Ski Oakenfull

I’m delighted to announce that my second album, ‘Rising Son’ is available today on digital platforms. Originally released in 2005 on Bluey’s ‘Rice Records’ imprint, the record marked an important moment in my career and is a project I hold very dear to my heart. My first album ‘Life Changes’ had come out five years earlier, and in the years after, I was very busy with production and remix work, as well as writing and playing keyboards with 2 Banks of 4. Since the mid-nineties I’d built up an amazing working relationship with Bluey from Incognito, which meant that I regularly found myself at his studio, The Blue Room, writing and producing on various projects. Bluey’s son, Daniel (aka Dokta Venom) was often there too, and in 2001 I was lucky enough to work on the ‘Para:Diso’ project (a Bluey/Venom production). Dan and I shared a lot of musical influences such as David Sylvian, Johnny Marr, and Theo Parrish, so when Bluey asked if I wanted to make an album with Daniel for his label, I jumped at the chance. 

In December 2001 I flew to Japan for a one-off gig at the Blue Note Tokyo organised by Bluey from Incognito. The set consisted of tracks of mine, Niki King and Paradiso (a project of Bluey and his son Daniel Maunick). We had a lot of fun in Tokyo, especially with some crazy karaoke at the end of the night with Tony higgins 😂.
On stage was:
DJ Venom - DJ & FX
Stevie Christie - keyboards
Jim Carmichael - Drums
Bluey - Guitar and vocals
Niki King - vocals
Jeremy Shultz - Guitar and vocals
Franci Hylton - bass

Album Date: 
July, 2023

I'm delighted to be giving a talk and playing a live set at the Venture Café in Tokyo with Nick Luscombe on Thursday 6th April 2023.
I'll be previewing tracks from my new Ayota album 'Sound Travelling' which is due for release in April.
Entry is free, but you need to register here first, and you will receive two free drinks!

Date: 
Thursday, April 6, 2023

RELEASED ON FRIDAY 17th FEBRUARY 2023!

Milton and Ski's first musical encounter occurred in 2006 when Ski remixed Milton's track '1998' for 'Tronicsole'. Milton reciprocated a year later, remixing Ski's track ‘Illuminations' on his own Primaudial Records. The two subsequently stayed in contact, with Ski occasionally providing keyboards for Milton, and Milton telling Ski the secrets of sidechain compression. However, it wasn't until 2022 that their musical relationship became truly collaborative, with a track written and produced together entitled 'Need Your Love' released as part of the 'Closer' EP on Freerange.

Artist: 
Milton Jackson & Ski Oakenfull
Release Date: 
17 February, 2023
Record Label: 
Lazy Days Recordings
Album Date: 
January, 2023

Ski Oakenfull is an Artist, Musician, Producer, Remixer, and Composer living in London, UK. Having started his career as a keyboard player with the band The K-Creative who were signed to Gilles Peterson's Talkin' Loud label in 1991, he has gone on to release three solo albums, Life Changes (2000), Rising Son (2005) & Short Circuits (2021), play keyboards with bands such as Galliano, Raw Stylus & Two Banks of Four, remix countless tracks, and work as an in-house writer at Xenomania. He currently releases music on his own label, Primaudial Records, writes & produces with artists such as Incognito, Duke Dumont, Dave Lee, Milton Jackson, Str4ta, Nick Luscombe, and Valerie Etienne, and has an Ambient Electronic project called Ayota. Ski has recently collaborated with Milton Jackson on two EPs for Freerange Records and Lazy Days Recordings, and is preparing for some Galliano live shows.

The Ayota project was born out of Ski's love of all things ambient, experimental & Japanese, with artists such as Brian Eno, Steve Reich, David Sylvian & Ryuichi Sakamoto all being big influences.

It was whilst on a holiday in Japan in 2004 that Ski was inspired by a Japanese friend's book of Poetry entitled 'Kumorizora no Helicopta' to write soundtracks to three of the poems. This quickly developed into an album project continuing the Japanese ambient theme, the result being 'Helicopter Cuts' which was released on the label 'Third Ear' in 2007, becoming Tower Records' ambient album of the year.

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