Russell Haswell

Describing himself as a "multidisciplinary artist," Russell Haswell has created conceptual art, sculptures, and videos in addition to performances and recordings ranging from harsh computer-generated noise and glitch to industrial and experimental techno. He has collaborated extensively with numerous artists from the experimental music and techno worlds, ranging from <a href="spotify:artist:7jqoL0W1alse5d8DCU3dGl">Florian Hecker</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5UezsklPScipW64XJm7qql">Masami Akita</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:5UezsklPScipW64XJm7qql">Merzbow</a>) to <a href="spotify:artist:4erwZm1JybuSPTUg5Bu7nT">Regis</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6jeKkBjseBOCCmqBvnhSkt">Powell</a>. He has also participated in collaborative projects such as <a href="spotify:artist:3Ozlk0QQs9GxlkSlfyIkVs">Consumer Electronics</a>, Senssurround Orchestra, and <a href="spotify:artist:6WH1V41LwGDGmlPUhSZLHO">Autechre</a> offshoot <a href="spotify:artist:15gVTrdUtcXOz3utK1GPp2">Gescom</a>.

Born in Coventry in 1970, Haswell first emerged in the early '90s engineering recordings on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mute%22">Mute</a>, and occasionally contributing to albums by the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:3rmHfhqEmC3pO89AMSP7Wt">Simon Fisher Turner</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4yr28XHlxD78C3diMbOsTs">Holger Hiller</a>. He appeared on <a href="spotify:artist:5UezsklPScipW64XJm7qql">Merzbow</a>'s remix album Scumtron in 1997, and collaborated with <a href="spotify:artist:51OsWxffz3X2rckImRfoN9">Akita</a> (along with Reiko Azuma and Tetsuo Sakaibara) on a 1997 EP titled Ich Schmitt Mich in Den Finger, released by Austrian label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mego%22">Mego</a>. The label released Haswell's first full-length CD, Live Salvage 1997-2000, in 2001, and the release received an Honorable Mention for Digital Musics from Prix Ars Electronica. In 2002, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warp+Records%22">Warp Records</a> release Haswell and <a href="spotify:artist:51OsWxffz3X2rckImRfoN9">Akita</a>'s collaborative noise album Satanstornade, much to the alarm of anyone expecting techno or IDM. Haswell spent much of the decade working on conceptual projects, curating events, and collaborating with <a href="spotify:artist:7jqoL0W1alse5d8DCU3dGl">Florian Hecker</a>, with whom he created music utilizing <a href="spotify:artist:399s62PfwKlLnrLvBjWFYB">Iannis Xenakis</a>' UPIC Music Composing System. The two recorded several sessions together that were eventually released on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner+Classics+%26+Jazz%22">Warner Classics & Jazz</a> (Blackest Ever Black), <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warp%22">Warp</a> (UPIC Warp Tracks), and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Editions+Mego%22">Editions Mego</a> (Kanal Gendyn). Haswell also curated two events for London's All Tomorrow's Parties organization, which featured performances by <a href="spotify:artist:6kBDZFXuLrZgHnvmPu9NsG">Aphex Twin</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7ICtxa8q3pHVKADkZ1nzsv">Mark Stewart + the Maffia</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5ipQlfnpRCtyOuhYqvPvQ8">Robert Hood</a>, and many others.

Haswell returned to releasing solo material in 2008, beginning with Second Live Salvage on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Editions+Mego%22">Editions Mego</a>. The following year, the label issued Wild Tracks, an album of unedited recordings of insects, airplanes, wind, and other non-musical sounds. A double CD of experiments and additional unedited recordings titled Value + Bonus appeared on <a href="spotify:artist:7hgLF6uXImSKj9iuXblx6y">Carlos Giffoni</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22No+Fun+Productions%22">No Fun Productions</a> in 2010. Haswell's acid techno experiment Acid No!se Synthesis and multi-channel noise LP/DVD In It (Immersive Live Salvage) both arrived on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Editions+Mego%22">Editions Mego</a> in 2011. Another live collection, Scandinavian Parts (Immersive Live Salvage Supplement), appeared on Sweden's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22iDEAL+Recordings%22">iDEAL Recordings</a> in 2012. Three more releases exploring Haswell's techno and experimental influences appeared that year: 5" Vinyl Series LP and Remixed on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Downwards%22">Downwards</a> and Factual on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Editions+Mego%22">Editions Mego</a>. In 2013, Haswell collaborated with <a href="spotify:artist:4erwZm1JybuSPTUg5Bu7nT">Regis</a> (Karl O'Connor) for a project called Concrete Fence; the duo's New Release (1) EP on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22PAN%22">PAN</a> provided a more solid techno framework for Haswell's noise experiments. Also during the year, Convulsive Threshold: Collaborative Work for MP3 Deviations, an LP of live recordings with Japanese glitch pioneer <a href="spotify:artist:452pwHumVmgYOV4tLv1F7N">Yasunao Tone</a>, was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Editions+Mego%22">Editions Mego</a>.

Haswell continued to straddle the techno and noise worlds with his 2014 releases. Electroacoustic Sludge Dither Transformation Smear Grind Decomposition nO!se File Exchange Mega Edit, a double CD of intense noise collages assembled by Haswell and Japanese artist <a href="spotify:artist:7Jt1FLVprvEjq0UuwkhFSf">Pain Jerk</a>, appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Editions+Mego%22">Editions Mego</a>, and LP Conceptual nO!se was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bocian+Records%22">Bocian Records</a>. The more techno-centric but still harsh and uncompromising Double A 12" and 37 Minute Workout LP both appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Diagonal%22">Diagonal</a>. In September of 2015, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Editions+Mego%22">Editions Mego</a> released Haswell's "Tongue Dancer '85" single, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Diagonal%22">Diagonal</a> issued As Sure as Night Follows Day; both releases emphasized beats more than any of his previous recordings, but were still heavily abstracted, deconstructed variations on techno. <a href="spotify:artist:6WH1V41LwGDGmlPUhSZLHO">Autechre</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6jeKkBjseBOCCmqBvnhSkt">Powell</a>, and Detroit's <a href="spotify:artist:7vZgYqMEApgWpMpXMSJj1o">DJ Stingray</a> contributed to As Sure as Night Follows Day: Remixes, released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Diagonal%22">Diagonal</a> at the end of 2015. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi