Katalyst (real name Ashley Anderson) is an Australian DJ and producer. He won awards at the 2002 Australian Dance Music Awards for Best Album and Best Producer.

History

1998–2000: Moonrock

Anderson initially recorded under the name Moonrock with fellow producer Michael Wright (aka Illpickl). Moonrock released a self-titled album in 1998, and went on to contribute tracks to the internationally renowned

Cafe Del Mar A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...

compilation albums (Volume 6 (1999) and The Best Of (2003)).

2001–2011: Katalyst

As Katalyst, he had his first solo release with a track on the ''Dope on Plastic'' compilation in 2001. That year also saw him form experimental

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

Invada Records Geoffrey Paul Barrow (born 9 December 1971) is an English music producer, composer, and DJ. He is a member of the bands Portishead, Beak, and Quakers, and he has scored several films. Portishead was formed in 1991. He named the band after the ...

, together with Portishead's

Geoff Barrow Geoffrey Paul Barrow (born 9 December 1971) is an English music producer, composer, and DJ. He is a member of the bands Portishead, Beak, and Quakers, and he has scored several films. Portishead was formed in 1991. He named the band after the ...

. Invada Records' has released records from acts like

Amusement Parks on Fire Amusement Parks on Fire are a British rock band from Nottingham. The band was established by Michael Feerick in 2004, who wrote and performed all the instruments for the self-titled debut album. History The band began as the solo project of M ...

, Flow Dynamics, RuC.L,

Koolism ''Koolism'' is an Australian hip hop duo originating from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The members are lyricist Hau Latukefu (born Langomi-e-Hau Latukefu, 1976, Queanbeyan, Australia) and producer/DJ/musician Danielsan Ichiban (born ...

and

Space Invadas Space Invadas is an Australian hip-hop duo made up of Katalyst (Ashley Anderson) and Steve Spacek (Steve White). Their album, ''Soul:Fi'' (22 March 2010), was nominated at the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 The 24th Annual Australian Recordin ...

. May 2002 saw the release of the Katalyst's debut album ''Manipulating Agent'', the first release for Invada Records. The album was nominated at the 2002 ARIA Awards for

ARIA Award for Best Dance Release In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompaniment, normally part of a large ...

and received Best Producer and Best Album at the 2002 Australian Dance Music Awards. In late 2002 Katalyst enlisted a number of Australian and UK producers to remix tracks from his album, the result was the remix album ''Agent Manipulated'', released in April 2003. Katalyst's next release, ''Katalyst Presents: Dusted – Essential Mix Of Rare Groove & Hip Hop Joints'' was released in March 2005. The album is a mix of rare groove and hip hop songs, the two CD compilation features Anderson's favourite artists (including

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

Run DMC Run-DMC (also formatted Run-D.M.C., RUN DMC, or some combination thereof) was an American hip-hop group formed in Hollis, Queens, New York City in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jam Master Jay, Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as ...

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Nina Simone Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

, Portishead and

Sérgio Mendes Sérgio Santos Mendes (; 11 February 1941 – 5 September 2024) was a Brazilian musician. His career took off with worldwide hits by his band Brasil '66. He released 35 albums and was known for playing bossa nova, often mixed with funk. He ...

) together with a Katalyst track, "Let The Music Talk", featuring RuCL. In August 2007 Katalyst released his second studio album '' What's Happening'', enlisting guest vocalists from the US, the UK and Australia (

J-Live Jean-Jacques Cadet (born February 22, 1976), better known by his stage name J-Live, is an American rapper, DJ, and record producer. Life and career J-Live released his debut studio album, '' The Best Part'', in 2001. It featured production by ...

Stephanie McKay Stephanie McKay is an American soul singer-songwriter from the Bronx, New York. Her music incorporates elements of soul, funk, rock, and hip-hop. With a career spanning over 20 years, McKay has collaborated with a variety of artists, including ...

Steve Spacek Spacek (also known as Spacek Sound System) is a British electronic music band. Its members are Steve Spacek (Real name Steve White), Ed Spacek, and Morgan Spacek. The group released its debut album, '' Curvatia'' in 2001, followed by 2003's '' ...

, Supernatural, Mat McHugh (

The Beautiful Girls The Beautiful Girls are an Australian Traditional music, roots music group founded in Sydney in 2001 by Mat McHugh, Clay MacDonald, and Mitchell Connelly. They have released three extended plays, ''Morning Sun (EP), Morning Sun'' (2002), ''Goo ...

), Adalita (

Magic Dirt Magic Dirt is an Australian rock band, which formed in 1991 in Geelong, Victoria, with Daniel Herring on guitar, Adam Robertson on drums, Adalita Srsen on vocals and guitar, and Dean Turner on bass guitar. Initially forming an alternative und ...

), Ru C.L, Hau (

). The album was nominated for

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

J Award The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J, and which also extend to sister stations, Triple J Unearthed and Double J. The award ...

and 'Best Urban Release' at the 2008 ARIA awards In 2009 he began working on a project with

under the name

. An album, ''Soul-Fi'', was released in March 2010. The album was nominated for an

ARIA Award The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austra ...

for Best Urban Release. His third solo album in the Katalyst trilogy was entitled ''Deep Impressions'' and was released in 2011. Of the title and creative method behind his third release, Katalyst says "Writing music for me is a continual process so when it came time to put the third Katalyst album together I looked at the songs I had written and recorded for the new release. As a body of work it was clear that many styles of music have made a deep impression on me as a producer. Hence the name of my album." This album was also met with critical acclaim. It was nominated for an

in 2012 for Best Urban Album.

