Googling Ross from Friends…
friends.wikia.com says:
Ross Eustace Geller, Ph.D. is a fictional character from the NBC sitcom Friends, portrayed by David Schwimmer. Ross is considered by many to be the most intelligent member of the group and is noted for his goofy but lovable demeanor His relationship with Rachel Green was included in TV Guide‘s list of the best TV couples of all time, as well as Entertainment Weekly’s “30 Best ‘Will They/Won’t They?’ TV Couples”.
Ross Geller’s middle name was supposed to be Eustace? I never saw “the one with Ross’ middle name”. Here he is playing a keyboard like an ass:
Anyway this is not the Ross from friends we are we are looking for. We’re looking for Mr Felix Clary Weatherall, the UK House DJ better known by his moniker Ross From Friends. Although he shares his real name with UK electronic music royalty Andrew Weatherall, there’s no relation apparently, just like there is absolutely none with David Schwimmer’s character rom friends.
Besides what you heard, David Schwimmer is not actually suing Weatherall for the name, but the source of his chosen DJ moniker is dubious nonetheless, and it seems Weatherall’s intent on misleading the music media.
In an Interview in XLR8R he claims:
“The reason I chose the name was because there was this TV in the studio where I was making music that had a DVD of Friends jammed in it and it was stuck on. So every time I made music, the TV show Friends was constantly playing while I was recording. If you listen carefully you can hear some of Chandler’s sarcastic quips in the background of my tracks where the mic picked it up.”
But in a clash interview he says:
“Well, funnily enough really, Ross From Friends was… We used to have these top Trump Trumps cards when I was a kid and, basically, I had all the characters from Friends on there. And it was like, you know, Rachel, Joey, Gunther etc. Stuff like that. And then, for some reason, Ross’s card said ‘Ross From Friends’ on it, rather than just ‘Ross’. And so, you know, yeah it came entirely from Top Trumps.”
And in a Ransom Note article it gets completely weird:
“My Uncle, when we were living in Dubai, began a company that acted as a middleman distribution unit for furniture from the manufacturers to the stores. In this industry, because of packing, glass objects like windows and mirrors we’re specifically difficult to ship. So each distributor had a sign that would indicate whether they sent mirrors or not. My Uncle had a sign that said ‘Sends Off Mirrors’ to indicate that his distribution plant would, in fact, send mirrors. After staring at this sign over long summers of working at the plant, I discovered that ‘Sends Off Mirrors’ is an anagram of ‘Ross From Friends’ and so it kinda stuck!
Yeah it did kinda stick, and like DJ Boring, DJ Seinfeld and DJ Windows XP, a quirky name was part and parcel of a new trend that emerged in the early part of this decade that became the phenomenon referred to as LoFi House. Here’s DJ Seinfeld explaining it what it constitutes on this very blog:
“Lo-fi has become a catch-all term for a silly DJ name and a disco edit with some distorted hi hats.” Weatherall’s explanation of the sound is a little more wistful, focusing on dance music’s evocative past. “I do it because I’ve gained a real love for the old-school sound, where it really just sounds worn-out and knackered, and it’s got a lot of character. Everything’s very crushed and compressed.”
In addition to the sound of LoFi that it was also about the meme-like you tube videos created by random fans, videos like this one:
LoFi house was a self-perpetuating hype machine that with no real influence from the artist it dominated search engines and youtube playlists like a Skynet super-bot. Today Spotify has a LoFi playlist of their own (featuring a smiling Ross from Friends on the cover image no less) while music media outlets like Thump are left scratching their heads about the algorithm proliferating the music through the internet.
As much as LoFi House was a trend-based thing for the Internet, and a new genre for the music media to latch on to, it wasn’t and it isn’t. It’s a just a modern interpretation of an old school DIY House music which had gone by Nu Groove in the past, and is adopted today in the larger canon of House.
Ross from Friends in some ways ratified it as House this with his debut album Family Portrait. NME said “Family Portraits’ paints a vibrant and touching picture of what dance music can mean to people” in their review of the album while Pitchfork chose to interpret that in a different way with “the UK producer attempts to shake the shackles of ‘lo-fi house’ in search of a more nuanced understanding of dance-music nostalgia, but he can’t quite escape the shadow of his influences.” Whatever your opinion of the album, its impact is undeniable as one of the biggest House albums of 2018.
Even Rolling Stone magazine jumping on the bandwagon with their more-than-generous 3 and a half star review, whatever that means.
According to RA, the album “which took over two years to make, was inspired by a trip Weatherall’s parents took in 1990, before he was born, throwing soundsystem parties across Europe, and also by the dance music they played in the house as he grew up. “ Although judging by Weatherall’s track record with the media I would question the validity of this, but there’s a video to prove it and there’s definitely a family resemblance there, unless it’s just Ross from friends dressed up like Jerry Seinfeld.
Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder is the label behind the release and Ross From friends contributed a new track to their upcoming compilation too.
Touring the release of his album, Weatherall has opted for a live show, featuring guitar and saxophone. Although an accomplished DJ in every respect according to his peer DJ Seinfeld, the live show certainly has an undeniable energy to it as seen from this Boiler Room TV. At some point the guitarist is playing on the shoulders of some guy. We do not condone this behavior however.
Ross from friends is bringing this to Jæger this weekend as part of the Family Portrait tour with the Hubbabubbklubb DJs presiding and in a message on the Ransom Note about this tour he said: “Make sure to catch us, Ross From Friends, at various bars and clubs up and down Europe—and remember—the first 30 people through the door get a free Topman iPod touch case!” We can’t confirm this will actually happen, but we did have to get some towels from Ikea for the event, so make of that what you will.
Googling Ross from Friends October 25th 2018…
Oh, one last thing, if you do see a Ross From Friends that bears striking resemblance to the real David Schwimmer you’re in the wrong place and should probably check your pockets and contact the police.