Leafcutter John

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Leafcutter John is the recording name of John Burton, a UK-based musician and artist. He makes frequent use of Max/MSP in his compositions. Much of Burton's style is based in computer music and use of samples of everyday sounds. However, he also has roots as a folk musician, and this influence is apparent in his more recent work.

After graduating Fine Art Painting at Norwich School of Art (1996-1998), Burton moved to London and after a year pursuing a career as a performance artist began to concentrate on his musical work. He soon secured interest from Mike Paradinas, owner of independent electronics label Planet Mu. Paradinas encouraged Burton to develop his electro-acoustic folk hybrid and his first full length release, Concourse EEP, was released in early 2000. His most recent album, The Housebound Spirit, was a response to being mugged outside his London studio. The album deals with themes of increasing alienation and agoraphobia; indeed, Burton was housebound by increasingly severe panic attacks for which he eventually had to seek therapy.

As Leafcutter John, Burton has played at festivals throughout Europe. In 2003, he headed the dis.lab event, curated by no.signal in Rome. 2004 was marked by performances at Berlin's Transmediale festival, Paris Confluences and others in Belgium, France, Spain, Manchester, Norwich, and a Live streaming event between New York and London. He is also a regular participant of the annual Le Placard festival. Burton is also now a full time member of the contemporary British Jazz Mercury Music Prize nominee Polar Bear, founded by drummer Seb Rochford, who won the BBC Jazz award for Rising Star in 2004.

Leafcutter John is also an accomplished remixer, having worked on projects for: DJ /rupture, Mu-ziq/Speedy J, Electric Company, Badly Drawn Boy, Capitol K, and others.

[edit] Discography

Concourse EEP (2000) Planet Mu (ZIQ017) 12" and CD
Microcontact (2001) Planet Mu (ZIQ022) CD
Zeagma (2001) Planet Mu (ZIQ036) 7"
The Housebound Spirit (2003) Planet Mu (ZIQ061) CD
The Forest And The Sea (2006) Staubgold Records (Staubgold 68) CD/LP

[edit] Press Quotes

‘The Forest And The Sea’

Plan B

"One rarely finds a record with so much brave beauty as Leafcutter John's second [it's actually my 4th L.J.] album, the forest and the sea. Brave for its transgression, both musically and historically."

"This record is all the best cadences of folk combined with all the best parts of sampling and processing - together they render a whole new form."

Ralph Cowling

TimeOut London

"Alongside Aphex Twin and Bogdan Raczynski – he’s one of the UK’s most fearlessly inventive electronicists and a member of fêted avant jazzers Polar Bear. His fourth solo LP is a striking hybrid of pastoral songcraft, glitch, field recordings and traditional Greek instrumentation that goes far beyond ‘folktronica’, running the gamut of moods from sweetly mournful to darkly malevolent."

Sharon O’Connell

Play Louder

"For while his name might conjure up the pastoral in a distinctly old-fashioned sense, Leafcutter John's great success on 'The Forest And The Sea' is to blend traditional sounds and vocals that cry forth from the ordinary folk long past, with mastery of technology and laptop proficiency. And it's a journey, too, not just an escape from the urban jungle, but a progress of learning, adventure, and discovery."

Luke Turner

Urban Pollution

"By the sounds of The Forest and the Sea, Leafcutter John has just begun to create his best work yet. It is an unexpected, but pleasantly delightful curve ball and proves Burton is more than a trendy scenester, if there was ever any doubt to begin with. This record will likely appeal to a wide variety of listeners, with only the most purist of Burton’s experimental electronic fans turning up their nose to this accomplished work from a talented and capable artist."

Jerry Long

BBC Collective

"Whereas other artists operating under the folktronica guise often tip too far towards acoustic traditionalism, the Leafcutter matches his bard-like couplets with perfectly married sample matter, stretching his captured sounds into gently distorted shapes."

Martin Longley

Organ Magazine (Album of the week)

"Another must check album then (sorry), beautifully refined warm treats to get lost in for hours and hours and hours (fine album artwork as well)."

The Wire

"If there is such a genre [folktronica], he is the best possible exponent"

David Stubbs

‘The Housebound Spirit’

"Within the first 40 seconds of The Housebound Spirit, Leafcutter John Burton manages to assemble the kind of complex, suggestive soundscape that most producers working in the field struggle to deliver once during an entire album." Chris Sharp - The Wire

"Fragments of sound hang together with the inviolable conviction of a fine haiku." - Interview by Rob Young - The Wire, September 2003 (UK)

"This album is more complex and intricate, and possess more moods and tones than most artist manage in a career… ...A beautifully complex piece of computer melody crafted to perfection." - Jockey Slut, August 2003 (UK)

"...devilishly fresh sounding electronica conjured from the clicks, rattles, and rolls of household apparatus..." - Kingsley Marshall, All Music Guide.