Rollo Armstrong

♥ written by christopher

This may just be an excuse to post as much of my record collection as possible in one post, but at least there's a common theme between them. You may not know him but you're bound to have heard one of the many countless bands he's been involved with; our Rollo has his finger in many musical pies, so to speak. Oh and, you deffinately know his sister. What's with everyone having famous sisters nowadays?

Rollo Armstrong is a music producer and remixer from London, UK. And if you don't own a CD with his name in the credits, you probably don't own many CDs. I've included a small selection of stuff with a connection, although one's more of a wildcard entry. Anyway, I'll get on with it...

Trip hop festival faves Faithless are probably Rollo's most well known connection as one of three main members of the group, though as the band's permanent producer he's rarely seen onstage with them. Included is Mass Destruction, and no clues needed as to the lyrical content there. Whether it's the anti-Bush message or much more indie-ska-rock feel to the tune I don't know, but it's one of the only Faithless tracks I've been tempted to purchase.

Rollo's "Chillin With The Family" remix of sister - have you guessed yet? - Dido Armstrong's "Here With Me" contains possibly one of the best intros to a remix I've ever heard. Maybe I just don't listen to enough remixes I guess. Dido gets a lot of shit nowadays from the UK press, shame really as No Angel (co-produced by Rollo) was one of early 2000's best albums, and had it not been played to breaking point on the country's stereo systems I'm sure you'd hear nothing but good stuff about her to this day.

Start of the wildcard stuff is On A Beautiful Day by Skinny. Although having no musical input, Skinny's album Taller from which the track is taken was released on Rollo's record lable Cheeky. The track samples the Wallace Collection's 1968 "Daydream", but you're much more likely to have heard that via an advert featuring I Monster's Dayd ream In Blue, also sampling the same tune and included as it's frankly just better than Skinny's efforts.

Finally, below is the video for the Always Remember To Respect And Honour Your Mother Part One by Dusted. One wonders if there's rules in the Chart restricting title length, and if not there should be. Anyway, Dusted are a collaboration between, you guessed it, Rollo Armstrong and another producer, and the video to chillout tune Always Remember is a great fantasy animation and one of my favourite ever music videos.

And if you don't like any of that lot, there's plenty more Rollo remixes and productions available, ranging from Sarah McLachlan and Simply Red to Robbie Williams and the Spice Girls.  But I can't keep posting his stuff forever, so I'll be gone for the day.