What is Northcore?

Carl and Jana

A music band involving me – Carl Gibbons (producer, composer, performer); Jana Tillotson (composer, performer, lyricist). With contributions and collaborations from a bunch of other talented musicians. For a long time Northcore was just me (Carl), and most of the stuff I wrote was techno, trance and chillout. Now it’s a broader mix of styles but it can generally be classified under “electronic”, “chill”, and “alternative”.

Early Northcore – in Australia

Early Northcore music was written while I was in Melbourne, inspired by the “rave chill ” music of The Orb and Pete Namlook, but gradually  started to include beats and chunky basslines. With the support of local labels and radio including Kiss FM and Green Ant Records, the tracks made some noise through live gigs, radio live sets, and releases on compilations, mostly under the name Northcore. I also wrote some more commercial dance tracks under the name Little Loki which were released worldwide and got national airplay in Australia.

Aussie Techno and Psy-Trance

The Aussie psychedelic scene is where Northcore got best known in Australia – with 3 releases on Green Ant records in the space of three years, annual gigs at Rainbow Serpent Festival as well as Earthcore. My favourite memories of this scene were the Dark Forest parties which I put on with the Kronik Krew in the Aussie bush. Though I still feel bad about the wombats.

Future Projects – U.K. and beyond

I relocated to the UK in 2003 and after arriving mainly pursued collaborative artist projects and production work. I also hooked up with Jana and we have been writing together ever since.

On the production side, Northcore music has been featured on websites, documentaries, short films, computer games, fashion shows, and sport videos. The collaborations and remixes which have been most stimulating.

Right now we are working up full-length albums for the U.S. ambient label Spotted Peccary, and Northcore has also been getting cosy in the London psy-trance scene. Tracks have been released on UK psy-compilation albums, and we have played psy chill gigs at big and small venues, including the Glade Festival, Waveform Festival and Camden’s inSpiral Lounge.

Selected Live Gigs (UK and AUS)

  • Waveform Festival 2009, Long Marston Airfield UK
  • Waveform in the City 2009, Vauxhall UK
  • Waveform Festival 2008, Marlborough Downs UK
  • Glade Festival 2008, Berkshire UK
  • inSpiral Lounge, London UK
  • Glade Festival 2007, Berkshire UK
  • Baraka Chillathon, Oxfordshire UK
  • Halloween @ 666, London UK
  • Dark Forest, Victoria AUS
  • Rainbow Serpent Festival, Beaufort AUS
  • Earthcore, Lake Eildon AUS
  • BassStation, Melbourne AUS
  • Green Ant Fullmoon, Clunes AUS
  • @mosphere, Melbourne AUS