Mikey Young

Though he's been part of two groundbreaking groups -- the high-energy garage punk combo <a href="spotify:artist:6EBtwTGHBGlCKqIvjUwLkW">Eddy Current Suppression Ring</a> and the more synth-informed <a href="spotify:artist:5vjPLkDLdB76i8EO1PFOT6">Total Control</a> -- Melbourne, Australia-based Mikey Young is probably best known for his skills engineering and mastering albums from seemingly every cool record to emerge from his native country -- plus many others from around the world -- in the 2010s. At the same time, Young was working at home on avant synth pop songs and bubbling ambient pop pieces, many of which were collected on 2017's You Feelin' Me? and Your Move, Vol. 1.

<a href="spotify:artist:6EBtwTGHBGlCKqIvjUwLkW">Eddy Current Suppression Ring</a> formed in 2003, and Young played guitar in the band under the name Eddy Current. They spent the rest of the decade pounding out their reductive and powerful take on garage punk, releasing albums on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Goner%22">Goner</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Shock%22">Shock</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mexican+Summer%22">Mexican Summer</a> before breaking up in the early 2010s. During that span, Young also played with the <a href="spotify:artist:30PZDW0i0VatBqiY2bOyqp">Ooga Boogas</a> and Brain Children while also honing his engineering and mastering skills. Groups like the <a href="spotify:artist:7EwSG0OH30jspplvHRluLM">UV Race</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6TDNRppZUK7nDRS7vOc9OW">Deaf Wish</a>, the <a href="spotify:artist:4vkIW79PRnJM8PNylIMTQB">Twerps</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:31r6a2ZW19LmdsA52AOxsb">Fabulous Diamonds</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:01Jsi7Q2a1GdLvNShahaj1">Royal Headache</a>, and countless others started lining up for his services thanks to the clean and powerful sounds he was able to capture.

While <a href="spotify:artist:6EBtwTGHBGlCKqIvjUwLkW">Eddy Current Suppression Ring</a> was still playing, Young began working with <a href="spotify:artist:2vSYTyCUJghDirhxBQIIJZ">David West</a> in the group <a href="spotify:artist:5vjPLkDLdB76i8EO1PFOT6">Total Control</a>. They released the seminal avant synth punk LP Henge Beat in 2011, then a series of singles and the Typical System album in 2014. Young and <a href="spotify:artist:2vSYTyCUJghDirhxBQIIJZ">West</a> also joined up for the soundtrack synth project <a href="spotify:artist:6afFnfzJ7z7j933tEZUUGp">Lace Curtains</a> to release singles on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22DFA%22">DFA</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mexican+Summer%22">Mexican Summer</a> in 2013 and 2014.

Around this time, Young ramped up his mastering work and became a household name to garage punk fans who read liner notes closely, his name on the jacket being something of a trademark of quality. He also was at home working on <a href="spotify:artist:1BGN1IdyiSR0ZYrkoKNchl">Tangerine Dream</a>- and <a href="spotify:artist:7MSUfLeTdDEoZiJPDSBXgi">Brian Eno</a>-influenced instrumental synth pieces that ranged from long and ambient to short and catchy. In 2017, the Hobbies Galore label issued You Feelin' Me?, a collection of songs recorded between 2013 and 2017; later in the year, Young's first proper solo album -- titled Your Move, Vol. 1 -- was issued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Moniker+Records%22">Moniker Records</a>. Young stayed as busy as ever behind the scenes for the next few years, but stepped into the spotlight a little in late 2019 when <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Castle+Face%22">Castle Face</a> reissued You Feelin' Me? ~ Tim Sendra & Fred Thomas