Alexander Tucker (musician)
Encyclopedia
Alexander Tucker is an English
musician
from Kent who writes, records and performs alone and in collaboration with a varied array of artists. One critic writes that "Tucker sounds like he’s following a tradition that has long been neglected, focusing not on ageless songs and ideas but on ageless feelings captured through his droning miasma of acoustic guitar
and mandolin
." His first musical position was singing in hardcore band Suction in the early 1990s, who according to Tucker "played noisy adolescent punk with leanings towards Swans
and Fugazi." His next job was as vocalist of post-rock hardcore 5-piece Unhome who released one album Short History of Houses (Unlabel) and a split single with Papa M. Unhome split in late 1999 and Tucker went on to tour the UK with Detroit space-rockers Fuxa
, playing guitar synthesizers.
, mandolin
, acoustic guitar
, his fantastic voice and a bank of pedals, he creates soundscapes which twist and bend through folk
, drone metal
and electronica
." Further years of writing and recording led to an increase in interest and a new record deal with the All Tomorrow's Parties
affiliated ATP Recordings
label, for whom he released Old Fog in 2005. One reviewer wrote of the LP that "his beautifully spooked wanderings feature both delicately picked banjo
and acoustic guitar, violin
, piano
, detuned electric guitar, found sounds, looped noise and ghostly vocals, all layered to eerily resonant effect. A wintry and wonderful new discovery", whilst another wrote that it was "The kind of fog you won't mind getting lost in....a beautiful listen." Brandon Stosuy of the influential Pitchfork Media
and Village Voice wrote that "Over its course, Tucker piles inland shanties atop field recordings, piano, jittery bows, noise squalls, and bone creaks. Throughout, his fingerpicking feels almost possessed." Both of his first two albums were recorded on a digital 8-track when Tucker lived in a flat above Warren St. tube station, and the vibrations from passing tube trains can be heard in the background of some tracks.
of Sunn O)))
& Khanate
on his Ginnungagap
side project, and in 2008 as Stephen O'Malley and Alexander Tucker Duo. Other collaborations have included providing the soundtrack to Lali Chetwynd
's performance piece at Tate Britain
and playing with JOMF, Duke Garwood, Little Wet Horse and more recently with Daniel O'Sullivan
and Dave Smith of Guapo
under The Stargazers Assistant moniker, and with Jussi Lehtisalo
of Circle
in Grumbling Fur. A second album on ATPR, Furrowed Brow was recorded in his home county of deepest darkest Kent and released in November 2006. One reviewer stated "Furrowed Brow is without a doubt Tucker’s most accomplished foray into the recorded sphere of everything musical, a great improvement upon his Old Fog collection of 2005", and another similarly noted that it was "a bold statement of a record and Alexander Tucker's finest collection of work so far." The depth of genres covered by Tucker's work was also noted in Chris Parkin's review for Time Out magazine: "this astonishing second album is haunted by John Fahey
’s mystical guitar style, but Tucker reinterprets and paints over any old influence with a dense and doomy mix of detuned guitars, looped drones and warped harmonies. It’s the equivalent of dubstep for folk traditionalists."
Tucker is also a visual artist, creating artwork for all of his album covers and side projects, including ongoing drawings and comic artwork for Sturgeon White Moss (White Moss Press) and an album cover for Nordic doom-master Wolfmangler.
. The live debut of Stephen O'Malley & Alexander Tucker Duo is set to feature as part of the London date of Owen Pallett
's Maximum Black Festival. In April Tucker released an edition of the ATP Recordings label's double 7" single project entitled "Custom Made". This featured a preview of the song "Veins To The Sky" which would feature on the forthcoming third album Portal. Veins was highlighted by Pitchfork Media and other media sources as a very positive progression from Tucker. The Pitchfork article highlighted its "symphonic textures and miasmic chord changes that will grab your attention...a hybrid between ancient sounds and the psychedelic capacities of one man."
Portal, a third album which took over a year to complete was released on 9 June on CD and vinyl formats, again on ATP Recordings. It was hailed with extremely positive reviews, for example Plan B
stated that "his guitar work hints at everything from Led Zeppelin
's most stately to My Bloody Valentine's most cryptic, no bad place to be" and Uncut
that the album is "a steady grower...a meticulously disorienting, blissed environment...very pleasing."
Later this year he will perform at the ATP New York Festival, and tour Europe as support to Bohren & der Club of Gore
.
