JODA are a fresh musical pairing with shared DNA. Both together and apart, Jono Grant and Darren Tate have been there, done that, and bought the vintage synth gear to celebrate.
Grant is one-third of Above & Beyond who, over the course of a two-decade career, have established themselves as one of the biggest electronic groups in the world. Eight studio albums (including one as vocal trance group OceanLab and two acoustic reworks), 17 compilation albums, a film score, and nearing 100 singles speak to output as varied as it is prodigious. Their label Anjunabeats is home to a bustling community of artists with over twenty years of catalog.
As a classically trained musician, songwriter, producer, and hitmaker, Tate is an OG Top of the Pops-botherer. In the early noughties, at the outset of his career, he appeared on the show three times, once with Angelic, his collaboration with Judge Jules and the latter’s wife, performing classic trance banger It’s My Turn, then twice under the name Jurgen Vries. The following years saw more musical adventures, more Top 40 UK hits (12 in total), and more pseudonyms, including the trance-facing DT8 Project.
“I’m musical, but I’ve never done a score before, which would be quite an undertaking. And I knew Darren was massively experienced at doing that, and I’ve always admired what he does in his film work. So my first thought was: why don’t we do it with Darren?”
“It’s one of the great things about doing this job: that we get to do this job!” concludes Darren Tate, beaming. “Jono and I love making music, we get on really well together, so we have fun doing it. We naturally have perfectionist instincts, but the vibe is the most important thing. So this is also rough around the edges in all the right ways.”
