Way Out West

WHEN the luscious tones of 'The Gift' first starburst onto UK chart show Top Of The Pops in 1997, it was immediately obvious that Way Out West had more going on than the usual dance act.

Just as co-creator Nick Warren, with his gamekeeper past, comedy writer-cartoonist brother, and high-quality DJ career that has included Massive Attack and superclub Cream, clearly has something more than the average DJ.

With its eerie, evocative vocal from Brit soul diva Joanna Law and its gorgeous, fluttering melodies, 'The Gift' was a stylish, emotionally-brazen house record that connected as deeply with people never found on a dancefloor as it did with die hard clubbers. Even the Halifax Building Society felt moved enough to include 'The Gift' on a celebrated advert, though they still turned Nick Warren down when he applied for a mortgage.

The self-titled album that followed mixed fiery breakbeats with powerfully melodic house and had just as widescreen an appeal as that smash single. Three years later Way Out West, Nick Warren and former child prodigy Jody Wisternoff, are back with their second album, 'Intensify', and the first single, 'Intensify', that will set hearts fluttering. After one listen, you just know it's going to be a huge hit.

'Intensify' has a perspective that only the best electronic act Moby, Underworld, Chemical Brothers, achieve. It means you don't have to spend Saturday nights on a podium to enjoy their music (although you certainly will if you do), because they're musically inventive enough to survive the toughest challenges a home stereo can throw at them.

"It's a dance album but then I do think it sounds like an artist album and so many dance albums don't," says Nick. 'Intensify' is a seamless collection of powerful house music that wears discrete emotions on its sleeve and rides beats that kick like an angry horse. There are innovative vocal numbers that weave magical webs of rhythm over ethereal voices; and there are sleek, nasty grooves.

Tracks like the silvery 'Secret' pump hard, but retain a sheen of effortless musicality. 'Call Me' is a sleazy funk beast that mixes dirty grooves with recorded messages from a telephone dating service.

When the style known as 'progressive' first appeared in the UK in 1992, it was used to celebrate early British house records that combined the energy of techno with the funk of classic American house.

Eight years later 'progressive' has become one of the most dominant styles of dance music in the world - played by DJs like Nick Warren, Sasha, John Digweed and Dave Seaman to club crowds as far apart as Hungary and Argentina, Israel and America. With this album, Way Out West have contextualised that sound into something bigger than anyone has managed before.

26 YEAR old Jody Wisternoff, the other half of Way Out West, released his first record when he was just 15: a home-made hip hop collaboration with his rapper brother Sammy, that came out wrapped in Bristol cool. Produced by Smith and Mighty for their 3 Stripe label, it earned the brothers a page in The Face.

By the time Jody reached A Level age, it was becoming obvious to his parents that a normal job wasn't on the cards. The child prodigy spent all his time DJing at illegal raves and making tunes in his bedroom studio so the family did a deal. "There was an agreement that I had one year to make money, otherwise I had to take my A Levels," Jody remembers now, paying respect to his parents, "just old hippies really. Laid back music lovers, just the same kind of people that I am now. They allowed me to chase an idea."

Like Nick, Jody has watched his own DJing career explode - just this year he's played in Colorado, Russia, Hong Kong and Hawaii. He's over a decade younger than his partner but in that relaxed Bristol fashion, it doesn't seem to bother either of them. Jody is more interested in recent remix work for Orbital ('Nothing Left') and Inner City (re-released house classic 'Good