In April 2011 he released the new album Dorwytch on Thrill Jockey.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
from Kent who writes, records and performs alone and in collaboration with a varied array of artists. One critic writes that "Tucker sounds like he’s following a tradition that has long been neglected, focusing not on ageless songs and ideas but on ageless feelings captured through his droning miasma of acoustic guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
." His first musical position was singing in hardcore band Suction in the early 1990s, who according to Tucker "played noisy adolescent punk with leanings towards Swans
Swans (band)
Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...
and Fugazi." His next job was as vocalist of post-rock hardcore 5-piece Unhome who released one album Short History of Houses (Unlabel) and a split single with Papa M. Unhome split in late 1999 and Tucker went on to tour the UK with Detroit space-rockers Fuxa
Füxa
Füxa was a space rock duo, consisting of Detroit musicians Ryan Anderson and Randall Nieman . Füxa was created in 1994 and their music has been described as psychedelic and experimental...
, playing guitar synthesizers.
Solo recordings
Tucker had meanwhile been developing his interest in improvisation using detuned guitars, tape loops, mini disc player and fx pedals. In early 2000 he recorded a solo self-titled album of acoustic finger-picking, experimental electronics, field recordings and spooked vocals, which was picked up by Tom Greenwood of Jackie-O-Motherfucker and released on his U-Sound Archives label. This style was refined in his live performances. One reviewer wrote of a 2008 performance that they had "seen a lot of live looping musicians in recent years and Alexander Tucker is by far one of the best. With celloCello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, acoustic guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, his fantastic voice and a bank of pedals, he creates soundscapes which twist and bend through folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, drone metal
Drone metal
Drone metal is a style of heavy metal that melds the slow tempos and heaviness of doom metal with the long-duration tones of drone music...
and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
." Further years of writing and recording led to an increase in interest and a new record deal with the All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
affiliated ATP Recordings
ATP Recordings
ATP Recordings is a record label that was started in 2001 by London concert promoter Barry Hogan of Foundation/All Tomorrow's Parties. It was originally created to bring out a compilation cd after the Tortoise-curated All Tomorrow's Parties event...
label, for whom he released Old Fog in 2005. One reviewer wrote of the LP that "his beautifully spooked wanderings feature both delicately picked banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
and acoustic guitar, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, detuned electric guitar, found sounds, looped noise and ghostly vocals, all layered to eerily resonant effect. A wintry and wonderful new discovery", whilst another wrote that it was "The kind of fog you won't mind getting lost in....a beautiful listen." Brandon Stosuy of the influential Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
and Village Voice wrote that "Over its course, Tucker piles inland shanties atop field recordings, piano, jittery bows, noise squalls, and bone creaks. Throughout, his fingerpicking feels almost possessed." Both of his first two albums were recorded on a digital 8-track when Tucker lived in a flat above Warren St. tube station, and the vibrations from passing tube trains can be heard in the background of some tracks.
Collaborations and Furrowed Brow
Due to the wider audience gained through this release, more collaborations followed, including work with Stephen O'MalleyStephen O'Malley
Stephen O'Malley is a musician, predominantly a guitarist, producer and composer from Seattle, Washington who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone doom, death/doom, and experimental music groups....
of Sunn O)))
Sunn O)))
Sunn O))) is an American doom metal band known for its synthesis of diverse genres including drone, ambient, noise, and black metal. Supported by a varying cast of collaborators, the band has two core members: Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson .-History:Sunn O))) is named after the Sunn...
& Khanate
Khanate
Khanate, or Chanat, is a Turco-Mongol-originated word used to describe a political entity ruled by a Khan. In modern Turkish, the word used is kağanlık, and in modern Azeri of the republic of Azerbaijan, xanlıq. In Mongolian the word khanlig is used, as in "Khereidiin Khanlig" meaning the Khanate...
on his Ginnungagap
Ginnungagap (band)
Ginnungagap is an American drone/ambient band formed in 2002. They have recorded two full-length albums and two EPs since 2004.- Line-up :*Stephen O'Malley - Guitars, Bass*Steve Pittis - Drones*Dawn Smithson - Vocals*Fritz Welch - Field Recording...
side project, and in 2008 as Stephen O'Malley and Alexander Tucker Duo. Other collaborations have included providing the soundtrack to Lali Chetwynd
Lali Chetwynd
Lali "Spartacus" Chetwynd is a British artist. She reworks iconic moments from cultural history in deliberately amateurish and improvisatory performances.-Life:...
