Woob

Real Name:Paul Frankland
Profile:Woob is UK-based ambient-dub musician Paul Frankland, whose albums for Em:t Recordings are among the most praised and encompassing documents of post-rave ambient of the last several years. Incorporating Middle Eastern instrumentation and vocalese with Jamaican dub-style production, tight, snappy breakbeats, blankets of synth drone and melody, and heaps of treated samples and field recordings, Woob is a sort of state-of-the-art snapshot of heavily hybridized post-rave experimental ambient.

While at college Frankland met Brian Dougans (later of Humanoid/FSOL fame) and wrote some jingles with him but he first came to attention through his participation in a Future Music talent competition held at London's Wembley stadium, refereed by, among others, Mixmaster Morris (of Dreamfish and Irresistible Force fame). Frankland's entry in the seminar/competition — a four-track demo tape — was praised highly by Morris and subsequently passed to a number of British music journalists, eventuating Frankland's relationship with the Nottingham-based Em:t label.

Frankland released his first album as Woob, 1194, through Em:t and has since contributed tracks to many of their compilations, as well as releasing a follow-up full-length, 4495. Stateside reissue of 1194 by the widely-distributed Instinct label has also given a boost to Woob's visibility, and Frankland's popularity is at or near that of his comparatively more prodigious contemporaries.

In addition to his Woob work, Frankland also records (together with DJ Colin Waterton) as Journeyman for the Ntone label. The pair's work is similar to Frankland's own, although the Middle Eastern elements are largely replaced by less localizable, heavily treated and manipulated influences.
Aliases:Bad Mitten, Paul Frankland
 147 for sale in the Discogs Marketplace

Log In to sort and filter releases.

Releases:
Planet Woob (Cass, Album)   Not On Label 1993
Woob Woob Woob (Cass, Dem)   Not On Label 1993
Void, Part 2 (12")   Beeswax (UK) 1994
Woob 1194 (Album) ◄ (2 versions)   em:t ... 1994
Woob² 4495 (CD, Album, Dig)   em:t 1995
Remixes:
Mama 6 (CD) Latneiro (Woob's Sunri... Ntone 1994
Earthrise.ntone.1 (2xCD) Latneiro (Woob's Sunri... Instinct Records 1995
Music With No Name Volume One ◄ (2 versions) Ancestral Healing (Woo... B&W Music 1996
Stoned...Chilled...Groove (3xLP) Latneiro (Woob's Sunri... S.O.U.L. Vibration 1996
Globe@t (CD, Album) Ancestral Healing (Woo... Irma 1997
Stoned...Chilled...Groove (CD) Latneiro (Woob's Sunri... S.O.U.L. Vibration 1997
Untitled Story: The Slow Room (CD) Latneiro (Woob's Sunri... Technovision 1997
Production:
Xen Cuts (Box + 3xCD, Comp, Sli) Big Amoeba Sound Ninja Tune 2000
Appears On:
Amberdelic Space (4xCD, Comp + Box) On Earth (Edit) Dressed To Kill 1996
50cc (12")   Ntone 1997
Hybrids (CD, Comp, Ltd) Falling Foil Hypnagogia 1998
Tracks Appear On:
FMCD October 1993 (CD) Planet Future Music Magazine 1993
Plug In & Turn On x.2 (2xCD) Odonna (Bells Remix), ... Instinct Records 1994
em:t 0094 (Album) ◄ (3 versions) Void, Part One em:t ... 1994
Em:t 2000 (2xCD) Fourteen Thirtythree Instinct Records 1995
Music For Dreams (2xCD, Comp) Void, Part One FLEX Records Denmark 1995
Music For Dreams - A Different Ambient Compilation Vol. 1 (CD) Void, Part One Kosmodrom 1995
This Is Acid Jazz: The Next Step (CD) Fourteen 33 Instinct Records 1995
em:t 2295 (CD, Comp) Fourteen Thirtythree em:t 1995
em:t 5595 (CD, Dig) Mould em:t 1995
Amberdelic Space (4xCD, Comp + Box) On Earth (Edit) Dressed To Kill 1996
Em:t Explorer (2xCD) Later, Pondlife Instinct Records 1996
Big Jesus Trance Head (2xCD) On Earth (Edit) Age Of Panik 1997
em:t 1197 (CD, Dig) Giant Stroke em:t 1997
Em:t Beat Exploration (CD) Mould Instinct Records 1998
Hybrids (CD, Comp, Ltd) Deep Chamber Hypnagogia 1998
Space 'n' Bass - The Ultimate Ambient Collection (12xCD, Comp + Box) On Earth Dressed To Kill 1998
Caribbean Eclipse (CD, Comp) Dooshta Flying Rhino Freestyle 1999
More Bass Than Space (2xCD, Comp, Dig) 10 Ton Laboratory Dubmission Records 2000
More Bass Than Space (12") Ten Ton Laboratory Dubmission Records 2000
Cornwall Eclipse - Shepherds Warning (CD, Comp) Giant Stroke Flying Rhino Freestyle 2001
La Planète Bleue (CD) Pondlife Naïve 2001
Live In Germany 2000 (CD, Comp + CD, Comp, Mixed) Pondlife Flying Rhino Records 2001
So Fa (CD, Comp) Pondlife (Live) Flying Rhino Records, Flying Rhino Freestyle 2002
Unofficial Releases:
Breaking The Back Of Tek: Vol. 19 - Lined In Gold (CDr, Comp) Later Not On Label  
User Reviews:
, Jun 20, 2003

I have been trying to track Paul Frankland and I believe he is still creating music. Although we havent heard from him for a while he still is very much alive. On earth is one of my favorites and always present in my ambient sets. His Journeyman work has the pulse and creates a subliminal trance, but Woob makes you sink slowly into the deep waters of enlightenment.

Was the above review useful to you?     (report)

   Write a Review