Look Around the Corner

"Quantic" is the catch-all moniker for U.K.-born, New York-based musical polymath Will Holland. A world-renowned DJ, genre-blending multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and label owner (Enhanced Music), his work cuts across EDM, jazz, soul, funk, and global traditions from cumbia and bossa to salsa, Afrobeat, dub reggae, and more. He's issued dozens of recordings and garnered hundreds of credits as a composer and producer. His 2001 debut album, The 5th Exotic for Tru Thoughts, is a downtempo classic. His Quantic Soul Orchestra, featuring vocalist Alice Russell and saxophonist sister Lucy Holland, issued Stampede in 2003, followed by I'm Thankful in collaboration with R&B singer Spanky Wilson. After issuing QSO's Tropidelico in 2007, Quantic moved to Cali, Colombia to study with its master musicians. There he formed Combo Barbaro (with salsa pianist Alfredo Linares and Colombian singer Nidia Góngora), and recorded Death of a Revolution. 2012 saw the releases of Ondatrópica (a large-group acoustic Colombian cumbia band he co-founded with Mario Galeano) and the eponymous, rootsy Los Miticos del Ritmo offering explorations of funky cumbia and sonidero. Quantic emigrated to New York City in 2014 and issued Magnetica, a funky exercise in global electronica. His jazz project, A Western Transient, released A New Constellation in 2015. In 2017, Quantic and Góngora released the tropical groover Curao, and followed with Almas Conectadas four years later. Holland then put a contemporary twist on disco with the joyous Dancing While Falling, issued in 2023. His compositions have been featured on the soundtracks to more than a dozen films and television shows.

Will Holland was born in 1980 in Bewdley, Worcestershire, England. He played guitar in various rock bands as a teenager, but it was his subsequent switch to house and broken beat that helped launch his musical career, especially after the single "We Got Soul" arrived in 2000. In 2001, Quantic's full-length debut, The 5th Exotic, was released by the Tru Thoughts label, trailed a year later by Apricot Morning. After briefly pausing in 2003 to form the Quantic Soul Orchestra (with vocalist Alice Russell) and record Stampede (on which he played organ, bass, guitar, and saxophone) and his soul-folk-dance duo the Limp Twins' Tales from Beyond the Groove, Holland returned to his solo efforts with 2004's Mishaps Happening. Quantic Soul Orchestra's Pushin On was issued a year later.

2006 proved to be particularly busy for the prolific polymath. He released a compilation (One Off's, Remixes and B Sides), a reissue of The 5th Exotic, and the Quantic album An Announcement to Answer. With QSO, he recorded and produced I'm Thankful, a collaboration with American soul singer Spanky Wilson. In 2007, Holland moved to Cali, Colombia on the country's southern Pacific Coast in order to study with the city's many musical masters. In 2008, he issued a blend of dub and '70s Latin on Death of the Revolution as the first release under his Flowering Inferno moniker.

Holland dug in deep in Colombia. He opened an all-analog studio, jammed with local musicians, and took lessons from masters. He staged jams between elder and younger musicians, and DJ'ed dance parties all over the globe. His single "Mi Swing Es Tropical," featuring Nickodemus, was featured on an Apple television commercial in 2008. In 2009 he formed Combo Barbaro with salsa/Latin jazz pianist Alfredo Linares, conguero Freddy Colorado, bassist Fernando Silva, and Heliocentrics' Malcolm Catto on drums. Their debut album, Tradition in Transition, appeared from Tru-Thoughts. That year he also issued the Latin groove mixtape Caja y Guacharacha, followed by the loopy, Ethio-jazz-cum-Afrobeat and cumbia mixtape Addis to Axum. 2011 saw the return of Flowering Inferno on Dog with a Rope, while Combo Barbaro issued Look Around the Corner, recorded with Russell on vocals.

In 2012, Quantic released the globally acclaimed Ondatrópica for Miles Cleret's Soundway. Co-founded with musician/academic Mario Galeano (Frente Cumbiero), they created a cumbia-based dance orchestra composed of long-seasoned veterans and rising younger talent. Later that year they released the Los Irreales Mixtape. Just before emigrating to New York, Quantic released Magnetica under his own name; his first solo album in seven years. Its 13 electro-acoustic beat-fueled tracks combined many of the styles Quantic had explored over the previous decade, and included collaborations with Russell, Nidia Góngora, Michi Sarmiento, Shinehead, Thalma De Freitas, and pioneering cumbia singer and accordionist Aníbal Velásquez.

