Surgeon (musician)
Encyclopedia
Surgeon is the pseudonym of Anthony Child, an English electronic music
ian and DJ
. Child releases music on his own labels
Counterbalance and Dynamic Tension. Established imprints, such as Tresor
, Soma, and Harthouse, have also released Surgeon's original material and remixes. He has also been recognized as one of the first wave of DJs to use Ableton Live
and Final Scratch
to supplement his DJ sets.
, a village in Northamptonshire
. In 1989, he moved to Birmingham
to study audio-visual design, played in a jazz/rock/fusion
band called Blim, and learned to DJ from friend Paul Damage. At that time, there were no Techno
clubs in Birmingham so he and his friends started House of God, and by 1991 he was DJing there regularly. In 1994, he released his eponymous debut EP on Downwards Records.
Surgeon's musical style is characterised by his incorporation of the more cinematic and left field aspects of his musical background into his club-based material. His production, remix, and DJ repertoire are inspired by krautrock
and industrial music
bands such as Faust
, Coil
, and Whitehouse
. In particular, the extent of Coil's influence is such that most of the track titles from Surgeon's Tresor album "Force and Form" are direct references to Coil recordings. Child also draws influence from Chicago house
, Techno
, Dub music
, and Electro, and also from non-musical works by Mike Leigh
, David Lynch
, William S. Burroughs
, Bret Easton Ellis
, and Cindy Sherman
.
Child is also known for several significant artist collaborations in his career. These include tonal experiments with Mick Harris
, British Murder Boys with Regis
, and most recently with Ben Sims as Frequency 7.
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
ian and DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
. Child releases music on his own labels
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Counterbalance and Dynamic Tension. Established imprints, such as Tresor
Tresor
Tresor is an underground techno nightclub and record label. The club was founded in March 1991 in the vaults of the former old Wertheim department store in Mitte, the central part of the former East Berlin, next to the famous Potsdamer Platz, however the history of the club goes back to 1988 when...
, Soma, and Harthouse, have also released Surgeon's original material and remixes. He has also been recognized as one of the first wave of DJs to use Ableton Live
Ableton Live
Ableton Live is a loop-based software music sequencer and DAW for Mac OS and Windows by Ableton. The latest major release of Live, Version 8, was released in April 2009. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool for...
and Final Scratch
Final Scratch
Final Scratch is a DJ tool created by the Dutch company N2IT with input from Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva that allows manipulation and playback of digital audio sources using traditional vinyl and turntables...
to supplement his DJ sets.
History
Child grew up in KislingburyKislingbury
Kislingbury is a village in Northamptonshire, England, about west of Northampton town centre, and close to junctions 15A and 16 of the M1 motorway.-Demographics:...
, a village in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
. In 1989, he moved to Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
to study audio-visual design, played in a jazz/rock/fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
band called Blim, and learned to DJ from friend Paul Damage. At that time, there were no 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...
clubs in Birmingham so he and his friends started House of God, and by 1991 he was DJing there regularly. In 1994, he released his eponymous debut EP on Downwards Records.
Surgeon's musical style is characterised by his incorporation of the more cinematic and left field aspects of his musical background into his club-based material. His production, remix, and DJ repertoire are inspired by krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
and industrial music
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...
bands such as Faust
Faust (band)
Faust are a German krautrock band. Formed in 1971 in Wümme, the group was originally composed of Werner "Zappi" Diermaier, Hans Joachim Irmler, Arnulf Meifert, Jean-Hervé Péron, Rudolf Sosna and Gunther Wüsthoff, working with record producer Uwe Nettelbeck and engineer Kurt Graupner.-History:Faust...
, Coil
Coil (band)
Coil were an English cross-genre, experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be...
, and Whitehouse
Whitehouse (band)
Whitehouse are a pioneering English power electronics band formed in 1980, largely credited for the founding of the power electronics subgenre.-History and personnel:...
. In particular, the extent of Coil's influence is such that most of the track titles from Surgeon's Tresor album "Force and Form" are direct references to Coil recordings. Child also draws influence from Chicago house
Chicago house
Chicago house is a style of house music, a genre of electronic dance music which emerged in Chicago in the mid-1980s. Stylistically, Chicago house has no widely accepted definition, but generally includes the first house music productions by Chicago-based artists throughout the 1980s, and any later...
, 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...
, Dub music
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
, and Electro, and also from non-musical works by Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
, David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
, William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
, Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis is an American novelist and short story writer. His works have been translated into 27 different languages. He was regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack, which also included Tama Janowitz and Jay McInerney...
, and Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman is an American photographer and film director, best known for her conceptual portraits. Sherman currently lives and works in New York City. In 1995, she was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. She is represented by Sprüth Magers Berlin London in and Metro Pictures gallery in...
