Andy Coleman is one of the founders of England’s bovinyl label and also records for Ninja Tune as Animals on Wheels.
Andy Coleman lives on a boat. Andy Coleman records his music in his studio on his boat.
Andy Coleman describes the title track to his EP on Thrill Jockey by saying, "Orange music. Broken fridge doors and unsent records. The acoustic guitars are illegal by the way. Modeled wind instruments do their thing. Blow when they want. Miles would have hated it."
...and then everything was beautiful and nothing hurt...
Evenything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt is the debut full length from Andrew Coleman and follows in the footsteps of last year’s 12" Blame it on Adam (Thrill Jockey). Andrew Coleman may be familiar to many as the man behind Animals on Wheels. Animals released two records (Designs and Mistakes ’97 and Nuvol I Cadira ’99) of mostly drum and bass tracks for the Ninja Tune label. Live performances have been a rare event and limited to a few shows with long time Animals fans, Coldcut. Active since the early days of Drum and Bass in the U.K., Andrew founded the Bovinyl label with Adam Butler. Through a number of EP’s Bovinyl wreaked havoc on the ever-changing face of electronic dance music with records that were left of center, playful, hard to find-and therefore highly prized, not so different from Squarepusher’s Spy Mania label. The two were largely responsible for the UK jungle offshoot "drill n’ bass". A combination of distributor woes and the rising interest in the music of Animals on Wheels and Adam’s own Vert caused Bovinyl to close its doors. They admit there has been loose talk of a cd compilation of the Cow years, but nothing has surfaced yet. While recording tracks for Ninja at home, Andrew began to also use the time freed up from Bovinyl to explore music outside of the boundaries of Drum and Bass- to explore his musical interests beyond what he was comfortable doing under the Animals on Wheels moniker. The first results were released just before his second Ninja Tune record, Nuvol I Cadira. Shortly after it’s release Andrew retreated to his houseboat outside Cambridge, England and began piecing together what would eventually become Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt. Everything… represents both a departure and logical progression from Andrew’s work in Animals on Wheels. Andrew says his intent was to "work towards a quiet, understated sound, free from parts which scream ‘look at me, I’m different!" Gone are the rapid-fire hallmarks of drum and bass and abrupt mood shifts and contrast that were essential to Animals. Andrew has begun to explore in greater depth the rich textures made from piano or guitar lines in combination with ambient sound samples, electronic rhythms and synthesized percussion. The focus was now on melody and atmosphere. Andrew achieved this by working at his own studio, which is located on the houseboat he calls home. Everything… was recorded entirely on PC using sequencer, keyboards, various softsynths, soundcards and a sound processing software. The serene beauty of the English countryside and its natural and ambient background sounds are both inspirational to and samples on the record. He even sampled the sound of water lapping against his boat. The resulting music is a delicate blend of melodies and textures that create a warm and organic atmosphere. "Contradiction has always been an important idea for me. The wild beats of my first releases were there to contradict the melodies. When I dropped them in favor of a quieter, more cohesive sound I found contradiction by looking for beauty within rough, lo-fi sounds and a rather noisy production style. A punk beauty maybe?" said Andrew. Contradictions aside, Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt effortlessly achieves it’s intended goals with lovely and subtle melodies set adrift over a gentle bath of eclectic tones and beats. It is the perfect antidote to the heat of summer. A cool breeze, a dip in the ocean, an escapist dream where Everything was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt.
