Whist researching one my previous articles I came across this excellent documentary about techno legend Jade4U and CJ Bolland.
Who is Jade4U? Her Discogs blurb explains her achievements well:
Jade4U is a pseudonym of Belgian singer, musician, author & producer Nikkie Van Lierop (born in Germany, March 7, 1963). Other artists whom record with Nikkie under the guise of Jade4u include Chris Inger, Dirty Harry, Jeff Hypp, Oliver Adams, Pat Krimson and Praga Khan. Co-founder of acts like 101, Lords Of Acid and M.N.O., Nikkie has sold millions of records throughout the world under variety of names; having several Top 40 hits in the national UK chart along the way. She’s also been nominated by American Billboard as one of the Top 500 producers in the World.
This woman was responsible for many great techno tracks during the early 90’s. Although she produced them under a variety of pseudonyms. This page on Discogs list all the groups she was involved with.
And as for C J Bolland. The mans an absolute legend and a superb producer.
He produced many ground-breaking tracks on the excellent R&S Records.
His Discogs blurb says the following:
“Born in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham in 1971 but transplanted to Belgium when he was only three, CJ Bolland received an early education in dance music; his parents ran a club in Antwerp, and his mother DJed there. He grew up listening to the synthesizer music of several eras — from Jean-Michel Jarre to Front 242 and the The Neon Judgement — but began devoting most of his time to house and techno by the late ’80s. Bolland began producing in 1988, when a drummer friend gave him access to the right gear, and his tracks were soon heard on several Belgian pirate radio stations. He then sent demos to several labels, and finally heard back from R & S Records.
CJ Bolland’s first production for R & S, the Project’s “Do That Dance”, jump-started his career, and he soon saw releases from his projects Pulse, Space Opera (with the Advent’s Cisco Ferreira), Cee-Jay, Ravesignal and Sonic Solution. His 1992 “Ravesignal 3 EP” (specifically, the track “Horsepower”) made Bolland one of the hottest names in the new global dance community.
Bolland made his album debut soon after, with “The 4th Sign”. His 1993-94 schedule also included production work for Mundo Muzique, Dave Angel and Joey Beltram as well as remixing for Orbital, The Prodigy, Sven Väth, WestBam, Tori Amos and Baby Ford, among others. His second album “Electronic Highway” was released in 1995, after which Bolland signed a mammoth five-album deal with Internal Records. The first fruits of the contract, “The Analogue Theatre”, were released in late 1996 to critical praise and dance-chart success, thanks to the excitable single “Sugar Is Sweeter”.
He founded his own label “Mole Records” in 2002.”
I always liked his remix of “Sugar Is Sweeter”, it’s well produced. It’s a track which is great for testing HIFI systems as the production is top notch. And yes, I’m aware that many consider it a knock off the Prodigy’s Poison, but this is something I don’t agree on (but that’s an argument for another day).
Anyway, if you’d like to learn about early 90’s techno then you can watch the 3 part documentary below. Enjoy