.
Child is also known for several significant artist collaborations in his career. These include tonal experiments with Mick Harris
Mick Harris
Mick Harris commonly known and credited both as Mick Harris or occasionally M.J. Harris, is an English musician....
, British Murder Boys with Regis
Regis (musician)
Regis is a British techno musician and record label boss.As label boss of Downwards Records, O'Connor, alongside his label-mate Surgeon , forged a sound that blended Chicago house with darker European electronics...
, and most recently with Ben Sims as Frequency 7.
Albums
- 1996: Communications
- 1997: Basictonalvocabulary
- 1998: Balance
- 1999: Force and Form
- 2000: Body Request
- 2011: Breaking The FrameBreaking The FrameBreaking The Frame is an album by Surgeon to be released in 2011.The album will be the first full length album Surgeon has released since 2000's Body Request.- Track listing :#"dark matter"#"Transparent Radiation"#"Remover Of Darkness"...
Dynamic Tension EPs
- 1997: Patience
- 1997: Learning
- 1998: Sound Pressure (with James Ruskin)
- 1998: Credence
- 1999: East Light
- 1999: Dry
- 2005: Klonk
- 2007: Whose Bad Hands Are These? (with remixes from DisinVectant & AutechreAutechreAutechre are an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both natives of Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are one of the most prominent acts signed to Warp Records, a label known for its pioneering electronic music and through which all Autechre albums...
) - 2007: Whose Bad Hands Are These? (with remixes from MonolakeMonolakeMonolake is an electronic music act based in Berlin. Originally consisting of members Gerhard Behles and Robert Henke, Monolake is now perpetuated by Henke while Behles focuses on running music software company Ableton, which they founded in 1999 together with Bernd Roggendorf...
& Vex'd) - 2010: Compliance Momentum
Counterbalance EPs
- 1999: Diametric
- 2000: La Real
- 2000: Waiting For Me
- 2000: Midnight Club Tracks I
- 2001: Midnight Club Tracks II
- 2001: Screw The Roses
- 2006: Floorshow Part I
- 2006: Floorshow Part II
- 2009: Hello Oslo
Collaborations
- 1998: Certain Beyond All Reasonable Doubt (with Mick HarrisMick HarrisMick Harris commonly known and credited both as Mick Harris or occasionally M.J. Harris, is an English musician....
) - 2002: Guitar Treatments (with Andrew Read)
As British Murder Boys
- 2001: British Murder Boys
- 2003: Learn Your Lesson
- 2003: Don't Give Way To Fear
- 2004: Fist/Splinter
- 2005: Father Loves Us
- 2005: All The Saints Have Been Hung
Mix CD Compilations
- 2001: Counterbalance Collection
- 2007: This Is For You Shits
- 2010: fabric 53Fabric 53Fabric 53 is a 2010 album by Surgeon. The album was released as part of the Fabric Mix Series.-Track listing:# Surgeon - Intro - Location recording from Kuramae Subway Station, Tokyo, Japan# Scuba - Glance - Hotflush...
Selected Remixes
- 1996: The Storm - Dave Clarke
- 1996: The House Of God - D.H.S.
- 1996: It One Jah - The AdventThe AdventThe Advent is a British electronic music act. It was originally founded in 1993 by Cisco Ferreira and Colin McBean. Soon after leaving school, Ferreira began working as an engineer at Jack Trax Records, a job which enabled him to glimpse first-hand the work of such artists as Derrick May and...
- 1998: Fear Satan - MogwaiMogwaiThe word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...
- 1999: Nurture - LFO (For Warp 10+3 compilationWarp 10: Influences, Classics, RemixesWarp 10 is a series of compilation albums issued by Warp Records in 1999 to celebrate the label's tenth anniversary. The collection spans three double CD/quadruple vinyl sets, which can be purchased individually...
) - 2001: California Rhinoplasty - MatmosMatmosMatmos is an experimental electronic music duo originally from San Francisco but now residing in Baltimore signed to the Matador Records label. M. C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances, including...
- 2001: Teenage Lightning" - CoilCoil (band)Coil were an English cross-genre, experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be...
(unreleased) - 2006: The Clock -Thom YorkeThom YorkeThomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
- 2006: Alaska - MonolakeMonolakeMonolake is an electronic music act based in Berlin. Originally consisting of members Gerhard Behles and Robert Henke, Monolake is now perpetuated by Henke while Behles focuses on running music software company Ableton, which they founded in 1999 together with Bernd Roggendorf...
- 2009: Bag Of Bones - The MaccabeesThe MaccabeesThe Maccabees are a indie rock band from Brighton, England. They have released two albums so far, Colour It In in 2007, with a follow-up, Wall of Arms, released on 4 May 2009...