Alex McCulloch of SHAFUNKERS


Alex McCulloch was born in 1977 and is now based in Manchester. He travelled during his youth living in Manchester, Hong Kong and Guildford. Living in Manchester now since 1997, he has been djing, producing and remixing now for almost a decade with gigs taking him to South-East Asia, America, Europe and the UK. His style weaves through all levels of house; laced with deep tech grooves, funky acid b-lines and jackin’ beats.

 Alex started his DJ career in 1995 behind the decks at bars, clubs and free parties in Surrey, South East and London, with forays into promoting and Djing culminating in him co-running Planet Sabatical, one of Manchester’s premier house nights between 1997-2001. While bringing DJs such as Tyrant, Steve Lawler, Terry Farley and Yousef to Manchester Alex was developing and honing his DJ skills whilst being the resident DJ.

 It was in Manchester that he started producing under his Shafunkers banner (with production partner Austin Moore). Both classically trained musicians with influences ranging from Jazz to The Beatles, the duos mutual love of dance music led to them to begin producing house together. Shafunkers first release was a remix project for San Francisco’s legendary Red Melon label with none other than Radio 1’s Yousef.  They then quickly signed to Premier Sounds. Their first two releases on the Prime Distribution backed label picked up support from Seb Fontaine, DJ Remy, James Zabiela and Clive Henry amongst others.

After Premier allowed Choo Choo to sign the pair exclusively, the duo’s first release on the legendary Sheffield label, “Rhythm Design EP”, picked up massive props from James Zabiela and Mixmag, not surprising as their sound combines funk, tribal and house perfectly to appeal across the board. Experiments with live instrumentation, vocals and breakbeat continued and Shafunkers then signed to Piliavin and Zimbardo’s Distreakt records. Everyday on Distreaktions received huge plays from Tom Stefan to DJ Paulette. Since their releases on Distreakt Shafunkers have recently signed some tracks to Alex Buchanans Dirty Blue records (forthcoming  Feb/March 05)

 Enter Nic Fanciulli and Saved Recordings. Alex has just signed a deal with Saved Recordings, Nic Fanciulli's new label. ‘You Don’t See Me’ has been getting big props from Nic Fanciulli, MYNC Project, Deep Dish and Pete Tong. Pete Tong has played it several times on his essential selection and Nic has included it on his forthcoming DMC Mixmag Live album (released Oct 05). Alex has just finished an EP for Saved, which has been getting played by Fanciulli and will also be forthcoming on Saved in March 05. He is in very good company on this new label that promises some quality releases from the other label artists including Skylark, Pete Tong and Chris Cox, Paul Woolford, Sander Kleinenberg and Paulo Mojo etc.

 Shafunkers have also signed an EP to the legendary Fantastic House label (Plastic Fantastic), which will be coming out in March 05. They have also done a collaboration with New Yorks Low End Specialists as well as a rework of Bowies classic ‘Lets Dance’.

 Alex is now working on several solo projects and his first 2 tracks entitled Disco Chick and Moogment have been signed to the legendary Strictly Rhythm 2 label based in New York. These 2 tracks have already received support from Lee Cabrera, Demi, Luca Elle amongst others.

 In addition, Alex has produced dance music under his other guises Dtrack and Northern Groove on Fluid Recordings, Akademia, Tune Inn and Red Melon. At the end of last year Alex was signed to Londons Sedition Djs DJ Agency. Their latest release has summer Ibiza bliss written all over it. Girls and Boyz EP has the most infectious vocal and bassline to boot and has received heavy support from Nic Fanciulli, Deep Dish, Desyn Masiello, , Mark Knight, Seamus Haji, Martin Ten Velden, Jon Carter, Smokin Jo many more.

With a handful of projects signed and forthcoming this year on Spin Out, Deeper Substance, G-Club Records,  Saved Records, Cr2 and Strictly Rhythm 2, 2006 is set to be their best year yet. Committed to producing serious music aimed at the floor, watch out for this duo!!

Discography:

Shafunkers - Ghost -
Shafunkers - Tick Tock - G-Club Records
Shafunkers - Man Woman Club - Spin Out
Shafunkers - Play Around - Deeper Substance
Alex McCulloch – Moogment/Disco Chick – Strictly Rhythm
Shafunkers – Hotter Than The Weather – Strictly Rhythm 2
Shafunkers – You Don’t See Me – Cr2 Trax
Shafunkers – The Pact/Electric Acid – Saved Records
Shafunkers – Girlz & Boyz / Lose Control – Fantastic House
Shafunkers – Come on Down/White Key – Dirty Blue Records
Shafunkers – Everyday – Distraekt Records)
Shafunkers – Rhythm Design – Choo Choo Records
D-Track – Back to Bass/Basedrum – Fluid Recordings UK
Northern Groove – Absolute/Acid Pipe – Progress Inn Records
Shafunkers – Act Two EP – Premier Sounds
Shafunkers - Act One EP – Premier Sounds
Sinewave – I’m not Scared – Metropolis Recordings


Remixography:

Stu Hirst - Choral (Shafunkers Remix) - Strawberry Blonde
Low End Specialists – One Thing (Shafunkers Remix) – Cr2 Records
Mara – Satisfy Me (Shafunkers remix) – Choo Choo Records
Future Primitive – Freedom (Shafunkers remix) Distraekt Records
Evolution - Walking on Fire (Shafunkers remix) – Fluid/Bedrock
D. Ramirez - Bounce Your DJ (Shafunkers remix) – Choo Choo
Southman – Iman (Shafunkers remix) Premier Sounds
Marvin’s Ghost (Shafunkers feat Yousef mix) – Red Melon


Labels: Premier Sounds, Fluid recordings, Choo Choo, Distreakt Records, Progress Inn, Akademia, Red Melon, Dirty Blue, Saved Records, Plastic Fantastic, SR2, Cr2 Records, Spin Out, Deeper Substance, G-Club Records

 Aliases: D-Track, Northern Groove, Sinewave

 www.shafunkers.com