Minus 8

One of the few Swiss electronic dance music producers, Minus 8's myriad approach to the genre made his recordings some of the more championed albums by critics but also some of the least accessible for the populist audience, who wasn't quite sure what to make of his unconfined sound. Bringing together drum'n'bass-style breakbeat percussion, a down-tempo sense of almost Latin rhythm, a jazz approach to arrangement, and a deep dose of funk, Robert Jan Meyer's Minus 8 project originally resulted from his years as a bass player in funk bands and more notably from his urge to present an alternative to the sped-up "plus eight" sound that was sweeping across Europe in the early '90s (a reference to the positive and negative pitch adjustment on turntables). Meyer first made a name for himself as a DJ, touring with many of the U.K.'s drum'n'bass elite: Grooverider, Bad Company, Goldie, and Krust, among others. DJ Cam then released Meyer's first Minus 8 productions on his Paris-based Inflammable label. The second Minus 8 full-length, Beyond Beyond, appeared on the U.K.-based Higher Ground label, and the prominent Munich, Germany, label Compost released Elysian Fields, the third and most celebrated Minus 8 album.