ABOUT FLOORFILLER

Circulation are Paul Davis and Matt Jackson, two London based producers and DJs pioneering house music in their own colourful way. Gracing out of Davis' Kingston based record shop Creative Sounds in 1998, the pair have since created a major stir within the dance community and on dance-floors world-wide. Combining a busy international DJ schedule with the production of their mesmerising tracks, the pair are as famous for their 'Colours' album - a twenty track colour-coded and best-selling debut - as they are for their unique live DJ sets.

Davis and Jackson first met in 1996 when the latter approached record shop owner Davis to join him in the studio. From there, the pair have combined their musical tastes, fused them together and created their own individual sounds. Jackson, influenced by Kraftwerk, Larry Heard and Herbie Hancock and once an engineer for early nineties hardcore and prog-house acts, while Davis, into soul, electro and old jazz-funk started DJing in Tenerife in 1991. The blend of each other's influences and musical preferences was just the beginning of their unique collaboration.

Five years down the line and their discography boasts the aforementioned twenty colour-coded releases on their own aptly-named label, Circulation - one of the UK's hottest imprints. Eight other releases - a series of limited issues hence calling them 'Circulation Ltd', an extensive list of remixes that and a well-received compilation 'Abstract Funk Theory' for Obsessive Recordings all prove that Circulation are accomplished producers in their own right.

Famed for their colour-coded releases, and when most journalists were questioning the relevance, the duo maintained their unique, humble and unintentionally sly way of getting under people's skin. 'We didn't do it intentionally,' smiles Jackson. 'It just seemed an obvious way to recognise records among the rest in the box. We certainly didn't realise it would make such an impact!' But it did - and with every release and through the obvious but oh-so unusual way of colour-coding each release, DJs like Deep Dish, Danny Howells and Justin Robertson took notice, as did the crowds on the dancefloors. So simple yet so effective - just like their music, you might say.

Circulation's productions are intriguingly contradictory. They can fuse together hypnotic and techy house with elements of funk, while at times they surprise you with a mixture of darker, fiercer and more progressive tracks. Either way, both styles are firm favourites with the likes of Mr C, Terry Francis, Lee Burridge through to Sasha and John Digweed, making them as accessible to the underground clubs as they are to the larger dance-floors. Their live DJ shows again merge together several entities. While Davis DJs, Jackson brings in a live element through the use of several laptops, keyboards, mixing desks and samplers. The outcome is an explosion of sexy tech-funk and pure house music.

So whether it's producing records, remixing or DJing, it's all about the merging of two or more entities. Everything that Circulation create together uses such combinations and though some of it is moody around the edges, it's a sound that remains permanently etched in your memory synapses. The music they play and produce ring out like their personalities. One looks like the boy most likely to succeed while the other has a fierce air of a temperamental club character. Still, in the music world today, it's good to have those with personality. And while they continue to unleash shades of dark, sensual rhythms and shimmering tech-house melodies, you can always tell that it's a Circulation imprint. Davis agrees 'Although we make records in different styles, from house to progressive, I think they all have that Circulation sound. It's like our own Circulation stamp'. With the pair locked away in their studio and in the midst of finishing their second album, while it was certainly their year in 2001, you can be sure that 2002 will hold no boundaries for Circulation.