Head On

Head On is the debut album by English-based electronic duo Super Collider, consisting of producers Christian Vogel and Jamie Lidell. It was released in May 1999 by Loaded Records. The collaboration emerged in 1998 when the two producers began sharing the same studio in Brighton and soon began creating music together. Their initial work together produced the songs "Under My Nose" and "Darn (Cold Way O' Lovin')", both included on the album, but believing them to be too stylistically orthodox, the duo pursued a more distinctive sound for the remaining material. Taking influence from funk music, in particular the music of Sly Stone, Head On is an experimental techno record that combines Vogel's abstract production with the funk influences and Lidell's soulful but effects-heavy singing. Co-produced by the duo, the album received acclaim from music critics, who drew attention to its influences and production. "It Won't Be Long" and "Take Me Home" were issued together as a double A-side single. Background In the late 1990s, electronic musician Jamie Lidell began sharing a studio in Brighton with Chilean minimal techno producer Christian Vogel after they discovered they admired one another's music. They began making music together in 1998, formalising their partnership as Super_Collider, while Lidell began developing his skills as a soul singer when jamming on stage with Balzac. While working on what later became "Under My Nose", Lidell initially screamed the song's vocals. In Lidell's recollection, his girlfriend, who was with him in the studio, advised him to soften his vocal style. He took her advice and began "just scatting along really and just responding to the track." When Lidell cut the vocal up and incorporated a groove, Vogel approved of his work-in-progress, and after editing work, it became Super_Collider's first song. Another work-in-progress, "Darn (Cold Way O' Lovin)", remained an instrumental until Lidell added vocals one night which he had recorded a year earlier for a live show in Vogel's Brighton club Defunkt. Pairing Lidell's vocal with a funk style at a house tempo, "Darn (Cold Way O' Lovin') was released in 1998 as the first Super_Collider single alongside a remix by DJ Harvey, and was lauded by both critics and DJs.