Younger Brother is a music group that began as a collaboration between Benji Vaughan and Simon Posford. Both Simon and Benji are accomplished musicians of different styles of electronica.

The name "Younger Brother" refers to a prophecy of the Kogi tribe of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia. The Kogi consider the Earth to be their Mother and themselves the Elder Brother to those not living in their way. The Kogi people have a prophecy about the world ending due to the actions of Younger Brother: namely that actions such as excessive mining and deforestation and oil-drilling are all contributing to the slow destruction of this rock we all call home. For many years the Kogi people kept quiet. After the problem became dire a generation ago, the Kogi people have integrated somewhat into "modern" life so as not to abandon their "Younger Brother". 

The evolution of the musical project which began with Simon Posford and Benji Vaughan follows a similar trajectory from isolated "purity" to integrating into a new whole. The group began doing instrumental psych stuff, somewhat reminiscent of their other projects. Their first full record as Younger Brother was fittingly enough called A Flock Of Bleeps (2003) and featured goa trance mixed with psych and ambient and a dash of mostly incomprehensible vocals. On their next release, 2007's The Last Days of Gravity the two employ a similar sound albeit with more discernable melodies and vocal samples and even singing by former Leftfield vocalist Ruu Campbell.

In 2009 Younger Brother produced the track “Phoenix in Dynamite Sky” for the film Heartless.

After their first two releases, Simon and Benji decided to incorporate even more traditional elements of rock music in their project by adding in Marc Brownstein (of the Disco Biscuits), Joe Russo of the Benevento/Russo Duo and the band Furthur and Tom Hamilton (of Brothers Past) to make their third record, Vaccine (2011). Simon and Benji met some of these musicians during the live tour following their previous release.  

The decision to add these other musicians may be viewed in part as a reaction to the growing number of different pop/rock acts (such as U2 and Radiohead and Coldplay) to enter the field of electronica. Many psytrance devotees were disheartened by much of Vaccine, considering it a commercial ploy and a turn away from the group's roots. But if the new lineup can in turn increase the audience size for the more "pure" forms of instrumental electronica, then surely the decision was a good one.

You can stream Vaccine here.

Their track Evil and Harm contains a sample of the Kogi prophecy.

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