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For
over fifteen years, Orphx has been creating and exploring a grey
area between minimal techno, noise, and electro-acoustic music.
Using an assortment of synthesizers, samplers, feedback systems, and
various homemade instruments, Orphx draws upon the darker fringes of
techno, electro and dub, combining these elements with the
experimental aesthetics of early industrial music.
The
project began in 1993 as a trio consisting of artists Richard Oddie,
Christina Sealey and Aron West. Early recordings and live
performances used primitive equipment to produce psychedelic
noisescapes. West left the group in 1995 to focus attention on noise
project Tropism with collaborator Johnny Dark, while Oddie and
Sealey began incorporating more rhythmic structural elements into
Orphx.
Orphx has since gained a substantial international
following as one of the pioneering acts within the European
"rhythmic noise" scene, while making increasingly strong
connections with like-minded artists on the experimental fringes of
techno and electro. Oddie and Sealey have performed in numerous
countries around the world, appearing alongside artists such as Alva
Noto, Byetone, Hakim Bey, Esplendor Geometrico, Funkstorung, Istvan
Kantor, Pan Sonic, Polmo Polpo, Venetian Snares, Vromb and many
others. Oddie and Sealey have also collaborated on numerous
audio/visual projects and exhibitions related to their musical
output.
Orphx has released a number of influential albums
and singles since the mid 1990s, combining elements of techno with
power electronics (Fragmentation, 1996; Vita Mediativa, 1998) and
electro-acoustic soundscapes inspired by “acoustic ecology” (The
Living Tissue, 2001; Other Voices, 2002). More recent releases
combine all of these approaches into new hybrids of synthetic /
organic sound (Circuitbreaking, 2004; Insurgent Flows, 2005, Teletai
2008). The Division 12" on Sonic Groove (2009) marks a new
phase for the project, developing their unique sound and further
blurring the boundaries between techno, industrial and dub.
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