Dharma One, aka Jouni Helminen must surely be one of the gifted young producers today. Now settled in as an executive producer at the Phuture Lounge, you’ll find him on the boards for many of the Phuture Lounge releases. Born in Helsinki, Jouni studied piano and violin from a young age. His early adventures in music took him from jazz-funk bands to drum&bass, hip hop to garage, broken beats to soul.

Since his initial release in 1998 for drum'n'bass label Audio Couture, Dharma One has gone on to release and remix for various labels throughout Europe, including Hospital, Freerange, Compost, Formation, Sony, Nine2Five, Inspirit Music and Dorado. He has reworked material from Ben Mono, Nicole Willis, Hanna and the Five Corners Quintet. His ‘Belong’ track turned out to be an underground anthem championed by Gilles Peterson on his ‘Worldwide’ compilation back in 2002. Word began to spread and doors began to open for this talented youngster. Soon after, he met up with the mighty Zed Bias from Phuturistix. The two producers found they shared a common artistic vision and production ethic, leading to collaborations on production for UK soul artist Amma.

Visiting Manchester months later, whilst the Lounge was still in construction, Jouni’s involvement in the production of tunes like ‘Cohiba’ (the first release on the then newly formed Phuture Lounge Records), ‘Hot Spit’ and ‘Heaven In Your Eyes’ made an unforgettable impression. A year later he moved to Manchester to join the Phuture Lounge family.

“The vibe was unlike anything I had experienced before, amazing creative talent come together to create this heartfelt, pure soul music. Everyone connected, the air was electrified and the environment was just right. I knew there and then that this is where I needed to be.”

Now based in Manchester, he has his own studio within the Phuture Lounge complex. 2005 has seen him producing various artists including the Cuban reggaeton/hiphop mc Norlan Leygonier, certified UK gangsta MC Brownsville, a stunning young soul singer Katriina and bhangra/hip hop MC’s Metz and Trix from Manchester. He is also currently putting finishing touches to a hot soul album for Amma as well as producing his debut solo album with feature vocalists from the Phuture Lounge roster. Aside from this he’s also collaborating with the many of the Phuture Lounge artists on their respective album projects.

On the production tip, the Dharma One sound meshes hip hop, soul and R’n’B beats with songs inspired by the great song writing legacy of 70’s and 80’s soul giants like Leon Ware, Leroy Hutson or Leroy Burgess. From time to time the tempos need to be bumped up a little; Jouni is no stranger to the worlds of disco/boogie, bashment, and the loosely termed broken beats or ‘phuture boogie’!

In addition to working with PL, he is soon to release the first EP from his new 100% disco/boogie label Choqolat, as well as kicking off a new Helsinki based R’n’B label with Nine2Five head honcho DJ Dizzy. His DJ sets these days mainly consists of early 80’s boogie, funk and R’n’B, with a little new R’n’B and hip hop mixed in; check back here for the first in a series of mixtapes coming soon!

Discography

Dharma – Dance to The Drummer’s Beat (Nine2Five)
Dharma & Dice – Soul Warrior (Audio Couture/Moving Shadow)
Breakwater Crew – It’s Just Begun (New Identity/Formation)
Dharma – Universal Oppression (New Identity/Formation)
Dharma One vs Jukka Eskola – The Waves (Rytmi)
Dharma One vs Jukka Eskola – Deep Dish (Rytmi)
Quintessence – White Light EP (Dorado)
Fintelligens – Renesanssi (Sony)
Dharma One feat. Tuomo – Belong (Nine2Five)
Dharma One feat. Tuomo – Enigmatic (Hospital)
Dharma One & Tru Soul – The Waves (Nine2Five)
Dharma One - Feelin' Better (New Identity)
Brownsville – Smoke Punk (Easyleaf)
Katriina – Spared Your Kiss (Nine2Five)
Norlan – Candela
Norlan – Psicologia de La Calle

Remixes

Hanna – The Race (Dharmaone remix) (Freerange)
Ben Mono – Suburban Resident (Dharmaone remix) (Compost)
Shingetsu Ensemble – (Dharmaone’s Y La Luna remix) (Nipón Connection)
Nicole Willis – Try It (Dharmaone remix) (Puu)
Five Corners Quintet - The Devil Kicks (Dharmaone Remix) (Ricky-Tick)