Artist
DAVE CLARKE
He may be known as The Baron Of Techno, a moniker given to him by renowned BBC Radio DJ / journalist John Peel, but Dave Clarke has an anarchist streak a mile wide and punk in his soul, having no truck with establishment figures or authoritarianism.
A hard working purist, forward thinking futurist, technology geek, part Gothic and gadget lover who embraced the digital revolution in an early stage while his peers where still sniffing the smell of vinyl, a format he hasn't used professionally in eleven years. It's unsurprising he revels in the libertarianism of the World Wide Web. It gives symmetry to his savvy techno vision.
Dave Clarke was born and raised in Brighton (United Kingdom) but currently resides in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), where Clarke found his comfort zone and revitalized him after moving from rural sedate Conservative Sussex. Being the offspring of a technology loving father and a disco-soul loving mother, it was evident that Clarke would "do something" in music eventually. Not knowing what the "do" part was but blessed with a high doses of determination, Clarke evolved from being a runaway boy sleeping in car parks and on beaches, via lousy jobs in shoe shops living off 5 pounds a day and via underpaid Brighton gigs into a world class artist, maintaining a flourishing career spanning well over two decades.
Carefully starting off a career as a producer, Dave Clarke saw his debut release in 1990 on the legendary XL Recordings under his Hardcore guise which gained him moderate success. As a result, Clarke was approached by Belgian techno label R&S and released various EP's under the aliases Hardcore and Directional Force in 1991. A year later, Clarke shaped the contours of his own label Magnetic North on which he unveiled the classic Alkaline 3dh (as Fly By Wire), amongst many releases.
Clarke's career took a 180 when his Red trilogy was unleashed on Bush Records in 1994; undisputed landmarks in the techno genre and for Clarke personally, a life changing event. It comes as no surprise that DJ Mag incorporated one of the Red's in its All Time Techno Top 100 list. The Red instalment catapulted Clarke's status; the Briton suddenly found himself in his studio remixing for the likes of Kevin Saunderson's Inner City, The Chemical Brothers, New Order, Depeche Mode, Moby, Leftfield and Underworld, to name but a few.
The debut album Archive One followed, flecked with hints of breakbeat and electronica, a novelty in the puritanical techno scene of the time. His mix CD's included the two best-selling World Service outings (one of which made it into the top ten of best mix compilations of the 00's in Resident Advisor) which showcased his dual love for electro and techno, one of them sold close to 100k copies no less. He briefly signed to Skint Records resulting in 2004's Devil's Advocate album, jammed with dark techno energy but laced with hip hop beats. When his production pace ebbed, Music Man Records gathered together Remixes & Rarities in 2007, making Album Of The Month in Mixmag and receiving critical plaudits all over.
Clarke's vast determination to stubbornly follow his own path in the music industry, along with his outspoken opinion on many a subject, was not hailed by his peers with enthusiasm on many occasions. Criticized for being a futurist in the early zeros - he was the first techno artist to release an internet only single in 2000 - his main motive was, and still is, to deliver music to the ears of his global audience oblivious to pigeonholes, politics, prejudice or other people's opinions. As Clarke explains: "This is techno, it's supposed to be forward-looking".
As a DJ, he plays out every weekend everywhere. At every event there's the same attention to detail, his sets swooping whip-smart along the cutting blade of techno and electro, backed up by a seasoned bag of DJ tricks in which his early hip hop roots clearly show. Aptly nicknamed The Man In Black, Clarke blends into the background upon arrival and lets his music do the talking. That's where he comes alive, where skills hon
A hard working purist, forward thinking futurist, technology geek, part Gothic and gadget lover who embraced the digital revolution in an early stage while his peers where still sniffing the smell of vinyl, a format he hasn't used professionally in eleven years. It's unsurprising he revels in the libertarianism of the World Wide Web. It gives symmetry to his savvy techno vision.
Dave Clarke was born and raised in Brighton (United Kingdom) but currently resides in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), where Clarke found his comfort zone and revitalized him after moving from rural sedate Conservative Sussex. Being the offspring of a technology loving father and a disco-soul loving mother, it was evident that Clarke would "do something" in music eventually. Not knowing what the "do" part was but blessed with a high doses of determination, Clarke evolved from being a runaway boy sleeping in car parks and on beaches, via lousy jobs in shoe shops living off 5 pounds a day and via underpaid Brighton gigs into a world class artist, maintaining a flourishing career spanning well over two decades.
Carefully starting off a career as a producer, Dave Clarke saw his debut release in 1990 on the legendary XL Recordings under his Hardcore guise which gained him moderate success. As a result, Clarke was approached by Belgian techno label R&S and released various EP's under the aliases Hardcore and Directional Force in 1991. A year later, Clarke shaped the contours of his own label Magnetic North on which he unveiled the classic Alkaline 3dh (as Fly By Wire), amongst many releases.
Clarke's career took a 180 when his Red trilogy was unleashed on Bush Records in 1994; undisputed landmarks in the techno genre and for Clarke personally, a life changing event. It comes as no surprise that DJ Mag incorporated one of the Red's in its All Time Techno Top 100 list. The Red instalment catapulted Clarke's status; the Briton suddenly found himself in his studio remixing for the likes of Kevin Saunderson's Inner City, The Chemical Brothers, New Order, Depeche Mode, Moby, Leftfield and Underworld, to name but a few.
The debut album Archive One followed, flecked with hints of breakbeat and electronica, a novelty in the puritanical techno scene of the time. His mix CD's included the two best-selling World Service outings (one of which made it into the top ten of best mix compilations of the 00's in Resident Advisor) which showcased his dual love for electro and techno, one of them sold close to 100k copies no less. He briefly signed to Skint Records resulting in 2004's Devil's Advocate album, jammed with dark techno energy but laced with hip hop beats. When his production pace ebbed, Music Man Records gathered together Remixes & Rarities in 2007, making Album Of The Month in Mixmag and receiving critical plaudits all over.
Clarke's vast determination to stubbornly follow his own path in the music industry, along with his outspoken opinion on many a subject, was not hailed by his peers with enthusiasm on many occasions. Criticized for being a futurist in the early zeros - he was the first techno artist to release an internet only single in 2000 - his main motive was, and still is, to deliver music to the ears of his global audience oblivious to pigeonholes, politics, prejudice or other people's opinions. As Clarke explains: "This is techno, it's supposed to be forward-looking".
As a DJ, he plays out every weekend everywhere. At every event there's the same attention to detail, his sets swooping whip-smart along the cutting blade of techno and electro, backed up by a seasoned bag of DJ tricks in which his early hip hop roots clearly show. Aptly nicknamed The Man In Black, Clarke blends into the background upon arrival and lets his music do the talking. That's where he comes alive, where skills hon
2099-12-31
2023-08-18
2023-04-26
2022-03-11
2022-02-04
2021-12-10
2021-08-06
2021-04-09