As One

<a href="spotify:artist:1MndmxV0sNlpokhH4T6Y8W">As One</a> is the primary recording alias of British DJ, musician, label founder, and journalist <a href="spotify:artist:2Dcqwokizs4vSMXCVFqfQs">Kirk Degiorgio</a>. Much of his music has dwelled on a split affinity for <a href="spotify:artist:17dbJyUCrxh4I7iyUrjaHU">Carl Craig</a>/<a href="spotify:artist:0v6N0xV7AfHHKVcgUOjC51">Derrick May</a>-style Detroit gear and an ongoing commitment to the experimental jazz and funk fusions of <a href="spotify:artist:2ZvrvbQNrHKwjT7qfGFFUW">Herbie Hancock</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0kbYTNQb4Pb1rPbbaF0pT4">Miles Davis</a>. While his visionary fusions of Detroit soul and cold, crystalline tech on early albums such as Reflections (1994) and Celestial Soul (1995) earned him a strong reputation as a producer, <a href="spotify:artist:2Dcqwokizs4vSMXCVFqfQs">Degiorgio</a> was equally influential on the label front. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Applied+Rhythmic+Technologies%22">Applied Rhythmic Technologies</a> (<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22A.R.T.%22">A.R.T.</a>) and Op-Art contributed greatly to the birth and continued vitality of the U.K. experimental techno/electronica scenes more frequently credited to larger labels like <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rephlex%22">Rephlex</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warp%22">Warp</a>. His late-'90s and early-2000s material moved progressively to the fringes of techno/jazz fusion, particularly in his increasingly bold keyboard work, highlighted on Planetary Folklore (1997) and 21st Century Soul (2001). Following the vocal-heavy R&B/broken beat excursion Out of the Darkness (2004), he returned to more techno-influenced material with 2005's Elegant Systems. <a href="spotify:artist:2Dcqwokizs4vSMXCVFqfQs">Degiorgio</a> reactivated <a href="spotify:artist:1MndmxV0sNlpokhH4T6Y8W">As One</a> near the end of the 2010s, issuing the full-length Communion in 2019.

After debuting <a href="spotify:artist:1MndmxV0sNlpokhH4T6Y8W">As One</a> on a split EP released by <a href="spotify:artist:66I0uUVKgpOPlEjTiy87nm">B12</a> in 1991, <a href="spotify:artist:2Dcqwokizs4vSMXCVFqfQs">Degiorgio</a> appeared on compilations issued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22A.R.T.%22">A.R.T.</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22New+Electronica%22">New Electronica</a>, and the latter released his full-length debut, Reflections, in 1994. These were followed in quick succession by remix album Reflections on Reflections and the more experimental second full-length Celestial Soul, both in 1995. The more jazz-influenced double-LP The Message in Herbie's Shirts appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Clear%22">Clear</a> in 1996; a CD titled In with Their ARPs, and Moogs, and Jazz and Things compiled tracks from an EP of the same name with the contents of the album. Two other full-lengths appeared in 1997: the abstract techno-funk of The Art of Prophecy (<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Shield+Records%22">Shield Records</a>) and the jazzy broken beat of Planetary Folklore (<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mo+Wax%22">Mo Wax</a>).

Signing to San Franciscan label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ubiquity%22">Ubiquity</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1MndmxV0sNlpokhH4T6Y8W">As One</a> returned in 2001 with 21st Century Soul, then issued the retrospective So Far (So Good)... Twelve Years of Electronic Soul in 2003. Out of the Darkness, a more accessible outing featuring vocalists such as <a href="spotify:artist:0o9k6CmDuy07gP28ov82wp">Jinadu</a> and Paul Randolph, appeared in 2004. Returning to instrumental, analog techno, Elegant Systems appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Versatile+Records%22">Versatile Records</a> in 2005. The brief Planetary Folklore 2 was issued by Italian label Archive in 2006. <a href="spotify:artist:2Dcqwokizs4vSMXCVFqfQs">Degiorgio</a> spent most of the next decade recording under his own name, or other pseudonyms such as Korrupt Data (for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Planet+E%22">Planet E</a>), but he rounded up the majority of his <a href="spotify:artist:1MndmxV0sNlpokhH4T6Y8W">As One</a> discography for digital release with the four-volume As One-Thology series (2013-2014). He resumed releasing <a href="spotify:artist:1MndmxV0sNlpokhH4T6Y8W">As One</a> material in 2018; that year's Sphere EP included a remix by techno godfather <a href="spotify:artist:208EQzx7RmoE2Ng9gF2edh">Juan Atkins</a>. Communion, <a href="spotify:artist:1MndmxV0sNlpokhH4T6Y8W">As One</a>'s first full-length in 13 years, was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22De%3Atuned%22">De:tuned</a> in 2019. ~ Sean Cooper & Andy Kellman, Rovi