Lets Be Friends: Biography, Discography and More | EDM Encyclopedia

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Introduction

Lets Be Friends is a glitch hop electronic music project created by the English DJ and producer John Ford. Ford, who is also widely recognized for his extensive discography under the stage name Joyryde, established this specific alias to explore a distinct sonic avenue within the broader bass music spectrum. Hailing from Great Britain, Ford brings a unique musical lineage to his digital audio workstation. He is the son of John Ford, the founder of the influential psytrance record label Phantasm Records. Growing up surrounded by the electronic music scene and the operations of an independent record label, the younger Ford developed a multifaceted approach to sound design that eventually culminated in the creation of this energetic studio project.

The Lets Be Friends project officially emerged in its inaugural year, marking a specific period in Ford’s career where he leaned heavily into complex digital rhythms and aggressive bass synthesis. While the overarching active years for the project span from 2013 to the present, the primary body of work attributed to this moniker was concentrated heavily within its first twenty-four months. During this timeframe, the project focused entirely on studio productions, delivering a concise but impactful catalog of official releases that navigated the glitch hop landscape. The work produced under this banner provided a foundational stepping stone in Ford’s discography, demonstrating his capacity to manipulate tempos, frequencies, and textures outside of standard four-on-the-floor structures.

Through this alias, the English producer injected a raw, mechanical edge into his compositions. The project stands as an important documentation of Ford’s production capabilities during the early portion of the decade, highlighting his technical proficiency in digital audio manipulation. By pivoting away from traditional house music structures and embracing a more chaotic, software-driven approach to rhythm, the project carved out a specific niche within the electronic music community.

Genre and Style

Operating primarily within the glitch hop genre, Lets Be Friends approaches bass music with a heavy emphasis on jagged sound design and syncopated drum programming. Instead of relying on standard structural tropes or conventional melodies, the project carves out its identity through abrasive synthesizer presets and heavily manipulated vocal samples that stutter and slice through the mix. The rhythmic frameworks often feature half-time drum patterns anchored by massive, distorted 808 kick drums and crisp, organic-sounding snares. This creates a groove that feels simultaneously weighty and intensely driving, forcing a distinct physical reaction on the dancefloor.

The glitch hop Sound

The sonic aesthetic of the project relies heavily on extreme sonic contrast. High-frequency synthesizer leads are frequently paired with cavernous sub-bass frequencies, resulting in a dynamic range that exploits the extremes of the audio spectrum. Ford utilizes complex synthesis methods to meticulously chop and rearrange audio stems, giving the tracks their signature fragmented feel. This involves rapid ping-pong delays, bit-crushing effects, and automated filter sweeps that constantly evolve the timbre of the lead instruments. By avoiding repetitive loops, the productions maintain a high level of tension and release, ensuring the listener is subjected to a constantly shifting auditory landscape.

Furthermore, the project incorporates elements of hip-hop and heavy industrial music for djs into its electronic framework. Aggressive, shouted vocal samples and stadium-sized synth horns give the tracks an imposing, larger-than-life atmosphere. The use of metallic percussion hits and industrial noise layers adds a textured grit to the low-end frequencies. By treating the basslines not just as rhythmic anchors but as the central melodic and harmonic focus, Lets Be Friends constructs a dense, chaotic, yet highly controlled auditory environment. The artist utilizes sidechain compression to create a pumping effect, allowing the drums to punch through the dense wall of synthetic bass, ensuring the rhythm remains the focal point of the production.

Key Releases

The official discography for the project is tightly concentrated into a short window of activity, showcasing a rapid output of studio tracks. The foundational extended plays set the stage for the specific audio aesthetic of the alias. These records introduced the heavy, chopped synthesizer style to the public, establishing the moniker within the bass music community.

  • Lets Be Friends EP 1
  • IOA
  • FTW
  • Manslaughter (VIP mix)
  • Higher Ground (Lets Be Friends Re-Amp)

Discography Highlights

Confirmed EPs:

Lets Be Friends EP 1 (2013)

IOA (2013)

Beyond the extended plays, the project issued several standalone tracks and official alternate versions. These individual releases allowed the producer to experiment with individual concepts, tempos, and vocal sampling techniques. The standalone tracks further refined the glitchy EDM sound, pushing the limits of digital distortion.

