Spectre (musician)

Spectre
Birth name Skiz Fernando
Also known as The Eye, The Ill Saint, Minister Fernando, Wordsound I-Powa, Slotek
Genres Illbient, Hip hop, Trip hop
Years active mid-1990s–present
Labels Wordsound

Spectre is Skiz Fernando, head of the Wordsound label, in his record producer, rapper and electronica artist persona.

Contents

Career

He is known for dark, brooding compositions inspired by illbient, trip hop, industrial music, and horror films, and has been described as "the Nosferatu of underground horrorcore".[1] His first album was The Illness (1995), which drew comparisons with the Wu-Tang Clan and Lee "Scratch" Perry,[2] and cemented his reputation in the musical community, and was rated at number 29 on music critic Piero Scaruffi's list of "Best hip-hop albums of all times".,[3] with Scaruffi describing Spectre's first three albums as "the hip-hop equivalent of a William Blake poem".[4] He soon began collaborating with Prince Paul (on his Psychoanalysis album), Techno Animal (Vs Reality), Sensational (on Spectre's 2001 album Parts Unknown), and others.[1][4]

Spectre also released a 90 minute mixtape, RuffKutz, which showcased his new label, Black Hoodz, and featured tracks by Dr. Israel, Sensational, Mr. Dead, and the Jungle Brothers. His second album, The Second Coming was released in 1998, with a third, The End following in 2000.[1]

Psychic Wars was released in 2003, with reviewer Mason Jones commenting "Spectre's world is a dark, dank back alley, with echoes of doom-laden bass pulses and the distant clanks and thuds of a factory on the outskirts of town".[5] German magazine Skug described the album as "Gnackwat for the brain cells".[6] The album featured vocals from Honeychild and was mixed by Pere Ubu's Tony Maimone.[7]

Crooked

In 2000 while visiting family in Sri Lanka, Fernando wrote the script for a movie called Crooked. The film was shot in 25 days in April 2001 then edited and put through post production through the summer and winter of the same year. It was released on the Wordsound label as a soundtrack and a two disc DVD set in 2002.[8]

Other aliases

Discography

Title Release date
The Illness 1995
The Second Coming 1997
The End 1999
Parts Unknown 2001
Psychic Wars 2003
Retrospectre 2004
Transcendent 2006
Internal Dynasty 2008

Film

Several tracks from The Illness and The Second Coming were used in the film The Mindscape of Alan Moore.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c Bush, John "Spectre Biography", Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation (also published in All Music Guide to Hip-hop By Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, John Bush, Backbeat Books, 2003, ISBN 0879307595, 9780879307592)
  2. ^ Bush, John "Spectre - The Illness" (review), Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation
  3. ^ Scaruffi, Piero "Best hip-hop albums of all times"
  4. ^ a b Scaruffi, Piero "Spectre", The History of Rock Music
  5. ^ Jones, Mason (2003) "Dark Beats and Dank Sounds From the Other Side" (Psychic Wars review), Dusted
  6. ^ Deisl, Heinrich (2003) "Spectre / Mentol Nomad", Skug, Issue #55
  7. ^ Anderson, Rick "Spectre - Psychic Wars" (review), Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation
  8. ^ Bret McCabe"Wordsound and Vision". Baltimore CityPaper. 2002-05-29. http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=7157. 
  9. ^ The Mindscape of Alan Moore at allmovie

External links