Hudson Mohawke | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Ross Matthew Birchard |
Born | 11 February 1986 |
Origin | Glasgow, Scotland |
Genres | |
Occupations |
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Instruments | |
Labels | |
Website | hudsonmohawke |
Ross Matthew Birchard (born 11 February 1986), better known by the stage name Hudson Mohawke, is a Scottish producer, composer, and DJ from Glasgow. [6] [7] He is known for his work in 21st century hip-hop and electronic music. A founding member of the UK based record label LuckyMe, [8] his fractured take on hip-hop made him a leading figure in the late-2000s wonky scene. [1] He released his debut album Butter in 2009 on Warp Records. He has followed with the solo albums Lantern (2015) and Cry Sugar (2022), both on Warp.
Birchard is also one-half of the duo TNGHT with Canadian producer Lunice; their eponymous EP was released in 2012. That year, Birchard signed with Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music production team, contributing to the label compilation Cruel Summer (2012) and West's LP Yeezus (2013). He subsequently became an in-demand producer, working with artists such as West, Pusha T, Drake, A$AP Rocky, Lil Wayne, Anohni, and Danny L Harle. [1] In 2022, Birchard's 2011 song "Cbat" became an Internet meme and went viral on social media.
Ross Matthew Birchard was born on 11 February 1986, and was raised in Glasgow, Scotland. He is the son of American actor and singer Paul Birchard. [9] [10]
At the age of 15, Birchard (under the name DJ Itchy) was the youngest UK DMC finalist. [11] [12] His earliest gigs as a club DJ were with Glasgow University's Subcity Radio [13] [14] [15] where he first appeared as part of the culture city kids show and later as part of other shows including Turntable Science with Pro Vinylist Karim and Cloudo's Happy Hardcore show, under the alias DJ Mayhem. [16] During this period, Birchard formed the LuckyMe collective with childhood friends. He adopted the stage name "Hudson Mohawke" after seeing the name engraved on a statue in the hallway of his accommodation. [17] [18] In 2007, Birchard applied to the Red Bull Music Academy and was invited to attend the event in Toronto, [19] [20] where he first met Steve Beckett of Warp Records, who was giving a lecture there, [21] and was to sign Hudson Mohawke two years later. [22]
In addition to his solo work, Hudson Mohawke collaborated with Mike Slott as Heralds of Change, releasing a series of 12" EPs including Show You (2006), Sittin' on the Side (2007), Puzzles (2007) and Secrets (2007) on All City Records. Hudson Mo was also DJ/Producer for the now defunct hip hop group Surface Emp alongside MC's Dom Sum and sometimes 2 Can Dan. [23] Surface Empire released the LuckyMe EP in 2005 on Far Cut Records.
In 2009, Hudson Mohawke signed to Warp Records, despite a very limited track record of official releases; in fact, the bulk of his releases were unofficial tracks and DJ mixes circulated on the Internet, as well as the 2006 mixtape Hudson's Heeters Vol. 1. [1] His first official release to get major notice was entitled "Spotted" on the Rush Hour beat compilation Beat Dimensions Vol 1. In 2008 his 12" EP Ooops! on LuckyMe/Wireblock became an underground sensation, particularly once word spread of his recording contract with Warp. [24] In 2009, Hudson Mohawke released his first studio album, Butter . [25] In that year, he contributed a cover of a Jimi Tenor song, titled "Paint the Stars", to the Warp20 (Recreated) compilation. [26] He would follow with several EPs, including 2011's Satin Panthers. He produced the debut EP for UK band Egyptian Hip Hop at Club Ralph Studios in London, which was released in August 2010. [27] One of his songs, "100hm", has been featured as a track on the video game Grand Theft Auto V , while "Fuse" was featured in Sleeping Dogs and Dirt 3 .
Birchard met Canadian producer Lunice during the first LuckyMe Records tour of North America in 2008, with Hudson Mohawke performing at the Pop Montreal festival and Lunice playing support. [28] Following a successful performance headlining Warp Records' 2012 SXSW showcase, the duo's collaborative project TNGHT debuted their TNGHT EP, released via Warp X LuckyMe on 23 July 2012. [29] [30] [31] TNGHT has performed at multiple venues internationally, including The Opera House, [32] the Coachella music festival [33] and Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg, which featured an appearance by rapper/producer Kanye West during a remix of West's "Cold". [34]
In 2012, Hudson Mohawke began a series of collaborations with Kanye West, resulting in production credits on the GOOD Music label album Cruel Summer . On 17 January 2013, it was announced that Mohawke had officially signed with GOOD Music as a producer, whilst remaining with Warp and LuckyMe as a recording artist. [35] TNGHT announced their hiatus on 27 December 2013. [36] Mohawke co-produced two tracks on West's 2013 album Yeezus ("I Am a God" and "Blood on the Leaves") [1] and contributed to West's 2016 follow-up The Life of Pablo , in addition to working with various other hip hop and pop artists, including Drake, Pusha T, and Future. [37] In 2015, he released his second studio album, Lantern . In 2016, he collaborated with singer Anohni on her 2016 album Hopelessness . Mohawke announced on 26 October 2016 via Twitter that he was creating the original soundtrack for the 2016 video game Watch Dogs 2 titled "Ded Sec" and that Warp Records would release it on 11 November 2016. [38]
In 2017, Birchard made a brief TV appearance in Twin Peaks: The Return as a roadhouse performer. [39] In 2019, Birchard and Lunice reconvened for a second TNGHT EP titled II. In 2020, Birchard released three mixtapes of unreleased archival material dating to his earliest days: B.B.H.E., Poom Gems, and Airborn Lard, [40] which were also collected as the compilation 3PAC. [41] In 2021, he collaborated on Danny L Harle's album Harlecore .
