The Horrorist
Encyclopedia
- This article is about the musician with the stage name "The Horrorist". For the Vertigo Comics title, see The Horrorist (comics)The Horrorist (comics)The Horrorist was an occult and horror-themed comic book limited series written by Jamie Delano, with art by David Lloyd. It was a spin-off of Vertigo's popular Hellblazer series, and ran from December 1995 to January 1996...
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Oliver Chesler (born January 20, 1970), better known by his stage name The Horrorist, is an electronic music
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...
artist from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He is the owner of the Things to Come Records. He has live performances all around the world but a hotspot is Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Many remember him as the punk styled kid in D.A. Pennebaker's concert film "101
101 (album)
-Disc one:A Side# "Pimpf" – 0:58# "Behind the Wheel" – 5:55# "Strangelove" – 4:49# "Something to Do" – 3:54# "Blasphemous Rumours" – 5:09B Side# "Stripped" – 6:45# "Somebody" – 4:34...
", featuring Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
. British music critic Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds is an English music critic who is well-known for his writings on electronic dance music and for coining the term "post-rock". Besides electronic dance music, Reynolds has written about a wide range of artists and musical genres, and has written books on post-punk and rock...
once proclaimed, "My favorite contemporary American singer-songwriter is Oliver Chesler, a/k/a The Horrorist."
Manic Panic project
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, or any major (western) metropolis. The album features, what sounds like, actual samples of the answering machine of Oliver Chesler (aka. The Horrorist), giving the album a feel of being auto-biographic. On August 30, 2004 the album was re-released on Out of Line Music
Out of Line Music
Out of Line Music is a German electronic music label based in Berlin....
with a bonus disc containing an additional nine songs. The re-release went to No. 1 on the Deutsche (German) Alternative Chart on October 1, 2004. The album had four singles associated with it: "One Night in NYC", "Flesh is the Fever", "The Virus" and "Mission Ecstasy".
"One Night in NYC" describes the experiences of a young innocent suburban girl during a night in New York City. It's a scary downbeat track, and what is described in the lyrics, could happen each and every night year round, a notion that makes the track even eerier. The single hit No.1 on the Deutsche Dance Charts the first week of January 2001. In May 2001 for UK magazine MixMag
Mixmag
Mixmag is a British dance music and clubbing magazine. It styles itself as "the world's biggest selling dance music magazine", with an Audit Bureau of Circulations audited circulation of approximately 21,250...
, Pete Tong
Pete Tong
Peter "Pete" Tong is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is known worldwide by fans of electronic music for hosting programmes such as Essential Mix and Essential Selection on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for his record label FFRR Records, and for...
reviewed "One Night in NYC" and said, "Big records demand your attention, and this is bound to get yours... Love it hate it, you will certainly know when you've heard it." There were many 12" remix singles released for the song on several different record labels including Warner Music, Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
, Superstar Recordings, CLR Recordings, A1 Records and Captivating Sounds. Some of the producers and DJs who contributed remixes include Chris Liebing
Chris Liebing
Chris Liebing is dj, producer, radio host of a weekly show and the driving force behind the labels CLR and Spinclub Recordings. His sound has continuously evolved during his dj career, always true to his Techno roots. He was one of the first djs that used the new possibilities in the course of the...
, Pascal FEOS, Ricardo Villalobos
Ricardo Villalobos
Ricardo Villalobos is a Chilean-German electronic music producer and DJ. He is well-known for his work in the minimal techno and microhouse genres, and is one of the most significant figures in today's minimal techno scene....
and Orlando Voorn. Warner Music hired German firm Oktonet to produce the music video. It was directed by Nils Tim and shot in New York City at The Limelight
The Limelight
The Limelight is the name of a chain of nightclubs that were owned and operated by Peter Gatien, located in Atlanta, Hollywood, Florida, and London, and formerly in New York City and Chicago.-History:...
club and live footage was shot in Frankfurt, Germany at the U60311 nightclub. For several weeks the video had B-rotation play on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and Viva (TV station) in Germany and The Netherlands. On February 10, 2002 The New Zealand Herald
The New Zealand Herald
- External links :* * *...
ran a story detailing how the Broadcasting Standards Authority
Broadcasting Standards Authority
The Broadcasting Standards Authority is a New Zealand Crown Entity created by the Broadcasting Act 1989 to develop and uphold standards of broadcasting for radio, free-to-air and pay television.The main functions of the BSA are:...
banned the music video from airing again on TVNZ (Television New Zealand). In the story a man named Rod Valenta complained, "completely unacceptable for free-to-air television, especially during a weekend when children can view this damaging material".
"The Virus" is an upbeat, hardpumping track that describes what can happen "when people do evil things". The lyrics tell the story of a young man who was bullied throughout his life and later becomes addicted to drugs. He thinks up a plan for revenge. He creates a virus and then unleashes it to destroy the world . Initially there were two different 12" vinyl releases each with different remixes for The Virus on the German label a45 (a division of Edel Music
Edel Music
-History:Edel Music was founded in 1986 by Michael Haentjes in Germany as a mail order record company selling mostly soundtracks. With artists such as Scooter, SASH!, Holly Johnson and many others, it became a very successful pop music label...
). Some of the producers and DJs who contributed remixes include Ben Sims, Northern Lite, Citizen Art and Zeil 100. Later, in 2004 another German label Robot Traxx released newer remixes of The Virus. The release aptly titled "The Virus 2004" included remixes by Longy, DJ Falk & Plasma Beat and Fritz Laurent.
Recognitions
- His song "One Night in NYC" went to #1 on the Deutsche Dance Chart in 2001 (DDC).
- The re-release of his first album Manic Panic (extended version) went to #1 on the Deutsche Alternative Chart in 2004 (DAC).
- His second album Attack Decay went to #3 on the Deutsche Alternative Chart in 2007 (DAC).
In Groups
- Arrivers
- SuperPowerSuperPowerSuperPower is a political simulation computer game designed by GolemLabs and published by DreamCatcher Interactive. SuperPower debuted on March 28, 2002 for the PC.-Gameplay:...
- Temper Tantrum
- Disintegrator
- Koenig Cylinders
Discography
- The Horrorist - One Night in New York City (12" Vinyl Record EP)
- The Horrorist - Run For Your Life (12" Vinyl Record EP)
- The Horrorist - Sex Machine (12" Vinyl Record EP)
- The Horrorist - Manic Panic (Compact Disc Album)
- The Horrorist - Manic Panic - EXTEND (2 CD)
- The Horrorist - Wire to The Ear (12" Vinyl Record EP)
- The Horrorist - Attack Decay (Album)
- The Horrorist - Metal man