Psykosonik

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Psykosonik
Psykosonik members Daniel Lenz and Paul Sebastien
Psykosonik members Daniel Lenz and Paul Sebastien
Background information
Origin Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Genre(s) Techno
Years active 1992–1997
Label(s) Polystar, TVT, Wax Trax!
Members
Paul Sebastien, Daniel Lenz
Former members
Theodore Beale, Michael Minerk

Psykosonik was an American techno music group.

Contents

[edit] History

Their first album, Psykosonik, was a hard-hitting techno album with cyberpunk-esque lyrics.

Their follow-up album, Unlearn, had a completely different sound. The DJ/techno stylings, aggressive vocals, and sampled guitar riffs were replaced by lush electronic sound scapes and mellow vocals. About half the tracks were instrumentals. The lyrics continued to focus on cyberpunk and extropian themes: Virtual Reality, AI, cybernetics, life extension, and science.

The band's third album, Spiritual Machine, was completed by 1997 but was never released by the band's label, Wax Trax! Records, who were by this time owned by TVT Records. The experience led to the subsequent disbanding of Psykosonik.

Daniel Lenz went on to produce a single album under the band name Hednoize with a new vocalist, Brent Daniels (aka Free). The album saw a bit of a departure for Lenz in regards to the sound and feel of Unlearn. Opting for a more industrial sound, the album was a hard hitting debut. Unfortunately, label support was minimal, involving mainly a website and a handful of LA club shows.

Being at this point tired of record labels, in 2001 Daniel Lenz launched a short lived project called PsykoHed on MP3.com.

Paul Sebastien went on to found Basic Pleasure Model, teaming with Wideband Network founder Caesar Filori.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Members

[edit] Former members

  • Theodore Beale (1992–1993) – composition, lyrics
  • Michael Minerk (1992–1993) – samples, drums

[edit] Studio contributors

  • Doug Schwartz (1993) – mastering
  • David Sears (1993) – engineering, mixing
  • Brent Daniels (1995) – additional programming
  • Tom Garneau (1995) – engineering, mixing

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Title Release date Notes Label
Psykosonik US: 1993-02-02
Japan: 1993-11-01		 US: Wax Trax!/TVT
Japan: Polystar
Unlearn 1995-11-06 Wax Trax!/TVT
Spiritual Machine n/a Unreleased album. Said to be released by Paul Sebastien. Wax Trax!/TVT

[edit] Singles

Song Release date Album Notes Label
"Silicon Jesus" 1993-05-25 Psykosonik Released as four-track vinyl and six-track CD. Wax Trax!/TVT
"Welcome To My Mind" 1993-11-23 Psykosonik Released as five-track vinyl and seven-track CD. Wax Trax!/TVT
"Unlearn" 1995-08-08 Unlearn Released as five-track vinyl and ten-track CD. Wax Trax!/TVT
"Panik Kontrol (PQM's Deephead Pass)" Unknown Mortal Kombat: Annihilation soundtrack Released only as a white label promo. Wax Trax!/TVT

[edit] Movie and Game Soundtracks

Song Release date Title
Various 1993 X-Kaliber 2097|Activision
Various 1994 CyClones|Strategic Simulations, Inc.
"Unlearn (Josh Wink's Live Mix)" 1995 Mortal Kombat
"It Has Begun" 1996 Mortal Kombat: More Kombat
"Panik Kontrol" 1997 Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

[edit] External links

[edit] See also