2012–present: International move

2012 has seen Katalyst making big moves internationally, being signed to legendary Californian label

Stones Throw Records Stones Throw Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. Under the direction of founder Peanut Butter Wolf, Stones Throw has released music ranging from hip hop to experimental psychedelic rock. ''LA Weekly'' ...

with his latest release

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

. A collaboration with

is a hip-hop collective currently boasting 35 members which orbits around a core of three producers: Katalyst, Fuzzface and 7-Stu-7. Fuzzface is better known as Portishead's founder and producer Geoff Barrow. 7-Stu-7 is Portishead's engineer and in-house producer at Invada Records in the UK. Some of the 32 MCs on the record include

Dead Prez Dead Prez (stylized in lowercase) is an American hip hop duo composed of M-1 and stic.man, formed in 1996 in New York City. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with lyrics focused on both militant social justice, self-de ...

Guilty Simpson Byron Dwayne "Guilty" Simpson is an American rapper and songwriter from Detroit, Michigan whose recording career spans more than 20 years. He is signed to Stones Throw Records, and is known for being one of the late producer J Dilla's favorite r ...

Aloe Blacc Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III (born January 7, 1979), known professionally as Aloe Blacc (), is an American singer and rapper. He is known for his guest performance on Avicii's 2013 single "Wake Me Up (Avicii song), Wake Me Up", which peaked on ...

Phat Kat Ronald Christopher Watts (born August 26, 1971), better known by his stage name Phat Kat, is a rapper from Detroit, Michigan, best known as a favorite collaborator of the late J Dilla. Biography His career began in the mid-1990s as part of 1st ...

Prince Po Lawrence Baskerville (born August 12, 1969), better known by his stage name Prince Po, is an American rapper and record producer from Queens, New York City, New York. He is a founder of Ice Bearz Movement. Early life Prince Po was born Lawrence ...

and Booty Brown to name just a handful.

album has been hailed by many as an instant classic, with reviews like 91/100 on Okay Player. The album has been listed as No. 41 in Amazon UK's top 100 albums of 2012. Also iTunes UK named it Best New Hip Hop Album of the Year and Best New Hip Hop Artist 2012. It made

Gilles Peterson Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a broadcaster, DJ, record label and festival owner. He is renowned for his genre-defying approach to music with jazz at its core. From this base he ...

's BBC Radio Best of 2012. Katalyst has produced/remixed for artists, including

, Jack Johnson, Gift of Gab,

Ugly Duckling "The Ugly Duckling" () is a Danish literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). It was first published on 11 November 1843 in ''New Fairy Tales. First Volume#New Fairy Tales. First Volume. First Collec ...

, Vassy,

King Kapisi Bill Rangi Urale (born 1974), known by his stage name King Kapisi, is a New Zealand hip hop recording artist. He was the first hip hop artist in New Zealand to receive the Silver Scroll Award at the APRA Awards for Songwriter of the Year fo ...

and

.Biography
, on Katalyst official website He has toured with/supported live with

The Roots The Roots are an American Hip-hop, hip hop band formed in 1987 by singer Black Thought, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''T ...

Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 (stylized JuraSsic 5) is an American alternative hip hop group formed by rappers Charles Stewart (Chali 2na), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (Soup (Jurassic 5), Soup, Zaakir), and Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and disc jockeys Mar ...

Ben Harper Benjamin Charles Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music, and he is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, liv ...

DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972 in San Jose, California, San Jose, California), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ and record producer. His debut studio album, ''Endtroducing.....,'' was released in 1996. He uses l ...

, Jack Johnson,

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He has been frequently lauded as one of hip hop's greatest producers by publications such as '' ...

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and

The Black Eyed Peas The Black Eyed Peas are an American musical group formed in Los Angeles in 1995, composed of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo (rapper), Taboo. Fergie (singer), Fergie was a member during the height of their popularity in the 2000s, and ...

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation and remix albums

Awards and nominations

AIR Awards

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as

AIR Awards The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. History The inaugural 2006 awards were held at Blacket Hot ...

) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. , - ,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, ''What's Happening'' , Best Independent Hip Hop Album , , - ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, ''The Quickening'' , Best Independent Hip Hop/Urban Album ,

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony held by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

. , - ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, ''Manipulating Agent'' , Best Dance Release , , - ,

, ''What's Happening'' , Best Urban Release , , - ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, ''Soul-Fi (as Space Invadas)'' , Best Urban Album , , - ,

, ''Deep Impressions'' , Best Urban Album ,

Australian Dance Music Awards

, - , rowspan="2", 2002Dance Music Awards History
, ''Manipulating Agent'' , Best Album , , - , 'Katalyst , Best Producer ,

J Award

The

J Awards The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J, and which also extend to sister stations, Triple J Unearthed and Double J. The awar ...

are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

's youth-focused radio station

. They commenced in 2005. , - ,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, ''What's Happening'' , Australian Album of the Year ,

References

External links

Katalyst
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katalyst Australian hip-hop DJs Hip-hop record producers Living people Australian male rappers Year of birth missing (living people) Quakers (band) members