ARTIST INFO

 

Anu Pillai is DJ/Producer that can see no boundaries; this is a surprisingly rare quality in the so-called music lovers that tour the world commanding big fees. So many DJs that play dance music list all number of producers/bands as inspirations in their ‘sound’, but if you didn’t know this you could easily be mistaken that they just play Phonica’s top 10 records that month. Anu is different, he lays it all out to see in his new Bisous Bisous II CD, the follow up to the critically acclaimed 2005 released DJ mix, Misch Masch. It jumps from the neo disco of Lindstrom to the punk funk of debut Perspex signing, The Subliminal Kid. Parisian glitch wonderkid SebastiAn slams into the MIA inspiring Baile Funk of Deise Tigrona and the hugely influential Freeform Five remixes are represented by the reform of Gabriel Ananda's 'Glucksmelodie', which was previously a track of Gabriel's that was only played live until Anu convinced him to commit it to vinyl...

Keralan by birth, raised in Newcastle and now based in West London, Anu is a cross cultural musical phenomenon - a multi instrumentalist, producer and DJ who now spends much of his time traversing the globe. After several years of making revered house records for Chicago legend Derrick Carter's Classic Music label and remixing everyone from NERD to Brian Wilson, he branched out in 2005 with Freeform Five's debut artist album, 'Strangest Things'. It's an inspired mix of Prince, Blondie and Kraftwerk (thrown into the acid house blender). Adored by early adopters the world over, it started life as something of a press delight and hidden treasure which has steadily creeped towards the mainstream through word of mouth and extensive touring. The signs are that his pan-genre DJ'ing has struck a similar chord with the hippest crowds in Europe and further afield too. 2006 saw Anu’s remixes/reforms in serious demand with everyone from Justin Timberlake and The Killers to underground heroes like Jamie Lidell and Lindstrom. It also saw the first sneak peak of new Freeform Five material with the exclusive track 'Home Wit U' featuring on achingly hip Parisian label, Kitsune's Maison 3 compilation. Pitchfork described it as 'the compilation's most successful rock song...quite obviously the best produced track here, 'home wit u''s shuddering beat and fluorescent blobs of keyboards remain more muscular than the weedy guitar sections drafted in on every second track."