ESSEN - King Size Blues

ESSEN are production and writing duo
Darren Moss and Paul Dacosta.

Formed 1991 in West London, a reuniting for the friends after an explosive musical adventure in Soho and the acid house party scene at end of the 80’s.

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Realizing they had unfinished musical business Darren and Paul set about producing a 4 track demo on a classic Fostex portastudio with a HONER HS1 sampler keyboard an Alesis HR16 drum machine and a guitar. ESSEN was born and after much positive feedback they recorded their first white label Cactus Water in Beethoven Street Studios in 1992.

Consequently they were offered distribution with FXU and susequent live performances at their Weirdo Magnet events with local artists such as Shape Navigator built a local following for ESSEN. Moreover the remix of Cactus Water (Orgone Mix) had caught the ear of the legend Brian Eno and was picked up for the compilation album Planet London. Likewise the remix was also on Beats By Dope Demand Vol2. Meanwhile the 12″ White Label had found its way to the USA and was being played on KCRW Radio.

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in 1996 with the dark wave of trip hop and jungle Kevin Beadle signed ESSEN to his label Clean up Records a subsidary of Bjorks label One Little Indian Records. Initially they produced and released the 12″vinyl God And The Devil . They then set about writing and producing their dub trip hop album King Size Blues.  Recorded and mixed at Essencore HQ London W10, and ending up with the band in the basement, Fabio Abeni on drums and Christiano Sossi on bass.

Once mixed Mandy Parnel mastered the album and EP at The Exchange Camden. The EP Supernatural with two new additional tracks was released with favourable reviews. Consequently ESSEN launched the album with a sold out show at The Jazz Cafe Camden and after a short UK tour King Size Blues was released in Sept 1998.

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