Erol Alkan

Erol Alkan
Erol Alkan Live
Background information
Also known as	Kurtis Rush Mustapha 3000 Beyond The Wizards Sleeve
Born	30 May 1974 (1974-05-30) (age 37) London, UK
Occupations	DJ, Producer
Instruments	Turntables, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Voice, CDJ-2000
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Phantasy
Website	erolalkan.co.uk

Erol Alkan (born 30 May 1974^[1]) is a London-based electro DJ of Turkish Cypriot descent.^[2]

Career

DJ and club promoter

In 1993, Erol Alkan started DJing in various Indie nightclubs in London.

In 1995, he founded his own club night called Going Underground. It was held weekly on Mondays at the Plastic People venue in Central London. Alkan was the main resident DJ.

In 1997, Erol re-launched his club under a new name: Trash. Over the next years, Trash became one of the most influential clubs of its time.^[3] Until its closure in 2007, Trash saw performances by Peaches, LCD Soundsystem, Klaxons, Bloc Party, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Electric Six and many more up and coming bands.

From 2001 onwards, Erol Alkan started to play regular DJ sets outside Trash, but he chose to focus on dance music, influenced by his sets at Bugged Out. Bugged Out are credited as launching Erol's dance music career after offering him a residency halfway through his debut set for them at Fabric, when Erol filled in for David Holmes who had missed a flight into London. His profile increased considerably during 2003 when he was voted 'Best Breakthrough DJ' by Muzik magazine, and in 2006, when he earned the Mixmag 2006 "DJ of the Year" award. Erol has also been voted Datatransmissions 'DJ Of The Year' in both 2008 and 2009, which is seen as an alternative to the DJ Mag Top 100 awards but consists only of British DJs.

Remixer

Erol Alkan released a series of mash-ups using the alias Kurtis Rush in the early 2000s, including a mix of Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You out of My Head" and New Order's "Blue Monday", which was performed by Minogue at the Brit Awards. Erol also used the alias Mustapha 3000, and is half of the psycho-balearic act Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve, along with Richard Norris. Alongside Soulwax and Richard X, Erol is recognised as one of the pioneers of the 'mash up' or bootleg craze of 2001.

Erol Alkan has remixed tracks from artists including Klaxons, Alter Ego, Mylo, Bloc Party, Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, Gonzales (musician), Tame Impala, MGMT, Connan Mockasin, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, ZZT, Fan Death, Digitalism, Scissor Sisters, Justice, Franz Ferdinand, LA Priest, Interpol, Hot Chip, Death From Above 1979, Alter Ego, & Mylo.

His personal website and forum is considered to be one of the most influential in the scene and has been shortlisted for several awards.

Producer

Erol Alkan has also taken a hand to producing, working on 3 albums within a 2 year period. His first production credit is the entire Mystery Jets' second album, Twenty One, which contained the 2 top 40 hit singles Young Love (Mystery Jets song) and Two Doors Down (Mystery Jets song), Late of the Pier's debut record, Fantasy Black Channel, and The Long Blondes' second album Couples

In 2007 Alkan founded his own label, named Phantasy. In mid 2009 he collaborated with German DJ and producer Boys Noize, producing two tracks titled "Death Suite" and "Waves", these marked the first of Alkan's original releases. They both then followed it with another single titled "Avalanche" which was back by the club hit 'Lemonade'

Discography

Original releases

Year	Title
2009	"Waves / Death Suite" (with Boys Noize)
2009	"Waves" (Chilly Gonzales Piano Rework)
2010	"Lemonade / Avalanche" (with Boys Noize)
2011	"Avalanche (Terminal Velocity)" (with Boys Noize ft. Jarvis Cocker)

Album production

Year	Artist	Title
2006	The Long Blondes	"Weekend Without Make Up (B-Sides)"
2006	Mystery Jets	"Diamonds In The Dark EP"
2006	The Long Blondes	"Once And Never Again (B-Sides)"
2006	Mystery Jets	"Half In Love With The Radio b/w Umbrellahead"
2007	The Long Blondes	"Giddy Stratospheres (B-Sides)"
2007	Klaxons	"Electrickery"
2007	Mystery Jets	"Zoo Time (American LP)"
2007	Franz Ferdinand	"All My Friends (LCD Soundsystem cover)"
2007	Klaxons	"The Night"
2007	Late Of The Pier	"Bathroom Gurgle"
2008	Late Of The Pier	"The Bears Are Coming"
2008	Mystery Jets	"Twenty One"
2008	The Long Blondes	"Century"
2008	The Long Blondes	"Couples"
2008	Late Of The Pier	"Space And The Woods & Focker"
2008	Mystery Jets	"Two Doors Down"
2008	Late Of The Pier	"Heartbeat"
2008	Late Of The Pier	"Fantasy Black Channel"
2008	Whitey	"Do The Nothing (7")"
2009	Late Of The Pier	"Blueberry"
2010	Late Of The Pier	"Best In The Class"
2010	Late Of The Pier	"Best In The Class (Remixes EP)"

