Alan Oldham

Alan Oldham (born 20 May 1963, Detroit, Michigan), is an American techno DJ, producer, label owner, graphic artist, and painter.

Career

Oldham's parallel art and music careers began in 1987 until 1992, when he was hired as an overnight program host on WDET-FM, Detroit's Public Radio (NPR) affiliate.[1] His program, "Fast Forward,"[2] was the first-ever radio program in Detroit devoted to electronic music. The show was described as the most avant-garde radio program on Detroit airwaves during that time, and is mentioned in such books as "Techno Rebels"[3] and "The Rough Guide to Techno."[4] That same year, Oldham, a comic-book artist from a young age, was asked by his childhood friend Derrick May to produce label designs for his first record, "Nude Photo," on May's newly formed Transmat Records. Local design commissions for KMS Records and the Detroit after-hours club The Music Institute followed.

In 1990, Oldham's creative association with Netherlands-based Djax-Up-Beats (DE) began with his Signal-To-Noise Ratio music project being signed by the label, along with his first label art to appear on Djax. Oldham went on to produce hundreds of art pieces for Djax that appeared as label art, slipmats, calendars, posters, T-shirts, album covers, CD booklets, and four Miss Djax promotional comics released over the years. In 1992, after Jeff Mills' departure from the electronic group he co-created, Underground Resistance, Oldham, who had been serving in the office as UR's "Minister of Information," was tapped to join the group on its Australian Tour as the band's new DJ. All UR members had code-names, so DJ T-1000, named after the liquid-metal cyborg in the movie "T2," was born.

Labels

After the success of UR's Australian Tour, Oldham was approached by leader Mike Banks to create a new label to run through a pressing and distribution business he was starting, called Submerge. The label Oldham would launch was called Generator. After 25 releases on Generator, Oldham began his own Pure Sonik imprint, a label solely for his solo output. And in 1997, Oldham signed with Tresor Berlin to release the "Jetset Lovelife" EP, followed by his debut album, Progress. Oldham's music has also appeared on React, Inzec, Astralwerks, xfive., Theory, Third Ear, Minimalsoul, and Nachstrom Schallplatten (a collaboration with Alexander Kowalski a.k.a. d_func).

Art

Oldham's recent push into artistic realms is flourishing, creating the cult comic characters "Johnny Gambit" and "Vectra: Black Girl From The Future," taking art commissions from around the world and mounting successful exhibitions of his works on canvas. He has shown art in galleries and shops in Paris, Los Angeles, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Barcelona, and has participated in the Berlin art markets Comics Invasion and Signs of Dexterity. His full gallery debut in Vienna is planned for 2015.

Selected discography

Albums

Singles & EPs

Compilations

Mixes

Remixes

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Detroit, Discuss (March 28, 2007). "Discuss Detroit » Active Archive » Damn you WDET". www.atdetroit.net/. Malcovemagnesia. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
  2. ↑ Oldham, Alan (1990). "Fast Forward Vol 1. 1990 A". Fast Forward via Alan Oldham. hearthis.at. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
  3. ↑ Sicko and Brewster, Dan and Bill (1999). Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk. Detroit, Michigan: Painted Turtle. pp. 176 Size: 6x9 Illustrations: 13. ISBN 9780814334386.
  4. ↑ Barr, Tim (2000). Techno Rough Guide Mini. Detroit: Rough Guide. p. 38. ISBN 9781858284347.

External links

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