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Ninechecker grew up in a town near Liverpool in the north west of England. He fell in love with heavier styles of music, of which Electro was the favourite flavour. In his late teens he witnessed Dave Clarke destroy dances at Liverpool's beloved Voodoo and Bugged Out! nights and set about making his own Tech/Electro.
Years later, having settled in Toronto, Canada, after living in London and Berlin, he reassembled his studio and started making his own interpretation of Electro, taking inspiration from field recordings, 90's Jungle, 808 heavy Miami Bass and Trap, Techno, weird, unsettling ambience and dark, doomy electronics to create his own Gutter Electro.
He's been playing live hardware sets around Ontario, and has releases on Varial Records, Zodiac Wax, Supercomputer AV, Orson and forthcoming on Brokntoys.
"Electro seems to always be off to the side of the stage, never in the spotlight. Well, not since its 80's heyday. And maybe that's for the best, cos we create what we create in the shadows. Out of sight. Underground.... and personally, that's how I like it".
Which artists has influenced you the most?
- 1997 Techstep D&B, No U-Turn, Dom & Roland, DJ Krust, Elements OF Noize, Source Direct, early Korn, Deftones, Sepultura, Dave Clarke DJing at Voodoo and Bugged Out! in Liverpool was a huge influence... seismic actually. Early Warp Records. Basic Channel and Chain Reaction, Pole, Anthony Rother. DHR. John Peel's radio show. Liverpool's record shops.
What new projects/releases with your participation are expected in the near future?
- I’ve just released an EP on Orson records called Generating Coastline which the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive! I'm very happy. Also my I Can't Fight Your programming EP has been re-released by Varial Records too!
Upcoming, I have a Brokntoys EP coming out at the end of year, which is huge! Hopefully another one on Orson Records too. Plus more stuff on more labels that I can't talk about yet. I also have created a live hardware set that I've been rocking parties here in Ontario.
Which artists/labels is more relevant to you now?
- There are a bunch of Electro labels that I really admire, in no order; Avoidant, CHP, Mechatronica, Orson, Cyber Domain, Brokntoys, Dionysian Mysteries, No Static Automatic, Fides, Varial, Censor, Science Cult, Gated, PSI49Net, SCSI, Trust, LDI, Devine Disorder, Facecontrol Audio Industries, Specimen, CPU, Dead Channel, Dock 34, Computer Controlled, Zodiac Wax, DVSNME, Bass Agenda. I don't listen to any new D&B or Techno tbh... a few bits and bobs. What's really fizzing my bits is Ben Pest (who is amazing), Bitstream, G Jones, Shokh, Alex Jann, Brice Kelly, Keith & Kevin, Ekata, Siak PHD, Mat Carter, Assembler Code, Piska Power, Danny Daze.... I can't think of them all... Human Rebellion, PTHGN, Aura Nox... is that enough?
What inspires you now to create music?
- Making music is my main creative output now. I used to paint and draw, I've been an animator too, but music really conquered everything fairly early on. I still do sound design for video games, but music is fully mine. I try to create a vibe for each track that I compose, so it can exist in its own space. They aren't just functional DJ tools, with a beginning, middle and end, but creepy little scenarios. I like to hide things in my tracks.
What set-up do you use when creating music?
- I have a desk where I can rotate the pieces of kit that I use depending on the type of music that I'm making.. Some notable pieces are my Elektron Octatrack, Digitakt and Syntakt, which I also use for my live shows. A digital Hydrasynth, and analogue Arturia Minibrute2S, RD8 808 clone, the awesome Lyra-8 drone synth, a 303 clone, Tascam 414 4-track tape machine and various pedals all recorded into Ableton on an old Mac. And a Zoom recorder to capture field recordings all over the place which get woven and buried into all my tunes.
Follow:
@ninechecker
- Genre
- Electro