Remixes as Erol Alkan

Year	Artist	Title
2004	Mylo	"Drop The Pressure (Erol Alkan’s Extended Re-Edit)"
2004	Alter Ego	"Rocker (Erol Alkan’s Death Disco Re-Vised)"
2004	Death from Above 1979	"Romantic Rights (Erol Alkan’s Love From Above Re-Edit)"
2005	The Chemical Brothers	"Believe (Erol Alkan’s Feel Me Rework)"
2005	Bloc Party	"She's Hearing Voices (Erol Alkan’s Calling Your Name Dub & Vocal Re-Works)"
2005	Mystery Jets	"Zoo Time (Erol Alkan Re-Work)"
2006	Franz Ferdinand	"Do You Want To (Erol Alkan’s Glam Racket)"
2006	Daft Punk	"The Brainwasher (Erol Alkan’s Horrorhouse Dub)"
2006	Justice	"Waters of Nazareth (Erol Alkan’s Durrr Durrr Durrrrrr Re-Edit)"
2006	Hot Chip	"Boy From School (Erol Alkan’s Extended Rework)"
2006	Scissor Sisters	"I Don't Feel Like Dancin' (Erol Alkan’s Carnival Of Light Rework)"
2007	Klaxons	"Golden Skans (Erol Alkan’s Ekstra Spektral Rework)" [4]
2007	Digitalism	"Jupiter Room (Erol Alkan’s Simple, Yet Effective Re-Edit)"
2007	Interpol	"Mammoth (Erol Alkan Rework)"
2007	La Priest	"Engine (Erol Alkan’s Transonic Re-Edit)"
2008	Fan Death	"Veronica's Veil (Erol Alkan’s Extended Rework)"
2008	SebastiAn	"Momy (Erol Alkan's Simple, Yet Effective Edit)"
2008	ZZT	"The Worm (Erol Alkan’s Extended Rework)"
2009	Yeah Yeah Yeahs	"Zero (Erol Alkan Rework)"
2010	Chilly Gonzales	"Never Stop (Erol Alkan’s Piano Pella)"
2010	Chilly Gonzales	"Never Stop (Erol Alkan Rework)"
2010	MGMT	"Congratulations (Erol Alkan Rework)"
2011	Tame Impala	"Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind (Erol Alkan Rework)"
2011	Erol Alkan & Boys Noize	"Death Suite (Erol Alkan Edit)"
2011	Connan Mockasin	"Forever Dolphin Love (Erol Alkan Rework)"
2011	Metronomy	"The Bay (Erol Alkan’s Extended Rework)"

Remixes as Beyond The Wizards Sleeve

Year	Artist	Title
2006	Peter Bjorn And John	"Young Folks"
2006	Dust Galaxy	"Come Hear The Trumpets"
2006	Midlake	"Roscoe"
2007	Findlay Brown	"Losing The Will To Survive"
2007	Tracey Thorn	"Raise the Roof"
2007	Badly Drawn Boy	"Promises"
2007	The Chemical Brothers	"Battle Scars"
2008	The Real Ones	"Outlaw"
2008	Late Of The Pier	"The Bears Are Coming"
2008	Goldfrapp	"Happiness"
2008	Simian Mobile Disco	"Love"
2009	Franz Ferdinand	"Ulysses"
2010	De De Mouse	"Station To Stars"

Mix and compilation albums

Year	Title
2001	Trash Companion #1
2003	Louder (Muzik Covermount)
2004	A Bugged Out Mix
2006	Disco 2006 ( Covermount)
2008	Ark 1 (As Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve)
2009	Re-Animations Volume 1 (As Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve)

Other work

Erol Alkan has produced remixes for Headman, Ali Love and Voodoo Chilli under his Mustapha 3000 alias.

He is also one half of psychedelic rock group Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve. BTWS have remixed tracks (often listed as "Re-Animations") for Peter Bjorn and John, Midlake, Simian Mobile Disco, Franz Ferdinand, Badly Drawn Boy, The Chemical Brothers, Goldfrapp, Late of the Pier, Tracey Thorn, Dust Galaxy, The Real Ones, and Findlay Brown. They've also released an album called "Ark 1" in 2008, and four EPs - "Birth", "Spring", "George" & "West".

Erol compiled a 2xCD mix for the Bugged Out series. The second disc, "A Bugged In Selection with Erol Alkan", is a collection of downtempo tracks. Erol has also released mix compilations for Muzik Magazine and Mixmag.

He also produced the Klaxons song "Electrickery", which was the b-side to the 2007 re-release of Gravity's Rainbow, & "The Night", which was the b-side to "Not Over Yet" single.

After signing to Rough Trade Records, Erol produced all of The Long Blondes' b-sides including their second album "Couples".

Other productions: Whitey's "Do The Nothing", Franz Ferdinand's "All my Friends (LCD Soundsystem Cover)"

Erol was working on remixes for Björk and Interpol in summer 2007, but lost them due to a hard drive failure.^[5]

Erol produced the Mystery Jets' second album entitled 'Twenty One' which was released on 24 March 2008 from which the first single, "Flakes" debuted online.^[6]

He has also produced Late of the Pier's debut album "Fantasy Black Channel", which was released August 11, 2008 on Parlophone Records. Despite not being nominated for the Mercury Music Prize (as widely expected) it was awarded an alternative Album Of The Year accolade by Drowned In Sound, in which the public voted.

References

1. ^ The Guardian
2. ^ BBC. "T in the Park: Erol Alkan". http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/tinthepark/2010/artists/erol_alkan/. Retrieved 2010-08-27. 
3. ^ http://music.guardian.co.uk/electronic/story/0,,1982835,00.html Article on Trash's influence from The Guardian
4. ^ Klaxons' Official Website. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
5. ^ Erol Alkan Forum Post. Retrieved Tuesday 31st July 2007.
6. ^ "Flakes", Retrieved Saturday 5 January 2008.

External links

• Erol Alkan's Official Website
• Erol Alkan's Facebook Page
• Erol Alkan's Twitter Profile
• Erol Alkan's MySpace
• Erol Alkan on Resident Advisor
• Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve's MySpace

Audio links

• Erol Alkan on Mixcloud
• Erol Alkan DJ mix from Trash

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Paul van Dyk	Mixmag Number 1 DJ 2006	Succeeded by Armin van Buuren

Persondata
Name	Alkan, Erol
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 May 1975
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death