John Sellekaers
Encyclopedia
John Sellekaers is a Canadian
-born musician
and audio mastering
engineer. Born in 1973 in Montreal
(Quebec
) he later moved to Brussels
(Belgium
). John has released over 40 records under various aliases on famous labels such as Ant-Zen
, Hymen Records
, Nova Zembla and Disques Hushush
. His style range from experimental music
to electronica
.
Around 1988, under the influence of electronic music pioneers such as Cabaret Voltaire
and Tangerine Dream
, he began experimenting with synthesizer
s. Later, in the early Nineties, he started a magazine devoted to underground culture
entitled "Noyade mécanique" (for Mechanical drowning). Other contributors for this magazine included Belgian artists such as Olivier Moreau and Seal Phüric.
In 1994, the Belgian underground techno
, ambient
and IDM
record label Nova Zembla
signed him for three albums. In 1995 his first album "Maps Of The Impossible" came out under the Xingu Hill
moniker.
Besides his main incarnation, Xingu Hill
, Sellekaers has recorded under several aliases. They include Dead Hollywood Stars
, Urawa, The Missing Ensemble, Uncotones, Ambre
, Moonsanto and Ammo
. Moonsanto is an experimental music
and political project by Sellekaers, C-drik Fermont
, Gabriel Séverin and Marc Mœdea. Active since 2000, Moonsanto can be called an industrial
supergroup
as it consist of members of Xingu Hill
, Dead Hollywood Stars
, Silksaw and Ammo
. Moonsanto's first full-length release is called Fraud Hell Dope. It is in fact a play on words about Monsanto Company's motto, "Food Health Hope". It is a multinational company active in the genetic engineering
market.
He has collaborated with artists such as Mick Harris
(of Scorn
), David Thrussell (of Snog
and Black Lung
), Olivier Moreau (of Imminent Starvation
), C-drik Fermont
, Silk Saw and Panacea
. In 2005, John Sellekaers, Daniel De Los Santos (of Tamarin) and literary fiction
writer Brian Evenson
released a record of experimental spoken word
.
During his career, John Sellekaers has extensively played live in Europe
and North America
.
Since 1998, he is also running the Metarc mastering studio, currently located in Montreal, Canada.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
-born 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....
and audio mastering
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
engineer. Born in 1973 in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
(Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
) he later moved to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
(Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
). John has released over 40 records under various aliases on famous labels such as Ant-Zen
Ant-Zen
Ant-Zen Audio and Visual Arts is a German independent record label founded in 1994 by Stefan Alt , who serves as the art director. Visual arts from Ant-Zen are typically bleak but astonishing landscapes, or microscopic studies of what is often overlooked...
, Hymen Records
Hymen Records
Hymen Records is an imprint of the Ant-Zen record label, founded in 1997 by Stefan Alt . Hymen mainly releases material of a technoid, power noise/rhythmic noise, dark ambient, IDM, breakcore or similar experimental electronic nature....
, Nova Zembla and Disques Hushush
Disques Hushush
Disques Hushush Inc. is an independent record label created by Dimitri della Faille in Montreal , Canada in 1998...
. His style range from experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
to 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...
.
Around 1988, under the influence of electronic music pioneers such as Cabaret Voltaire
Cabaret Voltaire (band)
Cabaret Voltaire were a British music group from Sheffield, England.Initially composed of Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk and Chris Watson, the group was named after the Cabaret Voltaire, a nightclub in Zürich, Switzerland that was a centre for the early Dada movement.Their earliest performances...
and Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member...
, he began experimenting with synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s. Later, in the early Nineties, he started a magazine devoted to underground culture
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
entitled "Noyade mécanique" (for Mechanical drowning). Other contributors for this magazine included Belgian artists such as Olivier Moreau and Seal Phüric.
In 1994, the Belgian underground techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
, ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
and IDM
Intelligent dance music
Intelligent dance music is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno...
record label Nova Zembla
Nova Zembla (label)
Nova Zembla is a Belgian electronic music record label, daughter of Kk Records. It has worked with artists such as Black Lung, Xingu Hill, Shaolin Wooden Men and Zen Paradox, as well as with the former Melbourne label IF? Records, now based in Tokyo....
signed him for three albums. In 1995 his first album "Maps Of The Impossible" came out under the Xingu Hill
Xingu Hill
Xingu Hill is a musical project of musician John Sellekaers.During the last ten years, John has released about forty records on various labels . Sellekaers has also recorded under names such as Dead Hollywood Stars, Ambre, Urawa, Uncotones, Moonsanto and Ammo...
moniker.
Besides his main incarnation, Xingu Hill
Xingu Hill
Xingu Hill is a musical project of musician John Sellekaers.During the last ten years, John has released about forty records on various labels . Sellekaers has also recorded under names such as Dead Hollywood Stars, Ambre, Urawa, Uncotones, Moonsanto and Ammo...
