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Geoff Barrow

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Geoff Barrow
Barrow mixing at State of Art Studio, Bristol
Barrow mixing at State of Art Studio, Bristol
Background information
Birth nameGeoffrey Paul Barrow
Born (1971-12-09) 9 December 1971 (age 53)
OriginPortishead, North Somerset, England
Genres
Instrument(s)Turntables, samples, keyboards, drums
Years active1991–present
LabelsInvada Records

Geoffrey Paul Barrow (born 9 December 1971)[1] is an English music producer, composer, and DJ. He is a member of the bands Portishead, Beak, and Quakers, and he has scored several films.

Portishead was formed in 1991. He named the band after the small coastal town near Bristol where Barrow grew up.[2] On his intentions in forming Portishead, he has stated, "I just wanted to make interesting music, proper songs with a proper life span and a decent place in people's record collections."[3] Barrow and Portishead became major figures in the Bristol underground scene, which gave rise to many artists with whom Barrow came to work in different capacities.

Life and career

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Portishead

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Born in Walton in Gordano, Somerset, Geoff moved with his mother to the town Portishead when he was 11, after his parents divorced. After being involved in many local rock bands, playing drums and DJing in hip-hop groups, Barrow got his first job at the Coach House Studios as a tape operator soon after it opened in 1989.[2] In 1991, while he was assisting on Massive Attack's breakthrough album Blue Lines, the band allowed him spare studio time to get his own ideas on tape. Soon after, Barrow met Beth Gibbons during a coffee break at an Enterprise Allowance course. They formed the band Portishead, later adding third member Adrian Utley, releasing their debut album Dummy in 1994 to critical acclaim. The group have since produced two more studio albums, a live album, and various singles in the years since. Their most recent album, Third, was released in April 2008. The group performed for the first time in seven years on 2 May 2022, as part of a War Child concert benefitting refugees and children affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[4]

Invada

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In 2001, Barrow formed the Australian record label Invada, whose artist roster includes acts such as RuC.L and ARIA-award-winning group Koolism), together with Katalyst's Ashley Anderson.[2] In 2003 he set up the UK arm of Invada, a more experimental music label with partner Fat Paul. Bands who released work through Invada included Gonga, Team Brick, Atavist, Joe Volk, malakai and Crippled Black Phoenix. Barrow co-produced and co-wrote Stephanie McKay's 2003 debut album, McKay, under the pseudonym Fuzzface. The album featuring songs co-penned by Tim Saul and Carl Hancock Rux.

Side-projects, producing and collaborations

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At the dawn of the '90s, Barrow was making a name for himself as a remixer, working with such artists as Primal Scream, Paul Weller, Gabrielle and Depeche Mode. He produced a track for Tricky and wrote songs for Neneh Cherry, both of whom were based in Bristol and also worked with Massive Attack. He has remixed songs for both Gravediggaz and the Pharcyde. In 2005, Barrow and Portishead collaborator Adrian Utley produced the Coral's third album, The Invisible Invasion. In 2009, Barrow produced the Horrors' second album Primary Colours with Craig Silvey. He mixed the self-titled debut album by Billy Nomates, as well as her EP Emergency Telephone.

In 2009 he formed Beak with Billy Fuller (Fuzz Against Junk) and Matt Williams (Team Brick).[5] Their self-titled album was released in 2009. In 2010 the group performed as the backing band for Anika's self-titled debut album. Barrow had met Anika, a political journalist, and proposed recording material together. The album was produced over twelve days, using one room, no overdubs or repair, and only edits to create arrangements.[6] The album's lead single, "Yang Yang", was released on 17 November 2009 through Invada and Stones Throw Records[7] in the USA and Japan.

In early 2012, Barrow's new hip hop project Quakers was announced to be releasing an album on Stones Throw.[8] He also formed the musical project Drokk with TV composer Ben Salisbury and released the album Drokk: Music inspired by Mega-City One, with songs inspired by the comic book character Judge Dredd.[9] On 2 July Barrow, Billy Fuller and Matt Williams released their second Beak album through Invada. On 20 September 2018 the band, with Will Young replacing Williams, released their third album on Invada.

