Philip Best | |
---|---|
Born | 15 June 1966 |
Nationality | English |
Occupations | |
Years active | 1982–present |
Philip Neil Best (born 15 June 1966) is an English industrial musician, visual artist, and author. A pioneer of power electronics, he formed the band Consumer Electronics in 1982. [1]
Best joined the group Whitehouse, in 1983. After a nine-year hiatus starting in 1984, Best rejoined and remained with the group until departing again in 2008. [2]
In the early 1980s, Best also ran his own DIY label Iphar, releasing compilations of power electronics. Through the circulation of these controversial cassettes he succeeded in promoting the burgeoning extreme noise genre. [3] Among these cassette releases were On to 83, with Gary Mundy. Torture Music by Iphar Clinic, a solo project, and White Power, a fake neo-Nazi compilation album with artists such as Maurizio Bianchi, Sutcliffe Jügend, and Best's other project with Mundy, Consumer Electronics.
Best has been a frequent collaborator with Gary Mundy on projects such as Ramleh and Skullflower. [4] In 1995, under the Consumer Electronics moniker, Best joined forces with Japanese noise musician Masami Akita – along with several Ramleh cohorts – to release Horn of the Goat.
Best continues to tour and release music as Consumer Electronics. The current line up includes Best, Russell Haswell and Best's wife Sarah Froelich. Their most recent LP, Airless Space was released by Harbinger Sound in 2019. [5]
Date | Title | Project | Label |
---|---|---|---|
1982 | Public Attack 3 | Consumer Electronics | (Not on label) |
Leathersex | Iphar | ||
1983 | On To 83 | Male Rape Group | Broken Flag, Iphar |
1995 | Horn Of The Goat | Consumer Electronics / Merzbow | Freek Records |
2007 | Nobody's Ugly | Consumer Electronics | No Fun Productions |
2009 | Crowd Pleaser | Hand To Mouth | |
2014 | Estuary English | Dirter Promotions | |
2015 | Dollhouse Songs | Harbinger Sound | |
2019 | Airless Space |
In 1998, Best published his doctoral thesis at Durham University entitled Apocalypticism in the Fiction of William S. Burroughs, J. G. Ballard and Thomas Pynchon , and later received a doctorate in English literature. [6]
In 2016, a 60-page chapbook of writings by Best was published by Amphetamine Sulphate. [7]
In 2010, a collection of Best's artwork entitled American Campgrounds was published by Creation Books, with a foreword written by Peter Sotos. [8]
In December 2016, Infinity Land Press published Alien Existence, [9] a book of over 200 colour reproductions of original artwork by Best, as well as 40 pages of his creative writings, and an extensive interview conducted by Martin Bladh. [10]
Koninklijke Philips N.V., commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is still in Eindhoven. The company gained its royal honorary title in 1998.
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Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the supply reel containing the tape is placed on a spindle or hub. The end of the tape is manually pulled from the reel, threaded through mechanical guides and over a tape head assembly, and attached by friction to the hub of the second, initially empty takeup reel. Reel-to-reel systems use tape that is 1⁄4, 1⁄2, 1, or 2 inches wide, which normally moves at 3+3⁄4, 7+1⁄2, 15 or 30 inches per second. Domestic consumer machines almost always used 1⁄4 inch (6.35 mm) or narrower tape and many offered slower speeds such as 1+7⁄8 inches per second (4.762 cm/s). All standard tape speeds are derived as a binary submultiple of 30 inches per second.
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