ski Welcome to the official Ski Oakenfull Website.
Ski is an Artist, Keyboard player, Producer, Remixer and Composer living in London. Having started his career with 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, Rising Son, and Short Circuits, play keyboards with bands such as Galliano, Raw Stylus & Two Banks of Four, remix over 50 tracks, and work at Xenomania. He currently releases music on his own label, Primaudial Records, writes & produces with artists such as Incognito, Dave Lee, Valerie Etienne, and Duke Dumont. He has an Ambient Electronic project called Ayota, and also makes regular radio shows. Alongside his production work, Ski holds the position of Head of Education & Curriculum at Point Blank Music School where he manages their degree programmes. He has also made over a hundred tutorial videos for the school's YouTube channel which have racked up over ten million views, and is an Ableton Certified Trainer. Please have a look around this site, and feel free to leave a message.

This show was recorded via Zoom on the 2nd January 2022 with my good friend Tomokazu Hayashi from Tokyo, Japan.
It focuses on the music of the experimental Japanese musician and artist Keigo Oyamada aka Cornelius
Artwork by Tim Oakenfull

Here's the playlist:

Tags: 

Alongside the 6-part series of tutorial videos about Ableton Live 11 Lite I made for the Feb '22 issue of Computer Music Magazine, I also did an interview. The one that was published was quite radically cut down, so here's the interview in full:

Can you give me a biog about yourself, how and why you got into music production?

My two main obsessions growing up were music and computers, so I suppose it was inevitable that I would end with a career producing music on a computer! I started learning the piano from six years old, as well as singing in the school choir. I was an 80’s kid with home computers in their infancy, so the first sequencer I used was called ‘MIDItrack Performer’ using an EMR interface on a BBC B computer. I connected my Yamaha DX-7 and Roland S-10 sampler, and together with a Yamaha 4-track cassette recorder (borrowed from my uncle), I was making early demos in my teens. At the same time, I was in a band at school, and we used to spend weekends rehearsing and playing gigs whenever we could. Our school friends were really supportive, making flyers and turning up to our small gigs.

Once I left school and went to University in London, I continued to get together with my school bandmates to work on demos. We were called ‘The K-Creative’ and influenced by Hip Hop, House, and Jazz. It led to us being signed to Gilles Peterson’s Talkin’ Loud label in 1991, and this was officially the start of my music career.

After releasing our debut album ‘QED’ we ended up going our separate ways, but I started to work more on my production skills, writing with other artists, making radio jingles, and playing at jam sessions to build up my network of contacts. This eventually led to a record deal with Columbia France in 2000, and I went on to release three solo albums, ‘Life Changes’, ‘Rising Son’ and very recently ‘Short Circuits’. Throughout my career, I have also played keyboards with bands and artists like Galliano, Raw Stylus, Two Banks of Four, and Kylie Minogue, remixed over 50 tracks, and worked at Xenomania. I currently release music on my own label, Primaudial Records, continue writing and producing with artists such as Incognito, Dave Lee, Duke Dumont, and Valerie Etienne, as well as having an ambient electronic project called Ayota.

And how did you go from there to become an Ableton Certified Trainer?

I recently made a 6-part series of tutorial videos about Ableton Live 11 Lite, to go with a feature in Computer Music’s February 2022 issue.
The video playlist is here: https://bit.ly/3Eyc8zr

You can purchase CM from the following places:

BUY IN PRINT
In stores and online here…
https://www.magazinesdirect.com/az-single-issues/6936924/computer-music-...?

OR DIGITAL
Zinio Digital issues
https://www.zinio.com/gb/computer-music-m3730

IOS Digital issues
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/computer-music-magazine/id451402723

Google Play (accessed via pocket mags)
https://pocketmags.com/de/computer-music-magazine

Subscribe to Computer Music's YouTube channel for more artist videos and tutorials: http://bit.ly/cmsub

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I'm very honoured and grateful to be featured in the latest December edition of the Incognito newsletter. Thanks so much to Bluey for asking the questions ?
Read it here: https://www.incognito.london/so/6fNroWqCT#/main

This was broadcast on Saturday 27th Nov at 10.30 am. I was very honoured to contribute an audio deconstruction to this episode of BBC Radio 4's Soul Music series which focuses on Massive Attack's epic Unfinished Sympathy
Check it below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00120hq
The uncut version is also on Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/skioakenfull/radio-4-soul-music-ski-oakenfull-unf...
You can also watch back my live deconstruction at Ableton's Loop festival here:
https://youtu.be/e4Nyo2jc7_g

Click play to listen: 

This track was commissioned by Chris Read at WhoSampled.com as part of a collaboration project with KPM records where I was able to use samples from any on the KPM library albums. The compilation album is called 'Digging in the KPM Vaults'. This list of track I sampled from are as follows (Track / LP)

"Birth Rise (b)" - Breath Of Life
"Synthesizer Bass (a)" - Bass Patterns
"Communication Centre" - The Age Of Discovery
"Hot Cargo" - Vivid underscores
"Low Profile" - Visual Impact
"Four O'Clock Earthquake" - Jazzrock
"Asafo Dance" - Native Africa 1
"Hot Cake" - Time Signals
"Voodoo!" - Breath Of Danger

Here's a description from the APM Music website:
Fired-up trip hop cue with driving bass, sampled choir, cold metallic percussion, slick drums, effected piano, glitchy synths and sweeping strings (samples: 'A New Shade of Blue' by Johnny Pearson, KPMLP1008-8)

Artist: 
Ski Oakenfull
Compilation Name: 
Digging the KPM Vaults
Release Date: 
1 December, 2020
Record Label: 
KPM
Listen to a preview: 

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