After emigrating to the U.S. Quantic co-founded the Brooklyn studio and label Selva with partner Aziza Ali. Quantic formed a contemporary jazz group with six of his favorite N.Y.C.-based musicians. As the Western Transient they released the seminal A New Constellation in July. He played guitar, produced, and served as musical director for a septet that also included drummer Wilson Viveros, Sylvester Onyejiaka on flute and tenor sax, Todd Simon on trumpet and flugelhorn, Brandon Coleman on piano and keys, Gabe Boel on bass, and Alan Lightner on steel pan drum and percussion.

Holland resurrected Flowering Inferno for 2016's 1,000 Watts, a more direct foray into the traditional reggae sound (the track "A Life Worth Living" included vocalists Russell and legendary Jamaican toaster U-Roy), as well as a second, hard-driving Ondatrópica full-length entitled Baile Bucanero. The following year he issued Curao, an 18-track collaborative effort with Afro-Colombian Combo Bárbaro vocalist Nidia Góngora. The set netted a small handful of international dancefloor hits including "Que Me Duele?," "Amor en Francia," "Ojos Vicheros," and "E Ye Ye."

Working at his Brooklyn-based Selva studio, Holland assembled a large studio band. The new Quantic tried out dance-oriented material and world fusion concepts at N.Y.C.'s Good Room before recording and releasing them as Atlantic Oscillations on Tru Thoughts in June 2019. In early 2020, they released a single and video for "You Used to Love Me," featuring vocalist Denitia. The track became a smash on dancefloors across the globe. 2020 also marked the return of Ondatrópica, who released the digital single "Noche de Amor" in collaboration with legendary Colombian composer, keyboardist, and bandleader Juancho Vargas. Quantic also issued the disco single "Theme from Selva." In 2021 Holland released the dubby breakbeat single "I Won't Fade Away" with Russell, followed by the Heaven or Hell EP for Australia's Aus that balanced hypnotic disco grooves with warm melodic house tied together by walking basslines and live percussion.

In July, Quantic and Góngora released the single "Balada Borracha," followed by "Macumba de Marea" in August and "Vuelve" in September. These tracks previewed their second collaborative album Almas Conectadas ("connected souls") in October. Bubbling with symphonic flourishes, it explored the rich musical traditions of Colombia's Pacific Coast but was recorded at Holland's Brooklyn studio Selva. That's also where Holland put together the next Quantic album, Dancing While Falling. Joined by vocalists Andreya Triana, Connie Constance, and Rationale, Holland put a modern spin on disco with a strong emphasis on the style's Latin and Afro-Caribbean influences. The exuberant and elegant album was released in 2023. ~ Thom Jurek & Marisa Brown

Alice Russell is a U.K.-based soul singer and songwriter. She's renowned as a solo artist, session singer, and touring vocalist for various bands including Quantic and TM Juke. Her ambitious solo albums on Tru Thoughts include Under the Munka Moon (2004) and the diverse My Favourite Letters (2005). Under the Munka Moon II (2006) was a hodgepodge set that included the Bugz in the Attic remix of Idris Muhammad's disco-era anthem "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This" in collaboration with Susumu Yokota. Pot of Gold, produced by TM Juke, was released in 2008 on Six Degrees and firmly rooted in late-'60s soul. Russell collaborated with Quantic's Combo Barbaro on 2012's co-billed Look Around the Corner. Despite undertaking a tour that year, she found time to record To Dust, released during the winter of 2013. After a decade away from the spotlight, she returned in 2024 with the long-player I Am on Tru Thoughts.

Russell was born in Suffolk in 1975 and raised in Framlingham. Her father was a classical organist. She studied cello and sang in church choirs as a youngster. She claimed in an interview that the training she received in choir was invaluable. She was an avid fan of the radio and absorbed recordings by American soul singers including James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Chaka Kahn.

