Performance:
[ DJ SET ]
Label:
HUM & HAW
Links:
VIDEO |
Alex Smoke is a new breed of electronic music producer.
While
his music may reside on the dancefloor along with his renowned live
sets, it also resonates so much further than this. With a production
style drawn from a myriad of influences that blur the boundaries
between electronica, techno, classical and hip hop, Alex Smoke's music
evolves in new directions with every new project he undertakes,
musically consistently fulfilling, regardless of the listener's
preferred genre.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Alex's proficiency in multi-faceted
electronic-beat-making is founded securely on a lifetime of classical
training, nurtured not least by his mother, by profession a music
teacher. At a young age, alex received a coveted scholarship for Durham
Cathedral Choir School, where he excelled on the cello, piano and
drums. In fact, the very same voice that adorns his techno tracks, was
once heard in Durham Cathedral Choir, albeit an octave higher. After a
brief glitch, studying marine biology, Alex soon got back on track,
wisely using his student loan to buy his first Apple Mac computer and
simple software, giving his imagination the necessary tools to begin
producing.
It didn't take long. After his first release in 2002 on local Glasgow
label "S.U.D.", Alex was soon snapped up by the legendary dance music
label, Soma Records, on which he released his seminal first album,
"Incommunicado" to critical acclaim in 2004. This deeply emotive
release utilized cutting edge production techniques to give birth to a
beguiling new style, which was lauded throughout the house and techno
community. Tracks, such as the anthemic "Chicca Wappa" and his own
vocal masterpiece "Don't See The Point", announced the arrival of an
already accomplished newcomer amongst the heavyweights in the scene.
Upcoming Berlin indie label Vakant immediately recognized this young
producer's extraordinary talent and provided a platform for a series of
ep releases that continued to tantalize enthusiasts not only within the
techno-driven German capital, until the keenly anticipated arrival in
2006 of album no. 2, "Paradolia", back on Soma.
Paradolia is defined as the human ability to creatively perceive
coherent images in randomness, an unusual word by anyone's standard,
but then Mr Smoke is an artist very far from the ordinary. A Rorschach
test this was not, more a sonic experiment that explores the parameters
of Alex Smoke's potent psyche. "Paradolia" is swollen with ingenuity
and experimentation perfectly suspended in an intoxicating symmetry of
melancholy and melody. This release, like its predecessor, welds the
influence of disparate genres into one homogeneous opus. In "Prima
Materia" Alex unites for example two early influences in Chicago House
and Classical, detonating a symphonic explosion, unlike any before.
2006 also saw Alex join the elite wall of fame of Soma's mix
compilation series, "Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi.". Following in the footsteps of Ewan
Pearson and Luciano, Alex was also given the opportunity to portray
influences past, present and future on one release with no prescribed
genre-related parameters to his selection. Naturally, the Smoke release
is a rich journey through eclectic genres and subgenres, from Burial to
Basic Channel through to Model 500.
Throughout his relatively short career Alex has become an in-demand
remixer, already with remixes for Steve Reich, Depeche Mode, Mylo,
Junior Boys, Funk D’Void, Radio 4, Jay Haze and Envoy under his
discography belt, to mention but a few. His dynamic live set has, since
the first Soma release, been consistently in demand, leaving almost no
country on the world map unvisited, nor unimpressed for that matter.
This brings us to the here and now. Or should that be the Hum+Haw? For
this is the name of Alex's burgeoning label project with former Soma
man Jim Hutchison, which will house his forthcoming releases, as well
as nurture young Glaswegian talent and international musical
electricians. Again you will try in vain to categorize this youthful
label on the brink of their first release. Almost out the other end of
the pipeline, is an experimental hip-hop collaboration between Alex
(providing the electronics) and LA mc, Non, of The Shadow Huntaz fame
(delivering the hip and the hop). 2008 will witness Smoke's third
studio album and the development of his live set to include more
hardware equipment and thereby expand his boundaries and resonance even
further.
Expect the unexpected. |
