Aitken (28 November 2003). "Rephlexology". mad.co.uk.
- ^ Reynolds, Simon. "kid606 - Down With The Scene review". Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ "Miss Kittin - A Bugged Out Mix By Miss Kittin (CD)". Discogs. Zink Media, Inc. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ "ultratop.be - Miss Kittin - A Bugged Out Mix By Miss Kittin". Ultratop (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ "Soundhunters (4/4) - Speak the way you breathe". ARTE (in French). Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
- ^ "Bleep". Bleep. Archived from the original on 9 April 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
- ^ "Review: Wagon Christ - Toomorrow". Resident Advisor.
- ^ "Luke Viberts Nuggets 3 | Lo & Behold". Lorecordings.com. Retrieved 26 April 2014.