, Sellekaers has recorded under several aliases. They include Dead Hollywood Stars
Dead Hollywood Stars
Dead Hollywood Stars is the musical project of John Sellekaers.The sound of Dead Hollywood Stars has been described as cinematic and luxurious. Because of its use of guitars and nostalgic atmospheres journalists have compared it to the work of Italian composer Ennio Morricone...
, Urawa, The Missing Ensemble, Uncotones, Ambre
Ambre (band)
Ambre is a collaborative electronic music project between C-drik Fermont, John Sellekaers & Olivier Moreau, with other musicians guesting on occasion.-History:...
, Moonsanto and Ammo
Ammo (band)
Ammo is a Belgian-Canadian band consisting of John Sellekaers and C-drik Fermont. Their style range from electro to musical improvisation. Since 2000, they released an handful of CDs and vinyls. Including breakbeat remixes of Bon Jovi, Britney Spears and Shaggy....
. Moonsanto is an experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
and political project by Sellekaers, C-drik Fermont
C-drik Fermont
C-drík is a vegan artist, academically trained musician, dj, singer, composer and drummer. He is a former student of electro-acoustic composer Annette Vande Gorne .-Biography:...
, Gabriel Séverin and Marc Mœdea. Active since 2000, Moonsanto can be called an industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
as it consist of members of Xingu Hill
Xingu Hill
Xingu Hill is a musical project of musician John Sellekaers.During the last ten years, John has released about forty records on various labels . Sellekaers has also recorded under names such as Dead Hollywood Stars, Ambre, Urawa, Uncotones, Moonsanto and Ammo...
, Dead Hollywood Stars
Dead Hollywood Stars
Dead Hollywood Stars is the musical project of John Sellekaers.The sound of Dead Hollywood Stars has been described as cinematic and luxurious. Because of its use of guitars and nostalgic atmospheres journalists have compared it to the work of Italian composer Ennio Morricone...
, Silksaw and Ammo
Ammo (band)
Ammo is a Belgian-Canadian band consisting of John Sellekaers and C-drik Fermont. Their style range from electro to musical improvisation. Since 2000, they released an handful of CDs and vinyls. Including breakbeat remixes of Bon Jovi, Britney Spears and Shaggy....
. Moonsanto's first full-length release is called Fraud Hell Dope. It is in fact a play on words about Monsanto Company's motto, "Food Health Hope". It is a multinational company active in the genetic engineering
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
market.
He has collaborated with artists such as Mick Harris
Mick Harris
Mick Harris commonly known and credited both as Mick Harris or occasionally M.J. Harris, is an English musician....
(of Scorn
Scorn
Scorn is a feeling of contempt or disdain for something or somebody; to despise.Scorn may also refer to:Music* Scorn * Scorn of the Women, an album by Weddings Parties Anything* Scorn Defeat, an album by Sigh...
), David Thrussell (of Snog
Snog
Snog is a band formed by Australian musician David Thrussell, along with fellow art school friends, Tim McGrath and Julia Bourke, in 1989. The band's music is a fusion of many different styles, including industrial, techno, ambient, experimental, funk and even some of the social commentary of...
and Black Lung
Black Lung
Black Lung is an electronic and industrial music project by Australian musician David Thrussell, also known for his industrial bands Snog and the more ambient Soma....
), Olivier Moreau (of Imminent Starvation
Imminent (band)
Imminent is a Belgian musical project formerly, and still commonly known as Imminent Starvation. It is a staple act of Germany’s industrial and power noise record label, Ant-Zen. -Members / History:...
), C-drik Fermont
C-drik Fermont
C-drík is a vegan artist, academically trained musician, dj, singer, composer and drummer. He is a former student of electro-acoustic composer Annette Vande Gorne .-Biography:...
, Silk Saw and Panacea
Panacea (artist)
Mathis Mootz is a prolific German electronic musician and DJ from Germany. Mootz is best known as The Panacea , his drum and bass stage name and main musical project, and as m2 , his dark ambient side project and alter-ego.Born August 18, 1976 in Wetzlar, Germany, Mootz served an apprenticeship in...
. In 2005, John Sellekaers, Daniel De Los Santos (of Tamarin) and literary fiction
Literary fiction
Literary fiction is a term that came into common usage during the early 1960s. The term is principally used to distinguish "serious fiction" which is a work that claims to hold literary merit, in comparison from genre fiction and popular fiction . In broad terms, literary fiction focuses more upon...
writer Brian Evenson
Brian Evenson
Brian Evenson is an American academic and writer of both literary fiction and popular fiction. He has received degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of Washington . After leaving a teaching position at BYU, he held positions at Oklahoma State University, Syracuse University...
released a record of experimental spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
.
During his career, John Sellekaers has extensively played live in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
Since 1998, he is also running the Metarc mastering studio, currently located in Montreal, Canada.