Alex Smoke

Performing as: DJ, Live
Labels / City: Hum+Haw, Soma, Vakant / Glasgow, Scotland

Vakant released a new digital compilation called “Family Values” on July 26. The collection will feature mostly brand new tracks by Vakant’s core group of artists, which includes Alex Smoke, Dario Zenker, DeWalta and Nico Purman. The CD also features some older tunes that haven’t been released yet, including lone Wihgnomy Brother Robag Wruhme’s “Kuttenrolch 1996,” [...] Read more..

Alex Smoke new remix for Automaton UK’s EP “British Steel” out on Hum+Haw, July 12, 2010

Automaton UK will release his first EP on Hum + Haw including two seperate remixes by Alex Smoke. Track listing: 01. British Steel 02. British Steel (Alex Smoke Mix 1) 03. British Steel (Alex Smoke Mix 2) 04. Spilt Milk Having decimated ears and minds with his innovative mix of Alex Smoke’s Lux+ Automaton UK here presents his first solo outing on [...] Read more..

Alex Smoke’s live set for Groovebox at Dachstock Reitschule in Bern, May 7, 2010

Listen to Alex Smoke’s 85min live set. Recorded at Dachstock Reitschule in Bern, Switzerland on May 7, 2010. Enjoy! Alex Smoke LIVE Bern 5.10 by alexsmoke Read more..

Marco Nastic invites Alex Smoke, Martinez, Nico Purman and Terence Fixmer to his radio show “Music for Body and Soul” on Belgrades Radio B92 (May 2010)

Get more info and listen to the radio shows and mixesThe radio show “Music for Body and Soul” gets presented by Recon Warriors on Belgrades radio B92. Live on air, Marco Nastic and: May 07 2010: Alex Smoke, Marko Milosavljevic May 14 2010: Martinez, Dejan Milicevic May 21 2010: Terence Fixmer, Marko Milosavljevic May 28 2010: Nico Purman, Dejan Milicevic Listen [...] Read more..

Alex Smoke, live at Klub K4 in Ljubljana on March 26, 2010

Impressions and short interview recording. Watch Alex Somke at Klub K4 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, live on March 26, 2010 Read more..

Alex Smoke’s new album “Lux+”, out on Hum + Haw on March 23, 2010

Alex Smoke returns with ‘Lux’ his eagerly anticipated third album on his own Hum+Haw imprint. Release date: March 23rd, 2010. It has been almost four years since the release of ‘Paradolia’ in 2006 but finally the wait is over. In this time Alex has expanded his studio to incorporate more hardware to fully push the parameters [...] Read more..

Alex Smoke, new EP “Lux+” out on January 25, 2010

Alex Smoke just released his single “Lux+” on Hum and Haw records. New single: Lux+, release date: 25.01.10, CD and digital download. Alex Smoke comes to the fore with his new single “Lux+” in advance of his third album Lux which will be released March 2010. Watch the video on You Tube: Lux+ Read more..

Dates

Biography

Alex Smoke is a new breed of electronic music producer.

While his music may reside on the dancefloor along with his renowned live sets, it also resonates so much further than this. With a production style drawn from a myriad of influences that blur the boundaries between Electronica, Techno, Classical and Hip Hop, Alex Smoke's music evolves in new directions with every new project he undertakes, musically consistently fulfilling, regardless of the listener's preferred genre.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Alex's proficiency in multi-faceted electronic-beat-making is founded securely on a lifetime of classical training, nurtured not least by his mother, by profession a music teacher. At a young age, Alex received a coveted scholarship for Durham Cathedral Choir School, where he excelled on the cello, piano and drums. In fact, the very same voice that adorns his techno tracks, was once heard in Durham Cathedral Choir, albeit an octave higher. After a brief glitch, studying marine biology, Alex soon got back on track, wisely using his student loan to buy his first Apple Mac computer and simple software, giving his imagination the necessary tools to begin producing.

It didn't take long. After his first release in 2002 on local Glasgow label "S.U.D.", Alex was soon snapped up by the legendary dance music label, Soma Records, on which he released his seminal first album, "Incommunicado" to critical acclaim in 2004. This deeply emotive release utilized cutting edge production techniques to give birth to a beguiling new style, which was lauded throughout the house and techno community. Tracks, such as the anthemic "Chicca Wappa" and his own vocal masterpiece "Don't See The Point", announced the arrival of an already accomplished newcomer amongst the heavyweights in the scene. Upcoming Berlin indie label Vakant immediately recognized this young producer's extraordinary talent and provided a platform for a series of EP releases that continued to tantalize enthusiasts not only within the techno-driven German capital, until the keenly anticipated arrival in 2006 of album no. 2, "Paradolia", back on Soma.

Paradolia is defined as the human ability to creatively perceive coherent images in randomness, an unusual word by anyone's standard, but then Mr Smoke is an artist very far from the ordinary. A Rorschach test this was not, more a sonic experiment that explores the parameters of Alex Smoke's potent psyche. "Paradolia" is swollen with ingenuity and experimentation perfectly suspended in an intoxicating symmetry of melancholy and melody. This release, like its predecessor, welds the influence of disparate genres into one homogeneous opus. In "Prima Materia" Alex unites for example two early influences in Chicago House and Classical, detonating a symphonic explosion, unlike any before.