In 1994 she moved to Brighton to study art and music and, given the musicians and atmosphere in the seaside town, she allowed her classical and gospel disciplines to take a back seat to her emerging R&B chops. She performed and recorded singles with Bah Samba and Kushti. By the early part of the 21st century she was already singing live with Will Holland's (aka Quantic) various bands as well as guesting with Ben Lamdin's Nostalgia 77. She signed her own deal with Tru Thoughts and issued her debut album, Under the Munka Moon, in 2004. The 13-song set was helmed by a veritable who's-who of producers including Quantic, Dave Noble, Kushti, and Julien Bendall. Given her near-constant performing with her own band and with Quantic, Russell's album won the respect of critics. 2005's My Favorite Letters fared even better. Produced by TM Juke, its singles, "Humankind" and "Fly on the Wall," both received airplay across the European continent as well as in the U.K.

2006's Under the Munka Moon II was a kind of compilation. Given her full-time membership in the Quantic Soul Orchestra and TM Juke's band, writing and recording an entire album of unissued material proved a challenge. The set boasted her collaboration on Susuma Yokota's cover of Idris Muhammad's "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This." A disco-era classic and staple at Paradise Garage, this version was mixed by Bugz in the Attic. In addition, it included her appearance with Nostalgia '77 on their cover of the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army," which had a substantial run on the U.K.'s rare groove DJ scene -- fronting Natural Self on "I Don't Need This Trouble" and the Bonobo remix of "Mirror Mirror on the Wolf 'Tell the Story Right.'" That year she guested on Nostalgia '77's The Garden, and on singles by TM Juke, Quantic, Luke Fair, and Max Sedgley. She also performed more than 150 live dates.

Over the next two years, Russell continued working with Quantic Soul Orchestra and recorded sessions with the Bamboos, Natural Self, Juke, and Robert Luis. In 2008, TM Juke produced, engineered, and mixed Russell's Pot of Gold, an ambitious collection of original songs (written by either her or Cowan) that wed funk, R&B, Afrobeat, gospel, and blues. The lone cover was "Crazy," the Gnarls Barkley vehicle. "Hurry On Now," a midtempo, bluesy soul ballad, won airplay across the U.K., France, and Germany. The following year, Pot of Gold Remixes, a double-disc set, comprised bracing versions of the earlier album's tracks with assistance from Yellowtail, Clutchy Hopkins, Kidkanevil, Mocean Worker, and DJ Vadim, among others. Through it all, Russell was on the move, touring on her own or with the bands she sang with. She appeared with David Byrne and Fatboy Slim on the single "Here Lies Love" in 2010. The following year she recorded with Mr. Scruff on the Nickodemus & Zeb remix of "Music Takes Me Up," and Bah Samba on "Everybody Get Up (Superphonics Southport Weekender Mix)."

In 2012, Russell stepped out of her comfort zone. She served as a co-billed collaborator on Look Around the Corner by Quantic and his Combo Barbaro. Recorded at Quantic's Cali, Colombia studio, the band included longtime guitarist Mike Simmonds, Peruvian pianist Alfredito Linares, bassist Fernando Silva, and conguero Freddy Colorado. The set's drummers/percussionists were Colombians Wilson "Coco" Viveros and Larry Joseph, and a string section was added. The program included cumbias, Latin jazz, hybrid soul, and left-field funk.

February 2013's To Dust marked Russell's first album under her own name in five years; it was produced by TM Juke (under the pseudonym Differ-Ant) and featured a songwriting collaboration with Cowan. The set proved a stellar showcase for Russell's exhaustive command of soul and R&B styles, and it performed better commercially than any of her previous outings. She hit the road and played dozens of dates before her father died that summer. The day after his funeral, Russell discovered she was pregnant. She stopped recording and touring for a decade. During that break she underwent therapy for generational trauma, healing, and life's darker side. She also had a second child.

During that entire period away from the spotlight and the many years she spent touring, Russell was writing. The summer of 2023 she returned to performing. She graced the main stage of Gilles Peterson's We Out Here, supported Nile Rodgers on tour, and performed in a tribute to Aretha Franklin throughout France. In 2024, Russell returned to recording with the album I Am. Produced by TM Juke, it had nine co-written originals including the single "I See You," a piano ballad about overcoming adversity after experiencing childhood trauma. The track was commissioned by Lemonade (a location-based music exploration platform) composed for the festival's theme of "Care" chosen by guest curator, author, and broadcaster Lemn Sissay. I Am was released by Tru Thoughts in April 2024. ~ Thom Jurek & Andrew Kellman