Film work

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Barrow was the music supervisor for the Banksy film Exit Through the Gift Shop, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 24 January 2010, and was released in April 2010.[10]

In 2013, Barrow collaborated again with Ben Salisbury on the score for the film Ex Machina by Alex Garland, for whom the pair subsequently provided soundtracks for his 2018 film Annihilation, the 2020 miniseries Devs, the 2022 film Men, and in 2024 for Civil War. The duo also collaborated on the scores for the Black Mirror episode "Men Against Fire" and the Netflix series Archive 81. Barrow, Salisbury and Simon Ashdown produced the score for the Prime Video series Hanna.

Beak performed the soundtrack for Tom Geens' 2015 film Couple in a Hole, drawing largely on the band's earlier material.[11] In 2016, Barrow scored the Ben Wheatley film Free Fire.

Credits

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Production and guest appearances

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Year Album Artist Details Ref.
1992 Homebrew Neneh Cherry Co-writer and co-producer of "Somedays"
1994 Dummy Portishead As band member; co-producer, composer, drums, keyboards, string arrangements, programming
1995 Radar Earthling Turntables
1997 Portishead Portishead As band member; co-producer, composer, drums, turntables, programming, sampling
1998 Roseland NYC Live Portishead As band member; co-producer, composer, drums, turntables, musical director
1999 Reload Tom Jones Producer "Motherless Child" (as Portishead)
2002 Len Parrot's Memorial Lift Baxter Dury Co-producer and drums
2002 Gonga Gonga Mixing
2003 McKay Stephanie McKay Producer
2005 The Invisible Invasion The Coral Co-producer and mixing with Adrian Utley
2007 A Love of Shared Disasters Crippled Black Phoenix Producer
2008 Third Portishead As band member; co-producer, composer, drums, keyboards, synthesizer, bass, percussion, programming
2009 Ugly Side of Love Malachai Executive producer
Primary Colours The Horrors Co-producer, mixing, engineering
BEAK> Beak> Co-producer, composer, instrumentation
2010 Anika Anika Producer
2012 Drokk: Music inspired by Mega-City One Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury Co-producer, composer, instrumentation
Quakers Quakers Producer
>> Beak> Co-producer, composer, instrumentation
2014 Beyond Ugly Malachai Drums
2015 Ex Machina (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury Co-producer, composer, instrumentation
Meow the Jewels Run the Jewels Remixing of "Close Your Eyes and Meow to Fluff"
Split Beak> and <Kaeb Extended play; co-producer, composer, instrumentation
2016 Couple in a Hole (Original Soundtrack) Beak> Co-producer, composer, instrumentation
Black Mirror: Men Against Fire (Original Score) Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury Co-producer, composer, instrumentation
2017 Everything Now Arcade Fire Additional production, synthesizer on "Creature Comfort"
Free Fire (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury Co-producer, composer, instrumentation
2018 Annihilation (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury Co-producer, composer, instrumentation
>>> Beak> Co-producer, composer, instrumentation
2019 Hanna Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury and Simon Ashdown Composer
2019 Luce (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury Composer
2020 Devs Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury Composer
2020 Billy Nomates Billy Nomates Mixer[12]
2020 Emergency Telephone EP Billy Nomates Mixer[13]
2022 Archive 81 Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury Composer
2022 Men Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury Composer
2024 Civil War Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury Composer

References

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  1. ^ "You Say It's Your Birthday: Geoff Barrow of Portishead". MTV. Archived from the original on 3 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Simpson, Dave (11 April 2008). "Profile: Geoff Barrow". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  3. ^ "Portishead Biography". NME. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  4. ^ Young, Alex (7 April 2022). "Portishead to Reunite for Ukraine Benefit Concert". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  5. ^ "Geoff Barrow forms new band". Line of Best Fit. Archived from the original on 25 August 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  6. ^ Phares, Heather. "Anika". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
  7. ^ "Stones Throw Records". Stonesthrow.com.
  8. ^ "Announcing: Quakers". Stonesthrow.com. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  9. ^ "Drokk: Music inspired by Mega-City One, by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury". Drokk.bandcampo.com.
  10. ^ "Bullet Film: Exit Through the Gift Shop". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  11. ^ "Couple in a Hole – Original Soundtrack". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  12. ^ "One to watch: Billy Nomates". the Guardian. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  13. ^ "Emergency Telephone, by Billy Nomates". Billy Nomates. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
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