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Professor Elemental

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Professor Elemental
Professor Elemental in 2018
Professor Elemental in 2018
Background information
OriginIpswich, England
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter
Years active2005–present[citation needed]
LabelsTea Sea Records (2009–present)
WebsiteProfessorElemental.com

Paul Alborough (born 1 June 1975), professionally known as Professor Elemental, is a steampunk and chap hop musical artist.[1]

Career

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Professor Elemental began his career as Emcee Elemental. The character of Professor Elemental arose from a planned concept album, which never came to fruition.[2] Professor Elemental has since been seen performing as a solo act or in theatre acts such as Come into My Parlour. He is also popular at steampunk events and has been a headliner at the Steampunk World's Fair and the Waltz on the Wye.

Professor Elemental first gained attention with his music video for "Cup of Brown Joy" (directed by Moog Gravett), which got the attention of Warren Ellis. Since then he has released albums and performed live. He was in a friendly feud with fellow "chap-hop" artist Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer,[3] and eventually had a brief appearance in the latter's music video for "Just Like a Chap", of which Professor Elemental said, "much as I hate to admit it, I bloody love that video and am jolly glad [Mr.B] let me gate crash."[4] Mr.B reciprocated with a cameo on Elemental's video for his song "I'm British" (which also features members of the Eccentric Club, of which Elemental is a member).[5] Finally, the two battle rap on Elemental's 2012 song "The Duel", after which both agree that the other is "jolly good" at what they do.

Elemental performing in 2015

The short film The Chronicles of Professor Elemental was successfully funded via Crowdfunder in 2012, raising £7,226 – with 155 supporters in 45 days.[6] In the film, the professor is called on to find the statue of the golden frog. The 45-minute musical comedy was directed by Benjamin Field, starting Paul Alborough, Grace Alexander-Scott, and Dan Gingell, created by Hilton Productions Ltd, and released in three parts in 2013 via YouTube. This was later removed, with the whole film available to stream via Amazon Prime Video.

In 2013, Elemental appeared in the "Steampunx" episode of Phineas and Ferb, as well as the episode "The Bewildering Bout of the Astounding Automatons" of Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero.[7][8][9]

Elemental collaborated with the steampunk rock group Steam Powered Giraffe on their song "Sky Sharks", from their 2015 album The Vice Quadrant: A Space Opera.[10]

Elemental's 2015 album Apequest: The Search For Geoffrey inspired the Kickstarter-funded board game Apequest, which was expected to be released in May 2023.[11]

Personal life

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Originally from Ipswich,[12] Alborough currently lives in Brighton.[3] Alborough has stated concern that by rapping about British culture his work could attract British nationalists with racial prejudice, saying in an interview he goes out of his way to alienate those people from his audience and that "the Professor is definitely a parody of the British class system."[13]

Discography

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Albums

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  • The Indifference Engine (2009) [14]
  • More Tea? (2010)
  • Special School: The Album (2011)
  • Father of Invention (2012)
  • The Giddy Limit (2014)
  • Apequest: The Search for Geoffrey (2015)
  • Professor Elemental and his Amazing Friends (2016)
  • The School Of Whimsy (2018)
  • Professor Elemental and his Amazing Friends 2 (2019)
  • Let's Get Messy (2020)
  • Good Dad Club (2021)
  • Nemesis! (2021)
  • Topsy Turvy (collaborative EP with Victor Ghastly) (2022)
  • Professor Elemental and his Amazing Friends 3 (2023)

References

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  1. ^ Moore, Matthew (5 June 2008), Cup of Brown Joy tea rap becomes YouTube hit, UK: The Telegraph, retrieved 9 January 2011
  2. ^ Watkins, Carl (26 November 2010), An interview with Paul Alborough, AKA Professor Elemental, GuerrillaGeek, archived from the original on 2 January 2011, retrieved 9 January 2011
  3. ^ a b Robinson, Frances (4 April 2011), "In 'Chap-Hop,' Gentlemen Rappers Bust Rhymes About Tea, Cricket", Wall Street Journal, retrieved 5 April 2011
  4. ^ Alborough, Paul (22 October 2012), Professor Elemental on Twitter, retrieved 22 October 2012
  5. ^ Meredith Vieira, Inside England's centuries-old 'Eccentric Club', TODAY.com, archived from the original on 11 August 2012, retrieved 28 November 2012
  6. ^ "The Chronicles of Professor Elemental". Crowdfunder.co.uk. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  7. ^ "Professor Elemental dishes on his "Phineas and Ferb" cameo". Comicmix.com. 19 November 2013.
  8. ^ Viccar, Moriarty (20 November 2013). "Professor Elemental performs on Phineas and Ferb". Steampunkjournal.org. Archived from the original on 23 November 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. ^ "Tumblr". Samakaphyllis.tumblr.com. July 2017.
  10. ^ "Release "The Vice Quadrant". MusicBrainz. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  11. ^ "Developer Crowdfunds Board Game Inspired by Prof. Elemental's 'Apequest'". The Steampunk Explorer. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  12. ^ Professor Elemental (25 April 2019). "WHAT?! How very DARE they? Please update it to say Ipswich ..." Twitter.com. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  13. ^ Tom Wilson. "PROFESSOR ELEMENTAL - A Man In His Element". Sense Music Media.
  14. ^ "Professor Elemental-About". Professorelemental.com. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
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