Confirmed Singles:

FTW (2013)

Manslaughter (VIP mix) (2013)

Higher Ground (Lets Be Friends Re-Amp) (2013)

Only Time (GlobalGathering Anthem 2014) (2014)

What You Waiting For (Lets Be Friends remix) (2014)

The initial batch of standalone tracks provided a raw, aggressive take on the genre, utilizing distorted low ends and sharp rhythmic changes. The inclusion of a VIP mix demonstrates the focus on constantly reworking and manipulating original audio stems into new configurations for live performances. Similarly, the Re-Amp version shows the producer deconstructing an existing piece of music and rebuilding it using the distinct, heavy sound design associated with the alias. The output in the subsequent twelve months expanded the reach of the project and provided official music for a major United Kingdom festival. The anthem track served as an official musical accompaniment for the event, applying the aggressive electronic style to a large-scale festival setting. The remaining remix applied the distinct production style to an existing composition, wrapping the original vocal stems in layers of synthetic bass, automated filter sweeps, and percussive glitches. Together, these officially released records document the complete studio output of the alias during its most active period.

Famous Tracks

Lets Be Friends, a British glitch hop producer, emerged with a concentrated burst of releases in 2013 and 2014 that showcased a knack for bass-heavy, rhythmically intricate production. The project’s output during this period captured the raw energy of the UK electronic underground while maintaining a sharp focus on dancefloor impact over atmospheric experimentation.

The Lets Be Friends EP 1 (2013) served as the project’s opening statement, quickly followed by the IOA EP that same year. These two releases established the sonic blueprint: aggressive basslines, chopped vocal samples, and syncopated beats that sat squarely within the glitch hop tradition without leaning on ambient or downtempo tendencies.

Standalone singles further defined the project’s range. FTW (2013) delivered straightforward club aggression, while Manslaughter (VIP mix) (2013) offered a darker, more textured reworking of a previously established idea. On the remix front, Higher Ground (Lets Be Friends Re-Amp) (2013) demonstrated an ability to reconstruct existing material with a distinctly different rhythmic and melodic approach.

The 2014 releases expanded the project’s reach. What You Waiting For (Lets Be Friends remix) (2014) applied the producer’s characteristic bass weight to an external vocal, while Only Time (GlobalGathering Anthem 2014) (2014) earned official selection as the theme for one of the UK’s major dance festivals, placing Lets Be Friends directly in front of a large-scale festival audience.

Live Performances

The selection of Only Time as the GlobalGathering Anthem 2014 positioned Lets Be Friends within a specific live context: the main stage of a major UK dance festival. GlobalGathering, held annually in England, drew tens of thousands of attendees across multiple stages dedicated to electronic music. Having a track serve as the official anthem meant it featured prominently in promotional materials, set transitions, and headline DJ sets throughout the event.

Notable Shows

This kind of placement mattered for a glitch hop artist operating out of the UK. The genre occupied a niche space in British electronic music during the early 2010s, sitting somewhere between dubstep’s wobble and drum and bass’s speed. Festival anthem status gave Lets Be Friends exposure to crowds that might not have sought out glitch hop in a club setting.

The 2013 to 2014 release schedule suggests the project was active during a period when bass music festivals in the UK were expanding their lineups beyond straightforward dubstep and house. Tracks like FTW and the Manslaughter (VIP mix) were built for loud systems and large crowds, with drops designed to hit hard in open-air environments rather than intimate basements. The GlobalGathering connection reinforces that Lets Be Friends operated primarily as a festival and large-venue act rather than a bedroom producer with no live footprint.

Why They Matter

Lets Be Friends represents a specific strand of British electronic music production in the early 2010s: glitch hop that prioritized direct impact over subtlety. In a UK scene dominated by dubstep, grime, and drum and bass, the project carved out space for a mid-tempo, bass-driven sound that drew more from artists like Opiuo and Glitch Mob than from London pirate radio traditions.

Impact on glitch hop

The 2013 release of both the Lets Be Friends EP 1 and IOA within the same year demonstrated a productive focus that many independent electronic artists struggle to maintain. Combined with the simultaneous output of remixes and VIP edits like Higher Ground (Lets Be Friends Re-Amp), the project showed how a single EDM producer could saturate a niche genre with consistent material in a short window.

The GlobalGathering Anthem selection for Only Time in 2014 confirmed that the project reached beyond niche online audiences into physical festival culture. For a glitch hop artist from Britain, that crossover held practical significance: it demonstrated that mid-tempo bass music could compete with faster or more established genres for main stage attention at major UK events.

The connection to Joyryde, the stage name of English producer John Ford, adds another layer of relevance. Ford, the son of John Ford Sr., founder of the psytrance label Phantasm Records, later gained recognition under the Joyryde name. Lets Be Friends served as an earlier phase in a career trajectory that moved from glitch hop into bass house, reflecting the broader shift in UK electronic music tastes across the 2010s.

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