GT - Electrifyin' Mojo

Groove Terminator - the man better known to his friends and fans as GT - became one of the first top-flight Australian DJs to firmly establish himself as a recording artist in 2000 with his debut album, 'Road Kill'. His preview single release 'Losing Ground' resulted in 2 ARIA nominations for Best New Talent & Best Video. The debut single 'Here Comes Another One' followed and was absolutely massive at radio. His third single 'The Sunshine Song' went onto immediate high rotations, charted top 20 nationally and was ARIA nominated for best dance release becoming a summertime smash and rocking the BDO.

Two years later and GT is set to cement his reputation as one of Australia's leading dance artists with a brilliant follow-up album 'Electrifyin' Mojo'. Titled partly as a tribute to the pioneering Detroit DJ of the same name, it's a more mature and club-friendly record than its predecessor. In fact, ask a very happy looking GT what the original aim was for his second album and he says, 'I wanted to bring the two strands together, electric pop and organic dance music using a mix of digital technology and live instruments," he reveals. "I also wanted it to have more of the kind of songs I could play in my DJ sets."

To this end GT employed the services of Andy Page as co-producer - a talented young Tasmanian who has worked with the likes of Sasha, BT and Adam Freeland. As the album took shape in GT's Sydney studio during 2001, one other imperative came to the fore. "Another difference between Electrifyin' Mojo and Road Kill is that this time I'm a lot more focused on songs rather than instrumental dance tracks. It's a lot more challenging. There's a lot more depth and complexity and longevity in it."

As a result, 'Electrifyin' Mojo' contains great performances from some fine singers and they're all locals. 'Original Stylin' went to Kye, a supremely talented singer and MC out of New Zealand via Sydney. "I've been wanting to do something with Kye for so long," says GT, 'I basically gave Kye the music and said, 'Here you go. Knock yourself out!' I think he did a fantastic job."

Another outstanding performance comes from Megan, singer with Sydney band GTO, on the album's first single, a cover of PiL's 'This Is Not a Love Song'. This track maintains GT's penchant for '80s cover versions. "That's my era," he says, laughing. "That's when I was a teenager and first discovered music and sex and fun. And I've always really loved that song."

Then there's Connie from Primary on the beautiful 'Where the World Ends', while Richard, the bass player from GT's live band, sings on the second single, 'Brand New Day'. Ex-Cordrazine singer Hamish turns in a typically delicate, moving performance on the distinctly psychedelic title track. "I've always loved his voice but where we weren't sure whether it would work or not," says GT. "And there was extra pressure because it was my favourite piece of music on the record - I worked so hard on that because I loved it so much. And the first time I heard his vocal I just went, 'Yeah!' "

Last but not least there's a total unknown, Michael, on 'Falling Sideways'. "He lives near my studio and is always hassling me in the street: 'I'm a singer, I¹m a singer! And I'm always like "Yeah, yeah, send me a demo". So one day I was tooling around with this piece of music and I bumped into him in the street and he was like 'I just want to come up and sing for you' and in the end it just sits beautifully".

While the vocal tracks might be regarded as the heart of 'Electrifyin' Mojo', the story would be incomplete with mentioning the instrumentals. 'Vagrants' is dark and dubby, while 'You Are Here' is as deep as it is mesmerising. Then there are the anthems 'Kid Dynamite' and 'Who Got 'Em-', both guaranteed to rock the dancefloor at any discerning breaks night. Not to mention the Allen Ginsberg-sampling 'Beat Generation' and an affectionate nod to the Cult in 'Sanctify Yourself'.

Add it all up and you'v Tags

• gt
• groove terminator