Riton (French slang for Henry) is the recording moniker of Manchester, England-based DJ Henry Smithson (b. 1978, Newcastle, England). He began DJing at the age of 15, with his set lists drawing on his love of US house music. He was attracted to "slightly weirder beats" during a four-year music technology course, and after releasing a series of singles on his own Switch label Smithson was introduced to Mark Rae (of Rae And Christian). This association led to a job at Rae's Fat City record store and a recording contract with his Grand Central Records label. Although Grand Central normally concentrate on hip-hop and trip-hop, they diversified with the release of Riton's 2001 debut, Beats Du Jour, with Smithson noting, "The tunes I've been making are different from most Grand Central releases because I've taken what they've been doing and merged it with my influences from a more house-orientated background." The album's opening track, "Take Control", merged breakbeats, electronica, and house to create an alternative club classic, and was notably championed by veteran UK DJ Andrew Weatherall. Another one of the album's many stand-out tracks, "Let Me Be Mine", started with a simple piano riff before swirling into a heavy double bass line. The album was not just original in its use of sounds and melodies it also paid respect to past masters such as LFO and 4 Hero.
Smithson continued to release experimental beat driven music on the Switch label while establishing a second career as an in-demand remixer, notably working with the Human League, Mylo, Scissor Sisters, and Soulwax. His second album for Grand Central, the cornily-titled "Homies And Homos", veered off the course set by his debut and instead took inspiration from the new wave of electro funk acts such as the Rapture and Chikinki. The album, which was released in September 2004, notably included a cover version of the Cure's classic "Killing An Arab".
DISCOGRAPHY: Beats Du Jour (Grand Central 2001)****, "Homies And Homos" (Grand Central 2004)***.

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