X-Press 2 are an English

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

duo. The members are DJ Diesel (Darren House) and DJ Rocky (Darren Rock).

Ashley Beedle Ashley Beedle (born November 25, 1962, in Hemel Hempstead, England) is a British house music DJ and producer. He was a member of the groups Black Science Orchestra and X-Press 2 in addition to releasing material under his own name. Career Bee ...

left to pursue solo projects in 2009. They were DJ Award winners in 2002 and

Ivor Novello Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies; 15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951) was a Welsh actor, dramatist, singer and composer who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. He was born into a musical ...

winners in 2003.

History

Explaining the band's name, Darren Rock (aka 'DJ Rocky') explained that

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just " acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synt ...

legend

Terry Farley Terry Farley is a British DJ, remixer and producer from London, active since the mid-1980s. Career Farley started out going to clubs in the late 1970s and first visited Ibiza in 1982. He then started working as a DJ, performing at the same clubs ...

Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy once again divided Fire Island into two islands. Together, these two isl ...

came up with it. Rocky said, "We were originally going to call ourselves Rock 2 House, but arleywasn't really into that. So he renamed us X-Press 2. He basically liked the

S'Express S'Express (pronounced ''ess-express''; sometimes spelled S'Xpress or S-Express) was a British dance music act from the late 1980s, who had one of the earliest commercial successes in the acid house genre. " Theme from S'Express", which contain ...

so kind of adapted that." X-Press 2 first rose to

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * Buenos Aires Underground, a rapid transit system * London Underground, a rapid transit system * ...

prominence through the tracks "Muzik Express" and "London Xpress" which were both released on Junior Boys Own Records. X-Press 2 also gained plaudits on the

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises * ...

scene for regularly playing in clubs with their multi-decked (up to six decks with three DJs) sets. Their debut US

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "The Sound" peaked at number one on the

Hot Dance Music/Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart in 1996. 2001 saw the release of their

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

Muzikizum ''Muzikizum'' is the debut studio album by X-Press 2. It was released on Skint Records in 2002. It features vocal contributions from David Byrne, Dieter Meier, and Steve Edwards. It peaked at number 15 on the UK Albums Chart. Critical reception ...

'' which contained two more US dance chart entries: "Smoke Machine" (number 31) and " Lazy", which peaked at number one in 2002 and also peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart in the duo's native United Kingdom, as well as winning them the prestigious

award in 2003. The

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

on "Lazy" are sung by

David Byrne David Byrne (; born May 14, 1952) is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has ...

(formerly of

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.Talking Heads

), and on "I Want You Back" by

Dieter Meier Dieter Meier (born 4 March 1945) is a Swiss musician, conceptual artist and entrepreneur. He is the frontman of the electronic music group Yello, which was co-founded (with ex-member Carlos Perón) by music producer Boris Blank (musician), Boris ...

Yello Yello is a Swiss electronic music band, which formed in Zürich in 1979. For most of the band's history, Yello has been a duo consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank; founding member Carlos Perón left in 1983. Their sound is often charac ...

. ''

Makeshift Feelgood ''Makeshift Feelgood'' is the second album by English electronic dance music group X-Press 2. It features Tim DeLaughter from The Polyphonic Spree, Kurt Wagner from Lambchop, Anthony Roman from Radio 4, 1980s band Kissing the Pink, and, on t ...

'' appeared in 2006, featuring Tim DeLaughter, Kurt Wagner, Anthony Roman from Radio 4,

Kissing the Pink Kissing the Pink are an English new wave and synth-pop band that formed in London in 1980. The current members are lead singer and guitarist Nick Whitecross, keyboardist Jon Kingsley Hall, second keyboardist George Stewart, and guitarist Simon ...

and Rob Harvey. In 2013 the "Kill 100 (

Carl Craig Carl Craig (born May 22, 1969) is an American electronic music producer, DJ, and founder of the record label Planet E Communications. He is known as a leading figure and pioneer in the second wave of Detroit techno artists during the late 1980 ...

re-mix)" was used by

Raf Simons Raf Jan Simons (; born 12 January 1968) is a Belgian fashion designer. Beginning in furniture design, Simons launched his own menswear label in 1995. He was creative director at Jil Sander (2005–2012), Christian Dior (2012–2015), and Calvin Kl ...

for his debut Spring/Summer 2013 show in his role as creative director for

Dior Christian Dior SE (), commonly known as Dior, is a French Multinational corporation, multinational luxury goods company that is controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH. , Dior controlled around 42% of ...

. X-Press 2 are currently signed to

Skint Records Skint Records is a Brighton and Hove based dance music record label owned by JC Reid, Tim Jeffery and Damian Harris. It was created as a sublabel of Loaded Records, also founded by Reid and Jeffery. Along with Wall of Sound, the label was a ...

, a

BMG BMG may refer to: Organizations Music publishing companies * Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 ** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that was pur ...

company.

Discography

Albums

*''Late Night Sessions II'' (1997) *''

'' (2002) - UK No. 15 *''

'' (2006) * ''The House of X-Press 2'' (2012) * ''MMXV'' (2015)

Compilation albums

*''

Remixes A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

'' (2002) *''

Raise Your Hands – The Greatest Hits ''Raise Your Hands – The Greatest Hits'' is a compilation album by English electronic dance music group X-Press 2. Disc One contained tracks from the first two albums and the new track "Fire". Disc Two contained remixes of X-Press 2 songs and r ...

'' (2008) *''Coast 2 Coast'' (2008)

Singles

References

External links

*
X-Press 2 on Resident Advisor
{{DJ Award for Best Tech House DJ , state=collapsed English house music duos English dance music groups English DJ duos English electronic dance music duos English remixers