Born Richard Elliott, Lektroid as we have come to know him, is no new face in the Electro scene. Starting out as a child who fell in love with the building of DIY synthesizers, he would eventually follow the path of least resistance and start writing his own music in the 80's, after years of being inspired by many of the sounds of the decade, as well as the devices he loved building. As Elliott explains: "I was into electronics as a child and made a career out of it. I started building my first resonant filters in my lunch breaks when I was working for a company building aircraft communications systems (Avionics) back in 1989, using all their resources (with their permission of course)…All because the Casio CZ synth I had at the time didn't have a filter".
Not long after, and heavily inspired by music he would be exposed to after frequenting the club "Tekno Dream" in England, Elliott would make his debut in 1992 during the explosion of Breakbeat and Rave Music as part of his "Brainstorm Crew", releasing the "Southey Woods E.P.", eventually leading to a deal with Formation Records, where him and his teammates would release "Plastic E.P.", and "Red E.P." on the label's sub-label "F-Project". Having been a big fan of Electro Funk music in the 80's, his progression would eventually lead him down this path, though it would be quite some time, as the Rave scene was alive and well, and there was unfinished business to tend to. As Elliott comments: "There was much more of a vibrant underground scene then, and easy to sell vinyls in the thousands". Elliott continued on his own as "Brainstormer" through the 90's and into the 2000's, where releases like "My Love" (SST/2007) and "Time Travel" on Ruffneck Recordings (2008), would keep him always closely connected to his roots where it all began for him.
Lektroid would finally come into being in 2009 as the short-lived but highly enthusiastic era of the return of Street Sounds came to fruition, thankfully catching the attention of the artist who until that point had not been sure if this music even still existed. After posting two of his all-time classics, "Solar Storm" and "Modular" on Electro Empire as demos, within one week Lektroid was now en-route to becoming a household name as both Street Sounds and Dominance Electricity would pick up these tunes for the Nu Electro Vol. 2 compilation, as well as Global Surveyor Phase 3; putting the artist on the international map as a heavy contender who raised the bar with pure class and mystique, two things which are such a core part of his music.
In 2010, Lektroid would begin to see his career invigorating as other labels began to sign him on, publishing many more of his works that were in fact not new, but sometimes up to 15 years old....a testament of just how timeless his music really is! After returning on Street Sounds for his last label appearance with "Welcome To The Future" with Xidus Pain, Lektroid would follow up with the mind-bending "Parametric Shift" on the 2x12" "Advanced funk Vol. 1" vinyl compilation from Greek imprint Binalog Productions, as well as the historic 25th year anniversary remixes compilation of Paul Hardcastle's "19" on Fast Forward Records.
After staying busy in the studio for a year, Lektroid returned in 2012 with a flurry of amazing selections, also kicking off his own imprint "LEK Productions"; where we would see the incredible "Electro-Funk Selections" album released, as well as 3 singles, including "Astral", "Hearts Of Space", and "Journey"; All available on the artists' Bandcamp page. We would also see the songs "True Rebels" released on Crobot Muzik's "Dalekovod Vol. 4" compilation, as well as "Energy Tech" on Binalog Productions' "Advanced Funk Vol. 2"; this time only released as a digital only title and also featuring a plethora of international artists like The Outsider, Lazer Kontinent, and Pip Williams to name a few.
After releasing what can perhaps be considered his best works yet last year with "Quantum Theory"; which included previously released works like "True Rebels", and "Energy Tech", the artist also had the opportunity of being selected for the "Radio Equinoxe 4.0" compilation. As an effort led by the website www.radioequinoxe.com, which dedicates itself to promoting vintage Electro music, as well as those artists influenced by it who are helping to evolve the sound (primarily the works of Jean-Michel Jarre), the collective found itself quite eager to include Lektroid's song "Serenity" (also released on Bandcamp) as part of this release. Lektroid's song "Supersonic" from Quantum Theory, was also named best song of 2014 on the iconic Spanish Electro radio show "Elektrodos" last year, catapulting the artist above and beyond the constraints of trends and formulas, to a space all of his own. Exactly where he belongs.
Right now, the artist continues to find himself getting deeper and deeper into his synthesizer builds, recently finishing an amazing little vocoder that looks as if it came straight from the "LEK Corporation", aptly named "Lektrovox". As for productions, currently Elliott says that he has "two new albums on the horizon. One Ambient and the other Electro [Funk]. Plenty of melodic grooves I'm better known for". So support this amazing artist by buying some of his current music, and stay tuned, as we will undoubtedly be taken aback soon enough by his unique approach to delivering some of the most soulful and intricate music out there; driven not just by his keen sense of ingenuity, but also a visionary mindset that looks at the bigger picture of all things...think, Universal, and you begin to see just how wide his scope really is and where he draws his inspiration from.
- Santino Fernandez
Source: TechnoBass.net
