Jan Linton

British musician

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Jan Linton
Also known as	Dr. Jan (guru)
Genres	Electronic, ambient, rock, dance
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Burning Shed King Records, Entropy Records

Musical artist

Jan Linton is a British singer, musician and producer from Warrington.

Biography

Linton formed a band called Dr.Jan (guru) which played frequently at large venues. Under the band's name, he released three albums over the next few years: starting with Alienshamanism in 2000 ^[1] However, the live members often changed and rarely appeared on the albums; instead, a number of well-known musicians contributed to the recording sessions, such as Duran Duran's John Taylor. The albums also included reworkings of the unreleased tracks Linton had recorded with Bill Nelson.

Linton made several releases in 2000 in the UK, Japan, and Europe. The singles "Inner Sanctum" ("Can't You Feel") and "Sarajevo" were both number one hits on the MP3 electronic music charts in several countries. Linton also released the first of a series of experimental albums under his own name, on the "Kaerucafe" label, which is noted for experimental and sampling CDs. Inspired by the notoriously difficult to program Yamaha DX7 synthesizer as used by Brian Eno, Music for Aliens was the best selling sampling CD in national stores such as Yamaha. In 2001 a collaborative project with the former Japan and Porcupine Tree synthesist, Richard Barbieri, was again marketed as a sampling CD and titled Cosmic Prophets.^[2]

In 2004, King Records signed Linton to make another album as Dr.Jan (guru). Entitled Planet Japan, it was in a rock/cyberpunk style (such as a cover version of the John Foxx-period Ultravox! song "Hiroshima Mon Amour"), and the controversial subject matter — Linton's occasionally bitter experiences in Tokyo — caused a slight stir in the Japanese media.^[3]

A UK promotional video (and later, CD/DVD single) of a drum n bass reworking of Bauhaus's "Dark Entries" (from the Communion album) followed, but due to label disputes was never fully released.^[4] This marks the last use of the name Dr.Jan (guru) to date.

In early 2011, Entropy Records released Linton's 2009–2010 reworkings of the sounds of FM3's Buddha Machine versions 1 and 2, but following the 9.0 magnitude Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent releases of radioactive materials in Japan (where Linton had returned in 2007) delayed the release until late March.^[5]

In 2012, he released a benefit CD for Sendai earthquake reconstruction with contributions from Matthew Seligman. In 2015–2017, he recorded two separate releases of an album entitled I Actually Come Back, collaborating in part once more with Seligman and Leo Abrahams.^[6] In 2020, following Matthew Seligman's death, the Sendai EP was re-released in an expanded form, followed by a second EP of previously recorded material.^[7]

Discography

Albums

Oinaru Sekai (TrueNirvana) (1993) Polystar HI-1023
Music for Aliens (2000) Kaerucafe 0104
Alienshamanism (2000) [Dr.Jan (guru)] Nap/25 FO26
Selected Esoterica (2003) [Dr.Jan (guru)] Kaerucafe 28186842354
Communion (2003) [Jan Linton/Dr.Jan (guru)] Explosion RT0005
Planet Japan (2004) King Records KICP1014
Buddha Machine Music mini-album (2011) Entropy Records EM 007^[5]
I Actually Come Back mini album (2015) [Jan Linton with Leo Abrahams] Burning Shed
I Actually Come Back Full album with bonus mini album "Buddha Machine Music" (2016–17) [Jan Linton with Leo Abrahams] Entropy Records/jansongs

EPs

The Eternal Desire Machines of Dr Jan EP (1999) Global Vision Music GVM0010
Sendai 仙台 EP (2012) [Jan Linton with Matthew Seligman] Entropy Records ED 006
Sendai 仙台 Extended Reissue EP (2020) [Jan Linton with Matthew Seligman] jansongs/MRC^[8]
King Hong EP (2020) [Jan Linton with Matthew Seligman] jansongs/MRC ^[9]

Singles

"Inner Sanctum (Can't You Feel)" (2000) Groove 052

Collaboration albums

Global Dance Music Vol.2 "6 Ritual" Dr.Jan (& Scorpio Family) Sony Records SRCS7425 (1994)
"Retreat into Art track "King Porn" Dr.Jan (guru) mix 2-CD (2001) [John Taylor] TTP TTP1201A
Cosmic Prophets sampling sound collection (2001) [Richard Barbieri & Jan Linton] Kaerucafe 0130^[10]
Ruff wiv Da Smoove step,uk garage and r'n'b'construction kit (2002) [Frame Shift] Kaerucafe 0143^[11]

Collaboration singles

"Anemone" (2007) [Jan Linton with Leo Abrahams] Just Music/Bip Hop

Compilation albums

communion 2 download compilation (2015?) Burning Shed^[12]

References

^ "Warrington Guardian – Archive". Warringtonguardian.co.uk. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
^ "Metropolis -- Weekly Online City Guide -- Free forever!!". archive.metropolis.co.jp. Archived from the original on 8 July 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
^ "::Metropolis Tokyo :: CD REVIEWS -". archive.metropolis.co.jp. Archived from the original on 9 July 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
^ "Dark Entries". YouTube. Archived from the original on 17 June 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Entropy Records – Jan Linton | Buddha Machine Music". 12 March 2012. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
^ "CD/DVD Reviews". Mwe3.com. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
^ "CD/DVD Reviews". postpunkmonk.com/. 27 July 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
^ "CD/DVD Reviews". postpunkmonk.com. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
^ "CD/DVD Reviews". janlinton.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
^ "Cosmic Prophets by Richard Barbieri & Jan Linton". Rateyourmusic.com. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
^ "Google Translate". Translate.google.com. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
^ "Stores". Burningshed.com. Retrieved 6 July 2020.