DJ ME DJ YOU
Originating in the town nicknamed La La Land, DJ Me DJ You appropriately grabs production tools from a catalog of off-beat sources. Comprised of Los Angeles artists Ross Harris and Craig Borell, DJ Me DJ You has produced along side the Dust Brothers, Green Day's Jerry Fin, and Beck. Using samples taken from Indian B-movies and old Italian opera and instructional records, DJ Me DJ You uses their cut-and-paste artistic instincts to make music. Other than DJ Me DJ You, Harris and Borell are multimedia artists and half of Sukia, which is signed to the Dust Brothers' label, Ideal, formerly known as Nickel Bag.
Before entering the world as DJ Me DJ You, Borell and Harris also worked with Sasha Fuentes and Grace Monks with the space rock band Sukia. Sukia served as a perfect production transition to DJ Me DJ You, allowing the two to gain experience in a studio beside production team the Dust Brothers, who have produced for Beastie Boys, Beck, the Rolling Stones, and Marilyn Manson. With Sukia, Craig, and Ross also worked under the Dust Brother's label, Ideal, and U.K. label, MoWax. A good example of Sukia's off-center personality is the title of their first album, Contacto Espacial Con El Tercer Sexo (Space Contact With the Third Sex) which was inspired by a Mexican comic book about a lesbian vampire and her sidekick Gary Supermacho.
Craig and Ross broke off of Sukia to perform as DJ Me DJ You and released their first EP in 1999, called Simplerockmachine. The EP is eight tracks long and takes samples from hip-hop, Indian film scores, and B-movies that are often found during the duo's hunting trips to thrift stores. Their debut full-length, Rainbows and Robots, was released in 2000, again on Emperor Norton Records. Borell and Harris again used the same sample sources used on their previous album, but this time to a more extensive depth. In addition they collaborated with live musicians on drums, sitar, and old keyboards the two collect. Besides producing on their own, DJ Me DJ You has produced music for artists Takako Minekawa, Grand Royal Record's Titans, Beth Orton, Beck, and the Fantastic Plastic Machine.
As individuals, Borell and Harris are involved in the Los Angeles art and music world. Harris compiled the album The Best of Bruce Haack and Dimension 5 for Emperor Norton, as well as a tribute album to electronic producing pioneer, Haack, benefiting children with autism. He also worked and co-starred in the fictional film The Recycler on Propaganda Films. Craig Borell is a graphic designer and does work for the Ideal record label.
—Diana Potts
