Alex Smoke – Live at Fiction

Pre-party promo – “Killer Robot is proud to bring you the next in our continuing series of the worlds best underground electronic artists, Scotland’s Alex Smoke. For anyone with even a remote interest in electronic music over the last seven years, Smoke has become synonymous with advancement and quality and his prolific output has found its way into the sets of djs across genre divides from techno, to electro to glitch and beyond.

Alex will be combining his live aspect with a dj set for a night that looks set to go down in the KR history books. Make sure you book your place.

Alex Smoke is a new breed of electronic music producer.

While his music may reside on the dancefloor along with his renowned live sets, it also resonates so much further than this. With a production style drawn from a myriad of influences that blur the boundaries between electronica, techno, classical and hip hop, Alex Smoke’s music evolves in new directions with every new project he undertakes, musically consistently fulfilling, regardless of the listener’s preferred genre.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Alex’s proficiency in multi-faceted electronic-beat-making is founded securely on a lifetime of classical training, nurtured not least by his mother, by profession a music teacher. At a young age, alex received a coveted scholarship for Durham Cathedral Choir School, where he excelled on the cello, piano and drums. In fact, the very same voice that adorns his techno tracks, was once heard in Durham Cathedral Choir, albeit an octave higher. After a brief glitch, studying marine biology, Alex soon got back on track, wisely using his student loan to buy his first Apple Mac computer and simple software, giving his imagination the necessary tools to begin producing.

It didn’t take long. After his first release in 2002 on local Glasgow label “S.U.D.”, Alex was soon snapped up by the legendary dance music label, Soma Records, on which he released his seminal first album, “Incommunicado” to critical acclaim in 2004. This deeply emotive release utilized cutting edge production techniques to give birth to a beguiling new style, which was lauded throughout the house and techno community. Tracks, such as the anthemic “Chicca Wappa” and his own vocal masterpiece “Don’t See The Point”, announced the arrival of an already accomplished newcomer amongst the heavyweights in the scene. Upcoming Berlin indie label Vakant immediately recognized this young producer’s extraordinary talent and provided a platform for a series of ep releases that continued to tantalize enthusiasts not only within the techno-driven German capital, until the keenly anticipated arrival in 2006 of album no. 2, “Paradolia”, back on Soma.

2006 also saw Alex join the elite wall of fame of Soma’s mix compilation series, “Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi.”. Following in the footsteps of Ewan Pearson and Luciano, Alex was also given the opportunity to portray influences past, present and future on one release with no prescribed genre-related parameters to his selection. Naturally, the Smoke release is a rich journey through eclectic genres and subgenres, from Burial to Basic Channel through to Model 500.

Throughout his relatively short career Alex has become an in-demand remixer, already with remixes for Steve Reich, Depeche Mode, Mylo, Junior Boys, Funk D’Void, Radio 4, Jay Haze and Envoy under his discography belt, to mention but a few. His dynamic live talents have, since the first Soma release, been consistently in demand, leaving almost no country on the world map unvisited, nor unimpressed for that matter.

This brings us to the here and now. Or should that be the Hum+Haw? For this is the name of Alex’s burgeoning label project with former Soma man Jim Hutchison, which will house his forthcoming releases, as well as nurture young Glaswegian talent and international musical electricians. Again you will try in vain to categorize this youthful label on the brink of their first release. Almost out the other end of the pipeline, is an experimental hip-hop collaboration between Alex (providing the electronics) and LA mc, Non, of The Shadow Huntaz fame (delivering the hip and the hop).

2009 ushers the release of the new Alex Smoke album LUX. Alex has held back on his own name releases apart from a handful of twelves on Vakant while he expanded his studio to incorporate more hardware to fully push the parameters of his sound.

LUX is the result of his hard work and delves into more experimental territory whilst retaining the melancholic musicality of its predecessors.”

Download from Whomp-FM

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