“Mind-altering soundscapes” – USA Today
“’Leave Behind Your Ego’ is a propulsive, full-bodied space journey”
– Scripps Howard News Service
Dutch-born musician, remixer and producer Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg) shares the official music video for standout track “Leave Behind Your Ego” (featuring spoken word by Timothy Leary).
Directed by John Christopher Pina (Kanye West, John Legend, Seal, Common), the video is perfectly paired with the blistering synth swells of Holkenborg’s 808. Featuring excerpts of Leary’s spoken word, the video is “carefully constructed sound meets meticulously chosen imagery in illuminating the haunting words of Leary through a transmigration from the walls and pathways of ever-present modern technology, down through the mirror of chaos in man-made structures, and through to the abstract serenity of nature,” says Pina.
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Synthesized, the follow up to Today (2006) and Booming Back At You (2008), is his first album in four years and the sixth full-length LP in his 15-year career. The Junkie XL moniker began with 1997's Saturday Teenage Kick. Solo efforts that followed were 2000’s Big Sound Of The Drags and 2003’s Radio JXL: A Broadcast From The Computer Hell Cabin. Radio JXL included collaborations with Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, Gary Numan, The Cure’s Robert Smith and Public Enemy’s Chuck D. The U.S. release included the breakthrough remix of Elvis Presley’s 1968 single, “A Little Less Conversation,” marking the first time the Presley Estate ever granted permission to any producer to retouch any Elvis material. The track, originally created for a 2002 Nike World Cup Commercial, went on to be featured in several films, including Ocean’s Eleven. The song became a #1 hit in more than 20 countries worldwide. Junkie XL has worked with Oscar-winning film composer Hans Zimmer on the latest Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, which included the producer’s remix of musical cue, “Bombers Over Ibiza.” This marks the fourth film the pair has worked together. Since 2010, the two have teamed up on several films - Inception, Madagascar 3, Megamind - as well as other musical projects, including last year’s remix of The Academy Awards® theme song.
In addition, Junkie XL keeps extremely busy creating music for EA video games: The Sims 2, Forza Motorsport, DOA: Dead Or Alive, Kingdom of Heaven, EA’s Burnout: Paradise and Shinjuku, which features graphics from famous Japanese artist, Yashitako Amano (Final Fantasy).
Junkie XL is a one-man musical revolution.
Track List:
1. Take Off On Molly’s E
2. Off The Dancefloor (feat. Isis Salam)
3. Leave Behind Your Ego (feat. Timothy Leary)
4. Synthesized
5. When Enough Is Not Enough (feat. Curt Smith)
6. Twilight Trippin
7. Love Machine (featuring Tommie Sunshine)
8. Gloria (featuring Datarock)
9. Bonzai
10. Klatshing!
11. The Art of Luxurious Intergalactic Time Travel
