Music

BACKGROUND

Although I grew up listening to little but guitar music, I discovered the beat when I moved back to Brighton in the early 90's. Several years on, having picked up how to put beats and samples together myself, I began making my own electronic music.

I dubbed the work Control K, being both the Windows keyboard shortcut for 'Insert Hyperlink' (and thus a connection with the world) and a play on the fictional character Josef K, referring to how he was controlled by an unseen system in Kafka's famous novel 'The Trial'.

Control K is intended as 'electronic music for the heart and mind' - something that you can both listen or groove to and also think about. Musical starting points for inspiration would be ambient house pioneers such as The Orb and The KLF for their magpie approaches to modern music, with nods to the likes of Orbital, Underworld and Boards Of Canada for feeling. Control K reflects my love of other non-rock forms too - hip-hop, dub and reggae, funk, jazz, soul and 'world' music.

OUTPUT

It is also a musical vehicle for dealing with themes, such as war and peace, politics, or the environment. Subjects tackled by Control K so far include the 2003 protests over the invasion of Iraq ('Frontline Dub - 9 Love Mix', '1441'), a Japanese nuclear power plant ('Rokkasella') and the 2008 US election ('Change'), making for a form of 'electronic protest music'.

The first release collected together all works so far as 'The Front Line', released in 2003 as a limited edition. This debut album was later reworked and issued on CD in 2005 as 'The Front Line (Redux)', put out through an online press-on-demand service. The collection was reissued in 2011 for free download under a Creative Commons licence. That is the version available on this page.

A remix of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shing02's Stop Rokkasho campaign song was put out in 2007 as 'Rokkasella (New Clear Mix)'. In 2008, a track was issued covering the US election. 'Change' culminated in a section from Obama's victory speech. The track also came with the first Control K video, which can be seen below (along with both of those tracks).

FUTURE

Other new works are currently in the pipeline, with work aimed to commence on the next album in 2012 or 2013. A new website is also due - the old one which can be found here.

Control K is open to requests for remixes, soundtracks, commercials and other audio commissions. Use the contact form below to get in touch or send a message to mail[at]controlk.co.uk