Howie & Linn
Howie & Linn
Genres: House, dance, electro, Belgium, lady linn
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Lady Linn
About Howie & Linn
Hailing from Ghent, the epicenter of Belgian night life that brought us new beat, 2ManyDjs and The Subs, male-female duo Howie & Linn made a record that smoothly blends (nu) rave, pop, melody, eurotrance and electro in eleven upbeat dancepop songs. Howie & Linn is deejay/producer Howie Dunham (Filip Leloup) and singer Lady Linn (Lien De Greef). Howie Dunham has been deejaying for twenty years now. He started out as a true B-boy, is a connoisseur of all things hip hop but has also been into electro, house and more since the early nineties. Lady Linn is Belgium’s most renowned female singer, together with her big band The Magnificent Seven she has scored numerous hits in Belgium, the biggest one being a sultry doowop-ish cover of Eddy Grant’s reggae classic ‘I Don’t Wanna Dance’. She has been honoured with three Music Industry Awards (Best Female Singer,…), and, as we are writing down these words, her debut album ‘Here We Go Again’ has been in the Belgian Ultratop-chart for over 100 weeks… So what brings together an underground electro dj and a commercially successful nu jazz singer? Surely not some clever record company executive! (Although that would have been a cunning plan.) Howie Dunham and Lady Linn have been close friends for ten years now, and have been musical collaborators in various bands, the most notable one being Skeemz. Skeemz was an urban outfit that mixed hip hop with R&B and soul and released the promising debut album ‘Ain’t You Heard’ in 2005. Unfortunately for Howie Dunham (in those days still using the hip hop moniker Buzz) and the other Skeemz-members, their front lady soon embarked on a successful solo career. Howie Dunham: ‘Plans for a second Skeemz-album got delayed due to Linn’s touring schedule with her ‘other’ band. Meanwhile, I evolved from a predominantly hiphop dj to more of an electro and house dj.’ Dj Buzz became dj Howie Dunham, and that alter ago started producing electro beats. The electro beats became synth tracks – sometimes with a rave-y, even euro-ish, but always tasteful feel – and that’s where Belgium’s hottest girl singer came in (again). On entering Howie’s studio, Linn too had gone through change. Linn: ‘In Skeemz, I always tried to be a soul singer. But I’m not a soul singer. The success of Lady Linn and Her Magnificent Seven gave me so much confidence about my singing style. I love my richly orchestrated retro jazzpop songs, but I’m also crazy about dance music. I have this live project with a friend of mine, dj Red D: he spins classic house records and I sing the vocals to them, we perform in clubs, in front of sweaty crowds - love it! I even like nineties eurohouse, music that I grew up with (laughs).’ When Howie Dunham and Lady Linn got together in the studio after all that time apart, it was like nothing had ever changed. Well, apart from their sound, that is. ‘Howie & Linn’ is a record made by two friends having a blast, but the sound of it – a mix of pop, dance, rave and even eurotrance - is totally 2010. First single ‘Beat The Blues’ is an incredibly uplifting track, fit for both car stereos and dance floor speakers! The moods on ‘Howie & Linn’ range from euphoric (‘Natural High’) over sinister (‘Sick Today’ – a song that Howie Dunham wrote when he saw Linn struggling with her newfound celebrity status) to trance-y (‘Princess Of The Party’ –handbag house, anyone?). The record was mixed by Alain ‘BC’ Croisy (songwriting partner of Felix Da Housecat) and will be released on April the 5th through NEWS. On stage, Howie & Linn will be accompanied by Isolde Lasoen (drums), Jan Goossens (bass) and Luk Vermeir (keyboards).
Taken from Last.fm
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