's performance piece at Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
and playing with JOMF, Duke Garwood, Little Wet Horse and more recently with Daniel O'Sullivan
Daniel O'Sullivan
Daniel O'Sullivan is a multi-instrumentalist/composer from Manchester, England best known for playing in experimental art-rock bands Guapo, Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses, Ulver, Æthenor, Miracle and Mothlite....
and Dave Smith of Guapo
Guapó
Guapó is a small town and municipality in central Goiás state, Brazil. The population was 13,586 and the total area of the municipality was 517.0 km² .Guapó is part of the Goiânia Microregion...
under The Stargazers Assistant moniker, and with Jussi Lehtisalo
Jussi Lehtisalo
Jussi Lehtisalo Jussi Lehtisalo Jussi Lehtisalo (born 1973 is a Finnish bassist. In 1991 he founded Circle, a prolific band drawing influences from heavy metal and krautrock to develop a style of repetitive experimental rock...
of Circle
Circle (band)
Circle is an experimental rock band, founded in Pori, Finland in 1991. Their eclectic style is "ever changing, ever Circular", classified into genres such as progressive, Krautrock, ambient, heavy metal, speed-kraut, and avant-rock, among others...
in Grumbling Fur. A second album on ATPR, Furrowed Brow was recorded in his home county of deepest darkest Kent and released in November 2006. One reviewer stated "Furrowed Brow is without a doubt Tucker’s most accomplished foray into the recorded sphere of everything musical, a great improvement upon his Old Fog collection of 2005", and another similarly noted that it was "a bold statement of a record and Alexander Tucker's finest collection of work so far." The depth of genres covered by Tucker's work was also noted in Chris Parkin's review for Time Out magazine: "this astonishing second album is haunted by John Fahey
John Fahey (musician)
John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...
’s mystical guitar style, but Tucker reinterprets and paints over any old influence with a dense and doomy mix of detuned guitars, looped drones and warped harmonies. It’s the equivalent of dubstep for folk traditionalists."
Tucker is also a visual artist, creating artwork for all of his album covers and side projects, including ongoing drawings and comic artwork for Sturgeon White Moss (White Moss Press) and an album cover for Nordic doom-master Wolfmangler.
2008 - "Custom Made" and Portal
The start of 2008 saw Tucker out on tour throughout the UK with label-mates Fuck ButtonsFuck Buttons
Fuck Buttons are a two-piece electronic group formed in Bristol in 2004 by Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power.-Biography:Hung and Power grew up in Worcester. Hung was influenced by Aphex Twin, while Power was a fan of Mogwai. They developed a friendship in 2004 while attending art school in...
. The live debut of Stephen O'Malley & Alexander Tucker Duo is set to feature as part of the London date of Owen Pallett
Owen Pallett
Michael James Owen Pallett is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist from Toronto, Ontario. He won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds....
's Maximum Black Festival. In April Tucker released an edition of the ATP Recordings label's double 7" single project entitled "Custom Made". This featured a preview of the song "Veins To The Sky" which would feature on the forthcoming third album Portal. Veins was highlighted by Pitchfork Media and other media sources as a very positive progression from Tucker. The Pitchfork article highlighted its "symphonic textures and miasmic chord changes that will grab your attention...a hybrid between ancient sounds and the psychedelic capacities of one man."
Portal, a third album which took over a year to complete was released on 9 June on CD and vinyl formats, again on ATP Recordings. It was hailed with extremely positive reviews, for example Plan B
Plan B (magazine)
Plan B was a monthly music magazine based in London, England. It catered mainly towards independent music but did not discriminate between the relative popularity of the bands it features. Plan B also documented alternative culture such as film, comics, video games, visual art and books. The...
stated that "his guitar work hints at everything from Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
's most stately to My Bloody Valentine's most cryptic, no bad place to be" and Uncut
UNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
that the album is "a steady grower...a meticulously disorienting, blissed environment...very pleasing."
Later this year he will perform at the ATP New York Festival, and tour Europe as support to Bohren & der Club of Gore
Bohren & der Club of Gore
Bohren & der Club of Gore is a German ambient/jazz band from Nordrhein-Westfalen.-History:The band was founded in 1992 in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany by Thorsten Benning, Morten Gass, Robin Rodenberg and Reiner Henseleit. Originally, group members started out playing in various hardcore bands such...
.
In April 2011 he released the new album Dorwytch on Thrill Jockey.
Albums
- Alexander Tucker (U-Sound Archive, 2003)
- Old Fog (ATPR, 2005)
- Furrowed Brow (ATPR, 2006)
- Portal (ATPR, 2008)
- Dorwytch (Thrill Jockey, 2011)