Waveforms: Halifax Electronic Music Compilation

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 2002

Label: Cognition Audioworks

Conceived and compiled by Andrew Weeks and mastered by Steve Blacker, Waveforms: Halifax Electronic Music Compilation is the first compilation to document Halifax's growing electronic music scene. The compilation received play and charted at numerous stations across Canada. In Halifax, the compilation debuted at #1 on CKDU's Top 30 and RPM charts, and went on to be the station's most-played electronic music release of 2002; it charted at #25 on the station's year-end Top 50 after spending over 15 weeks on the station's Top 30 and RPM charts.

about the artists:
Andrew Duke has been recording, producing, remixing, and performing since 1987. Wrote The Wire (UK, September 2002): "Andrew Duke creates music that sounds like it has a reason for living". Duke's Sprung album was nominated for Electronica Album Of The Year at the 2003 Canadian Independent Music Awards. As a special bonus, Duke's "Pharmakoi" is presented here remixed by ex-Haligonian Steb Sly, now an Edmonton-based video game sound designer with vinyl releases on Swayzak's 240 Volts, Dan Curtin's Metamorphic, and Victoria BC's itiswhatitis recordings.

Justin Buckley has been working on electronic music for the past three and a half years. Until recently he has concentrated on the performance aspects of electronic music, partnering with Andrew Weeks as Modular and--for a short time--Chilltronic. He is beginning to experiment with recording to create a wide range of electronic music suitable for both the dancefloor and the armchair.

Rotator is Philip Clark and James Covey on authentic period Roland synthesizers and drum machines. With two CDs (Ripples In The Brainwave, The Twelve Move-Mate) and many live appearances under their collective belt, Rotator may be one of the few Halifax electronic acts equally at home in the studio and on stage. The Rotator formula has something to do with crossing 606-beat-based retro-techno with ambient noisescape flourishes, but don't hold them to that. 9 Volt Sound System is Philip Clark.

Andrew Weeks became inspired by the innovation and attitude of Detroit techno while studying in London Ontario in the mid 1990s. He began collecting obsolete synthesizers and sound equipment and by 1996 was performing his own style of downtempo electronic music. In 1999, Weeks began composing and performing with Justin Buckley in groups such as Modular and Chilltronic. Weeks' most recent music is created using software environments he designs himself.

Dexter Doolittle appears courtesy of Endemik Music.

Blacker is Steve Blacker who hails originally from England, though he mostly grew up in the Arabian Gulf and somehow ended up in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has been making electronic music of various flavors since the late 80s. Blacker boasts a checkered musical past, including stints in various loud UK guitar bands as both drummer and singer. Highlights of these early adventures include opening for the Sugarcubes and Ozric Tentacles in the early 90s. More recently Blacker has produced tunes for TV shows, including Ollie's Adventures (a cartoon on Teletoon) and music for Zed TV (CBC TV).

DJ Trixxx is Craig Muise who began spinning records in the mid-80s and soon thereafter got the urge to create his own. Captured instantly by rhythm-based music, he has since primarily produced hip-hop and house music, but also dabbles with breakbeats and remixing. In 1997, Trixxx released his first house record, "Pounding Headache". In 2000, he produced a hip hop album with The Psi-ence and released it on his newly formed 12th Planet Records.

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