Quantic

Let's just cut to the chase: Will Holland (aka Quantic) is cooler than us, more talented than us, more successful than us -- all at the same time as being, most likely, younger than us. After spending his teenage years playing rock guitar in one band or another, Holland made the move to house and breakbeat, which apparently lit quite a fire under his little British behind. Because since then, this DJ, producer, multi-instrumentalist and avid crate-digger has put out four lounge-y, Latin-y, funky-as-all-get-out solo records (plus a kind of b-sides best-of), deejayed his way around the world, and remixed more than 30 songs for various artists and albums. Wait, did we mention his side projects? Yes, indeed, that was projects, plural: there's the folky, dance-y soul duo Limp Twins, with whom Holland put out an album in 2003. Then there's Quantic Soul Orchestra, which have released two recordings featuring Holland on organ, bass, guitar and saxophone. The dude's got his own label, too: Magnetic Fields, purveyor of heavy funk-n-soul dance grooves by Quantic and his ilk. Oh, yeah, and this was all before the age of 25. Jerk.