Initially, I was heavily influenced by the "classic rock" I grew up listening to (mainly Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, early Pink Floyd and The Doors). Throughout high school, I began listening to a wider selection of music, including the likes of Wendy Carlos, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, etc. Towards the end of the 80s/early 90s, I was being highly influenced by goth/new wave (Joy Division, The Psychedelic Furs, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Cure, Human League, Sisters of Mercy) as well as british Shoegazing/Madchester (Boo Radleys, Happy Mondays, Chapterhouse, Blur, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, etc). Now I tend to listen to quite a bit of future pop/synth pop (VNV Nation, Neuroticfish, Blutengel, Assemblage 23, Colony 5, Delerium, Kirlian Camera) as well as Down Tempo/Trip Hop type stuff such as Thievery Corporation, Massive Attack, Portishead, Laika and Swayzak.
Sounds Like
Currently the music I have uploaded represents more of my synth-based music. Some of it more ambient, some a bit orchestrated (as far as my abilities allow), some down-tempo and some straight-out digital-dance music.
The hours in between are all that I can truly call mine.
How I spend those hours determines the ultimate worth of my life.
Let me not seem to have lived in vain.
(The Long Version) I began learning to play guitar at 14 - simple open chords, basic strumming patterns, major/minor scales. In 9th grade, my parents moved from East Buttfuck, Nowhere to a small city in upstate NY, where the high school had a 1 year course in electronic music. (Their lab consisted of a couple of Teac A-3440 quad reel-to-reel recorders, and a few EML synthesizers.) They added a second level to the course, introducing video composition the following year. I won a state-sponsored contest for a couple of video compositions I did which got me into the NYS Summer School of the Arts at SUNY Buffalo. The high school was impressed enough to add a third level to the electronic music course. My project that year was to develop a new method of musical notation for electronic music. For my senior year, the high school added a final level in electronic music to allow me to continue my studies. I did some "sound engineering" work for a couple of school theatrical productions and was asked to submit a couple of pieces for the Electronic Body Movement (an interpretive dance group in Albany, NY).
After high school, I lost interest in electronic music (since I no longer had access to the school's studio) so I concentrated on getting better at playing guitar - developing my ability to play by ear, etc. I pretty much did a lot of woodshedding, played in a couple of garage bands doing covers until the early 90s, when I got involved with a band called Blisstree - a cross between shoegazing and jam-band. I honed my skills at programming effects at this time. After the band broke up, I kept in contact with the bassist, occasionally gettting together to jam and try to put together a new band, without success.
About 6 years ago, I started working as a graphic artist (a job that really, really sucks, but pays almost decently). At the same time I discovered e-Bay and started putting together the studio. As I bought more gear, I began to learn more about the process of recording and started teaching myself to play keyboards as well as re-learning what I had forgotten about programming synths.
It's a small world but so many friends and fans to say hello to. This is my own small way to say hi & hope you are safe & well in Your own part of it. Apologies if I can't get your language character set to display.
Best wishes, George
Alien Skin 'a kaleidoscope of electronic melancholia'
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