2006 also saw Alex join the elite wall of fame of Soma's mix compilation series, "Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi.". Following in the footsteps of Ewan Pearson and Luciano, Alex was also given the opportunity to portray influences past, present and future on one release with no prescribed genre-related parameters to his selection. Naturally, the Smoke release is a rich journey through eclectic genres and subgenres, from Burial to Basic Channel through to Model 500.

Throughout his relatively short career Alex has become an in-demand remixer, already with remixes for Steve Reich, Depeche Mode, Mylo, Junior Boys, Funk D’Void, Radio 4, Jay Haze and Envoy under his discography belt, to mention but a few. His dynamic live set has, since the first Soma release, been consistently in demand, leaving almost no country on the world map unvisited, nor unimpressed for that matter.

This brings us to the here and now. Or should that be the Hum+Haw? For this is the name of Alex's burgeoning label project with former Soma man Jim Hutchison, which will house his forthcoming releases, as well as nurture young Glaswegian talent and international musical electricians. Again you will try in vain to categorize this youthful label on the brink of their first release. Almost out the other end of the pipeline, is an experimental Hip-Hop collaboration between Alex (providing the electronics) and LA MC, Non, of The Shadow Huntaz fame (delivering the hip and the hop). 2008 will witness Smoke's third studio album and the development of his live set to include more hardware equipment and thereby expand his boundaries and resonance even further.

Expect the unexpected.

Discography

Releases:

2008 Alex Smoke: "F In F EP" . 12" . Vakant . va 022
2008 Alex Smoke: "Vaporub" . 12" . Hum+Haw . hah 001
2007 Alex Smoke: "Hanged Man" . 12" . Vakant . va013
2007 Alex Smoke: "Prima Materia" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 222
2006 Alex Smoke: "Neds" . 12" . Vakant r . vr02
2006 Alex Smoke: "Snider / Make My Day" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 203
2006 Alex Smoke: "Never Want To See You Again" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 197
2006 Alex Smoke: "Paradolia" . 2lp/cd . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA LP/cd 47
2006 Alex Smoke: "Meany" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 193
2005 Alex Smoke: "Shminimal EP" . 12" . Vakant . VA 006.2
2005 Alex Smoke: "Shwingnut EP" . 12" . Vakant . VA 006.1
2005 Alex Smoke: "Lost In Sound" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 184
2005 Alex Smoke: "OK" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 174
2005 Alex Smoke: "Brian's Lung" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 170
2005 Alex Smoke: "Ring.Click.Tink EP" . 12" . Vakant . va 003
2005 Alex Smoke: "Incommunicado" . 2xLP/CD . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA lp/CD 40
2005 Alex Smoke: "Don't See The Point" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 165
2004 Alex Smoke: "Chica Wappa" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 161
2004 Alex Smoke: "Simple Things" . 12" . Vakant . va 001

Remixes:

2008 Croucher & Myles: "Vicious Cycle" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 242
2007 The Unknown Wanderer: "Don't Start Just Finish It" . 12" . Pnuma . Pnuma005
2007 Osaka Ultras: "A Matter Of Time" . 12" . Icon Recordings . icon 031
2006 Tolga Fidan: "Ilsa" . 12" . Vakant . vr02
2006 Depeche Mode: "Martyr" . "Gravel Mix" . 12" . Mute Records Ltd. . 12 BONG 39
2006 Junior Boys: "In The Morning" . 12" . Domino Recording Company Ltd. . RUG237T
2006 Novox: "Coufault" . 12" . Ware . ware63
2006 Phresh 'N' Low: "Body2Beat" . 12" . Deep Freeze Recordings . DF 025
2006 Steve Reich: "Proverb" . 12" . Nonesuch . NS006T
2006 Arne Michel: "Truckstop" . 12" . Lan Muzic . lan004
2006 YAPACC: "Floating" . 12" . Neuton . NEUM 020
2006 Mylo: "Muscle Car" . 12" . Breastfed Recordings . BFD019
2005 Solab: "Shift" . 12" . Seventh Sign Recordings . 7SR009
2005 Alex Under: "Las Bicicletas Son Para El Verano" . 12" . Trapez . Trapez 058
2005 Vector Lovers: "Microtron" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 182
2005 Slam: "Kill The Pain" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 180
2005 Jeremy P. Caulfield: "Grotbox" . 12" . Dumb-Unit . DU 021
2005 Pete Tong & Chris Cox: "More Intensity" . 12" . Saved Records . SAVED002
2005 The Backlash: "Sex Games" . 12" . Surprise Records . Surprise 037
2005 Slam: "Bright Lights Fading" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 168
2005 Sid LeRock: "Close Again" . 12" . Ladomat 2000 . LADO 2170-0
2005 André Kraml: "Safari" . 12" . Crosstown Rebels . CRM 014
2005 Radio 4: "Transmission" . 10" . City Slang . CS20243-1
2004 Funk D'Void: "Way Up High" . 12" . Soma Quality Recordings . SOMA 148R