In August 2022, Birchard released his third studio album as Hudson Mohawke, the Warp release Cry Sugar . [40]
In September 2022, Birchard's song "Cbat", from his 2011 EP Satin Panthers, went viral on multiple websites after a Reddit user made a post about how the song's inclusion on his "sex playlist" ruined his relationship. [42] [43] [44]
On 1 December 2023, Birchard released the collaborative debut album L'Ecstasy with Tiga [45] under their moniker Love Minus Communications. [46]
In 2015, Exclaim! wrote that Birchards's music has developed over the course of his career "from a glitch-y, turntablist jitter to a euphoric, multicolored trap-hop pound and everywhere in between." [4] He has received praise for his "genre-smashing" production approach, in which styles of music are "incorporated, manipulated and bounced against each other." [47] [48] In 2009, during Birchard's debut Essential Mix, DJ Pete Tong proclaimed "Hudson Mohawke is doing for hip-hop what the Aphex Twin did for techno". [49] In 2011, The Guardian characterized his trademark sound as "a vivid, psychedelic melange of J Dilla-esque instrumental hip hop, space-age R&B, bass boom and oldskool rave euphoria, garnished with effervescent FX from unexpected sources." [11] [50] Following the formation of TNGHT, Birchard and partner Lunice attempted to strip down their production styles and avoid tracks that were "all over the place". [51] They pioneered the rave subgenre of trap, a style which Birchard called "a kind of parody genre" but which unexpectedly became popular at EDM festivals. [52]
Albums
Mixtapes
Compilations
EPs
Singles
Production work
Remixes
Warp Records is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon. It is currently based in London.
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LuckyMe is a United Kingdom–based record label and design studio specialising in the release of new electronic, hip hop, pop, rock and underground dance music. Referred to as "one of the most innovative and prolific independent record labels of the decade" and acclaimed for "distinctive visual arts projects and collaborations".
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Lunice Fermin Pierre II, better known by his stage name Lunice, is a Canadian record producer and DJ from Montreal. He is one half of the duo TNGHT along with Hudson Mohawke.
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Butter is the debut studio album by Hudson Mohawke, the alias of Scottish musician Ross Birchard. It was released on Warp Records on 26 October 2009, to positive reviews from critics.
My Name Is My Name is the debut studio album by American rapper Pusha T. It was released on October 7, 2013, by GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings. While leading up to the album's announcement, Pusha T released the mixtape Fear of God and the EP Fear of God II: Let Us Pray during 2011, along with collaborating on the GOOD Music's compilation album Cruel Summer. In 2013, he also released another mixtape Wrath of Caine. The album's production was handled primarily by Kanye West, along with several producers, including Pharrell Williams, The-Dream, Hudson Mohawke, Sebastian Sartor, Don Cannon, Swizz Beatz, Rico Beats, Mano and Nottz. It also features guest appearances from Rick Ross, Jeezy, 2 Chainz, Big Sean, Future, Pharrell Williams, Chris Brown and Kendrick Lamar, among others.
TNGHT is a musical duo consisting of Scottish producer Hudson Mohawke and Canadian producer Lunice, formed in 2011. The duo released their self-titled debut EP to positive reviews in 2012. They announced an indefinite hiatus in late 2013, until their return in September 2019.
"Blood on the Leaves" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kanye West from his sixth studio album Yeezus (2013). In the song, West presents his thoughts on how fame can cause the destruction of relationships, while making comparisons of contemporary times to the lynching of African Americans in the United States during the pre-civil rights era. West delivers his vocals through an Auto-Tune processor, like on his 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak. It contains samples of both singer Nina Simone's 1965 rendition of Billie Holiday's song "Strange Fruit", and "R U Ready" by the duo TNGHT, who co-produced the track.
"Chimes" is a song by Scottish artist and producer Hudson Mohawke. The song gained attention after its appearance on the MacBook Air TV ad, as well as after Mohawke's success through the likes of Kanye West and with the TNGHT project.
TNGHT is the self-titled debut extended play of the duo TNGHT, the collaboration of producers Hudson Mohawke and Lunice. Recorded in a London studio in a couple of nights, it was released on the labels Warp and LuckyMe on July 23, 2012.
Cry Sugar is the third studio album by Hudson Mohawke, the alias of Scottish musician Ross Birchard. It was released on 12 August 2022 on Warp Records. It has received generally favorable critical reviews.