the artificial arm

Growing up in Dedworth Windsor, Andy, like most kids of his generation, grew up hearing many different types of music, such as funk, 80s ska, new-wave, electro/hip-hop, House and more. But it was the early UK electro/hip-hop scene around 83, that really got him hooked.

By the beginning of the 90s Andy became a little nostalgic for all things related to the 'old school' hip-hop scene. From this point on he got back into the 'futurist' electro sound. He dug out and started listening to his old hip-hop tapes such as the Street Sound electro compilations, and they did indeed sound FRESH once again.

“Electro was almost like a dirty word at this point” Andy says, “not at all fashionable like it has become now. I used to listen to leftfield radio shows like ‘Coldcut Solid Steel’ where you would hear hints of new school electro”.

Andy was also very much into the whole funk and ‘rare-groove’ scene at the time, so it was more the idea behind electro, rather than the eighties revival side of things, which interested him, as futuristic synth funk.

Andy set out on almost a mission to make this style of music, as it did not seem to exist in a more up to date form. He started collecting old equipment to try and get the authentic sound but still make it relevant to the modern generation.

“It was trial and error really, as pre internet it was hard to find out what equipment was used back in the day. I bought a TR 808 drum machine in the early 90s but I had my first release in 2003, on Orson Records, so getting a finished sound, and having a record out did not come easily or quickly”.

Andy draws his influences from everywhere. He listens to many kinds of music but he is particularly partial to 60s and 70s funk and soul music, new-wave and obviously electro!

“I think the word electro means different things to different people, depending on your generation maybe. The generation before me see it as the European and nu-romantic type sound, my generation say it's the early hip hop sound of electro-funk, and a new generation see it as something else again”

“I feel electro is really a type of sound, characterized by analogue synthesizers and vintage drum machines etc, as opposed to a type of music these days. This is why I refer to my music as electro-funk, as funk music is the basis of my sound.

Andy goes by the name of 'The Artificial Arm', as simply, he does indeed wear an artificial arm. He believes this is not something to hide as he feels it is relevant to his music. Being disabled, he has always had to approach music in a different way, and maybe this shapes his sound, to a certain extent.

“If you were to ask me what I would like to achieve with my music, it would be to make soulful futuristic sounding funk music, with the accent on fun”

production details

Artificial Arm tracks are written and produced from scratch by Andrew Shaw and are generally sample free. All synth sounds are programmed by Andy and in some cases even drum sounds are also made on synthesizers. Andy is not keen on software, computers and even the internet, for this reason he uses hardware equipment as he likes the ‘machine like’ hands on access, despite their limitations.