Jan Linton

Jan Linton is a British singer, musician and producer from Warrington.

Biography

One of the first few western musicians to ever sign directly to a Japanese major label ( King Records) Linton helped internationalize the Japanese music industry, and formed a band called Dr.Jan (guru) which played frequently at large venues. Under the band's name, he released three albums over the next few years: starting with ''Alienshamanism'' in 2000 However, the live members often changed and rarely appeared on the albums; instead, a number of well-known musicians contributed to the recording sessions, such as Duran Duran's John Taylor. The albums also included reworkings of the unreleased tracks Linton had recorded with Bill Nelson (musician).

Linton made several releases in 2000 in the UK, Japan, and Europe. The singles "Inner Sanctum" ("Can't You Feel") and "Sarajevo" were both number one hits on the MP3 electronic music charts in several countries. Linton also released the first of a series of experimental albums under his own name, on the "Kaerucafe" label, which is noted for experimental and sampling CDs. Inspired by the notoriously difficult to program Yamaha DX7 synthesizer as used by Brian Eno, ''Music for Aliens'' was the best selling sampling CD in national stores such as Yamaha. In 2001 a collaborative project with the former Japan and Porcupine Tree synthesist, Richard Barbieri, was again marketed as a sampling CD and titled ''Cosmic Prophets''.

In 2004, King Records signed Linton to make another album as Dr.Jan (guru). Entitled ''Planet Japan'', it was in a rock/cyberpunk style (such as a cover version of the John Foxx-period Ultravox! song " Hiroshima Mon Amour"), and the controversial subject matter — Linton's occasionally bitter experiences in Tokyo — caused a slight stir in the Japanese media.

A UK promotional video (and later, CD/DVD single) of a drum n bass reworking of Bauhaus's " Dark Entries" (from the ''Communion'' album) followed, but due to label disputes was never fully released. This marks the last use of the name Dr.Jan (guru) to date.

In early 2011, Entropy Records released Linton's 2009–2010 reworkings of the sounds of FM3's Buddha Machine versions 1 and 2, but following the 9.0 magnitude Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent releases of radioactive materials in Japan (where Linton had returned in 2007) delayed the release until late March.

In 2012, he released a benefit CD for Sendai earthquake reconstruction with contributions from Matthew Seligman. In 2015–2017, he recorded two separate releases of an album entitled ''I Actually Come Back'', collaborating in part once more with Seligman and Leo Abrahams.
In 2020, following Matthew Seligman's death, the Sendai EP was re-released in an expanded form, followed by a second EP of previously recorded material.

Since 2020, he has also become notable for his use of East Asian instrumentation such as the Zhongruan and Taishōgoto synthesiser on other artists' commercial releases

Discography

Albums

* (1993) Polystar HI-1023
* (2000) Kaerucafe 0104
* ''Alienshamanism'' (2000) [] Nap/25 FO26
* (2003) [] Kaerucafe 28186842354
* (2003) [/] Explosion RT0005
* (2004) King Records KICP1014
* mini-album (2011) Entropy Records EM 007
* mini album (2015) with Burning Shed
* Full album with bonus mini album "Buddha Machine Music" (2016–17) with Entropy Records/jansongs

EPs

* EP (1999) Global Vision Music GVM0010
* EP (2012) with Entropy Records ED 006
* Extended Reissue EP (2020) with jansongs/MRC
* EP (2020) with jansongs/MRC
* EP (2021) jansongs/MRC
* EP (2023) jansongs/MRC

Singles

* (2000) Groove 052
* (2022) jansongs/MRC
* (2022) jansongs/MRC
* (2023) jansongs/MRC
* (2023) jansongs/MRC
* (2023) jansongs/MRC
* (2023) jansongs/MRC
* (2023) jansongs/MRC
* (2024) jansongs/MRC

Collaboration albums

* Global Dance Music Vol.2 "6 Ritual" Dr.Jan (& Scorpio Family) Sony Records SRCS7425 (1994)
* track "King Porn" Dr.Jan (guru) mix 2-CD (2001) [] TTP TTP1201A
* sampling sound collection (2001) [ & ] Kaerucafe 0130
* step,uk garage and r'n'b'construction kit (2002) [Frame Shift] Kaerucafe 0143

Collaboration singles

* (2007) with Just Music/Bip Hop
* (2023) an Linton with Logan Skyjansongs/Etrangers Musique

Compilation albums

* download compilation (2015?) Burning Shed

References

External links

*
dr jan guru
on Myspace
Jan Linton
on Myspace

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linton, Jan
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Alumni of the University of Birmingham
British ambient musicians