Silicon Scally

Silicon Scally is the moniker <a href="spotify:artist:6g7KhV5p6W6oK0gZJkZXZW">Carl A. Finlow</a> reserves for his purest electro material, mainly eschewing the new wave-influenced vocals and more club-friendly rhythms of his work as <a href="spotify:artist:52YND4RXvWLXNyYgK7Kodx">Random Factor</a> and under his own name. Succeeding his short-lived <a href="spotify:artist:0HTQgPsZaXnKaxo1HFafVX">Voice Stealer</a> alias from the late '90s, Silicon Scally debuted in 1998 with the album Electrocide, and remained one of <a href="spotify:artist:6g7KhV5p6W6oK0gZJkZXZW">Finlow</a>'s most productive monikers, issuing albums like 2007's Bioroid and 2022's Field Lines.

<a href="spotify:artist:6g7KhV5p6W6oK0gZJkZXZW">Finlow</a> was born in Liverpool in 1970. Inspired by vintage electronic artists like Tomita, he started making computer-based music as a teenager, and began releasing records in the early '90s, after moving to Leeds. One of his earliest productions was Circle City's "Moments of Inertia," a progressive house single released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warp%22">Warp</a> in 1993. He formed a long-lasting partnership with Leeds-based DJ <a href="spotify:artist:3GfY5Rtioe0sfZrwpyFdFA">Ralph Lawson</a>, founder of the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%2220%3A20+Vision%22">20:20 Vision</a> label and resident at Back to Basics, and the two have produced music together as Urban Farmers, Wolf n' Flow, and several other projects. Additionally, <a href="spotify:artist:6g7KhV5p6W6oK0gZJkZXZW">Finlow</a> worked with Daz Quayle as Black Labs during the mid-'90s, and the two later produced more IDM-leaning work as Scarletron and IL.EK.TRO. <a href="spotify:artist:6g7KhV5p6W6oK0gZJkZXZW">Finlow</a>'s first major solo project was <a href="spotify:artist:52YND4RXvWLXNyYgK7Kodx">Random Factor</a>, which debuted in 1994 with the ambient/downtempo full-length Purist Images from Conceptual Reality. <a href="spotify:artist:6g7KhV5p6W6oK0gZJkZXZW">Finlow</a> debuted his <a href="spotify:artist:0HTQgPsZaXnKaxo1HFafVX">Voice Stealer</a> alias with 1997's All-Electric House, an acclaimed album that influenced numerous modern electro producers. He followed it with the 1998 EP Electromotive Force, then dropped the alias in favor of Silicon Scally, which first surfaced with 1998's Electrocide.

While <a href="spotify:artist:6g7KhV5p6W6oK0gZJkZXZW">Finlow</a>'s work as <a href="spotify:artist:52YND4RXvWLXNyYgK7Kodx">Random Factor</a> moved into more of a song-driven, new wave-influenced style, he largely kept his Silicon Scally work free of vocals, exploring more alien terrain akin to artists like <a href="spotify:artist:3KcV1kKG7Y0Gq7xPAGVjkZ">Drexciya</a>. The 2000 EP Curvature preceded 2001's The Silent Years, his first release on New York's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Satamile+Records%22">Satamile Records</a>, and a split EP with Kalamazoo-based techno producer <a href="spotify:artist:0mKM1VwswI5OjQKQzRKlLm">Jay Denham</a>. Mr. Machine, Silicon Scally's second album, was released in 2002 by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22SCSI-AV%22">SCSI-AV</a>, which also issued the project's debut. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Satamile%22">Satamile</a> released the next two albums, 2005's Dark Matter and 2007's Bioroid. Silicon Scally digitally self-issued 2011's Unreleased, the 2013 EP Augment, and the 2016 full-length Machine Bias. A collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:4v1u81WJkFLJaowYGsTdFs">Sync 24</a> (on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cultivated+Electronics%22">Cultivated Electronics</a>) appeared in 2016, and Innerspace Records released a split EP between Silicon Scally and <a href="spotify:artist:6S6fEZH25vQomQq34jAObM">Morphology</a> in 2017. The acid-leaning Live @ Scand was issued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Electrix+Records%22">Electrix Records</a> in 2018.

Silicon Scally first appeared on braindance/electro label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Central+Processing+Unit%22">Central Processing Unit</a> with 2018's Projections EP, followed by 2019's Cobalt Blue, and Skoda Banger was issued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cultivated+Electronics%22">Cultivated Electronics</a>. The 15-track full-length Crushed was digitally self-released; <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%2220%3A20+Vision%22">20:20 Vision</a> later released an EP of tracks taken from the album. Cymatics Operator, a split EP with Telephasycx!, was released by Rator Mute in early 2020. Silicon Scally continued issuing music on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22CPU%22">CPU</a>, with the EPs Dormant (2020) and Revelations (2021) followed by the 2022 full-length Field Lines. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi