Ominous

A 15 track album () — released June 2nd 2005 on SOUND RECORDINGS

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Border Crossing is a collective of musicians and producers who have a developed an unusually varied musical style. Their sound defies regular boundaries of music by combining Hip Hop, RnB, Dance hall, Reggae, and Chill Out. The three central figures of Border Crossing are Alex Angol, Seorais Graham and Paul Mulvey who all hail from West London. The streets of Notting Hill, Shepherd's Bush and Hammersmith, where all the members of Border Crossing grew up, have spawned some of the best in British music from the Clash to Aswad, from Reggae to Acidhouse. In the same way that Soul II Soul gave late '80s Camden a musical style, and Massive Attack created a voice for Bristol in the early '90s, so Border Crossing bring the sounds of West London to the 21st century. Their debut album Ominous comes ladled out of a huge sonic melting pot of musical styles. Alex has been involved in the Hip-Hop scene since 1982 and started DJing at the most important club nights like Funkapolitan and the Language Lab, both of which were instrumental in introducing the genre to the UK. The night attracted a whole host of music lovers who were later to go on and have their own success including Depeche Mode and Boy George. Alex formed a reputation as a rapper and by '86 had formed a DJ/Rap collective called the Radical Crew. This evolved into the Renegade Soundwave sound-system, who went on to influence all the major dance and big beat acts including Massive Attack, Low Fidelity Allstars and Leftfield. The band were signed to Mute Records and released several records including the massive club hit 'The Phantom'. They were on the same circuit as all the main sound-systems, including Soul II Soul. Alex formed his own pirate radio DJ collective called The Smart Boys. It was their radio shows and the club nights which Alex DJ'd at, that were to go on and inspire the rest of Border Crossing. Alex has always been a mentor to Seorais and took on a godfather role during the making of Ominous, overseeing the album's production and assisting on arrangements. Seorais is another West London boy, born and bred in Shepherd's Bush. He grew up on a diet of Jazz and Blues thanks to his father, a huge jazz fan. His first introduction to Hip Hop came when he was 13 years old via the Radical Crew in '86 and DJs like Wordsworth. Seorais' best mate's brother was in the Radical Crew, so they would both watch the older boys DJ and Seorais was like a sponge soaking up mixing and scratch techniques from his elders. He started DJing on the Hip Hop House scene in the late 80's. By the time he was 20 years old he had moved up to Manchester where he played at clubs like the Hacienda, Paradise Factory, Sankeys Soap and the Roadhouse. He formed a student sound system called Pollen and ran local DJ collective, Rainy City. By the mid 90's Seorais purchased himself recording equipment and set upon creating the sounds and identity for Border Crossing. The third member of the band is Paul Mulvey. Paul was born and bred in Ladbroke Grove and like the others has grown up with music. 'My dad's a keyboard player, he's kind of like a rock'n'roller' Paul says of Paddy, who played alongside Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards in the band Dirty Strangers. &'He does a bit of classical, bit of jazz. He was the keyboard player with Chuck Berry for about three and a half years, went on tour with him for quite a while. He's always kept me into music, and all the knowledge and inspiration I have from music comes from his record collection.' By the age of 15 years, Paul had developed a musical love of his own. Through his father's keyboard equipment, he had access to a vast array of sounds and it was not long before he got into programming. Paul and Seorais met as teenagers under the West-way and under the influence of bad hash, weak alcohol and acid house music. With Paul's talent as a programmer it was natural that he evolved into the main programmer of the group. Paul set up his own studio, and eventually persuaded Seorais to start experimenting with beat making. In 2000, the pair worked on an aborted project in which the seeds of Border Crossing were sown. Asking Alex for his input helped to turn a collection of ideas, sounds and songs into a fully fledged LP. 'Border Crossing is like a family.' Paul says, 'There's a family attitude. You come along and maybe you marry into it in some way. You come in, and you spend a little while, have a good time, make some good music, but then you go away and do your own thing. We don't want to exclude anyone new who comes into the scenario. Everyone who brings anything positive to the production is in the equation.' Border Crossing work with talented people they believe in from all walks of life. The Band work with different vocalists and MC's who each bring their unique flavour to Border Crossing music. They include: Halifax born rapper Usmaan, who appears on the album's opening track 'In Your Area'; South London sound system veteran Ricky Rankin, who brings his dancehall chat to 'Dance For Your Life' and 'Rankin's Move'; American rapper Rockwell, who takes us back to those late '80s days on 'OriginalHeads03'; and finally the dazzling female vocalist Alex Watson who graces 'More to Life' with her angelic and soulful melodies. 'No-one's exclusively bound to us,' Seorais explains, bringing in a fine art metaphor. 'Everyone's bringing their expression to the overall palette, but they're not restricted by being within our picture.' 'Border Crossing relates to the fact that once music's in the air, even though the industry controls its exposure, it's not necessarily controlled in the ways that humans use to restrict movement,' Seorais philosophises. 'It's about moving music forward, moving it beyond restrictions, without betraying its integrity.'

"...if you like your hip hop beats with a blend of rap, dub styles and cinematic instrumentals then this album can?t come recommended highly enough. The production is warm and funky throughout?4/5" - IDJ MAGAZINE

"?What a fantastic package this is?. Record of the month no question. - IDJ MAGAZINE

Ominous has some moments that suggest something undeniably special is going on. Should kick some serious arse this summer. 8/10 - UNDER COVER MAGAZINE

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