Andrew Sega

Andrew Sega

Andrew Sega with Iris, Seattle 2008.
Background information
Birth name Andrew Gregory Sega
Also known as Necros, Sorcen, The Alpha Conspiracy, XYZZY
Born May 20, 1975
Origin Austin, Texas
Genres Electronica, electropop, ambient, electronic rock, IDM, indietronica
Occupation(s) Composer, musician, software engineer, game designer
Instruments Keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, bass clarinet, vocals
Years active 1993–present
Labels Diffusion Records
Associated acts Iris, Stromkern, Straylight Productions, Alexander Brandon, Hellven, Kosmic Free Music Foundation, Psychic Monks, Five Musicians, Low Technicians, CTRL, Julia Beyer, The Mighty Chouffe
Website Alpha Conspiracy

Andrew Gregory Sega (born May 20, 1975),[1] also known as Necros, is an American musician best known for tracking modules in the 1990s demoscene as well as for composing music for several well-known video games. He is currently part of the group Iris and a live member of Stromkern, and has his own recording label known as Diffusion Records.

Sega's main solo project is known as The Alpha Conspiracy.

Biography

Andrew Sega was born on May 20, 1975 in Providence, Rhode Island and lived the majority of his young life in Upstate New York. His interest in music began when he was 7 years old, when he started playing and experimenting with an electronic organ he had in his house. He later started taking lessons with an organist from a Polish church in Rome, New York, where he learned almost exclusively baroque music. Later in high school he learned to play other instruments, including bass clarinet and piano.[2]

Sega's first records were from artists such as Men at Work, Genesis, and Fleetwood Mac. He discovered trackers in his first year of college (1993) from a friend, who showed him Future Crew's Unreal demo. Sega was amazed with how good the music sounded. He eventually discovered FastTracker 1.0, and began writing MOD music for the first time.[3] His first demo group was Psychic Monks. Through the mid-1990s he contributed music to various demo and music groups, and music disks such as Epidemic (1994), featuring other noted tracker musicians like Purple Motion and Skaven.[4]

Sega later helped form the legendary tracking group Five Musicians, which featured other notable figures, such as Jeroen Tel, Basehead and Hunz. He was also a member of German demogroup Legend Design, and iCE. Sega programmed and/or composed music for several demoscene productions, such as the NAID '95 demo Eden and 1996 demo Babylon.[4] His composition, "Ascent of the Cloud Eagle", won the first place at NAID '95. In a 1998 interview, Sega declared that he had composed around four hundred finished songs.[3]

He gradually left demoscene behind and started making music for video games, beginning with little known titles such as In Pursuit of Greed, Iron Seed and Xixit, then moving on to Origin Systems' Crusader series, where he worked as a software engineer and composer. Sega was a founding member of the video game music production company Straylight Productions, contributing tracks to the first-person shooters Unreal and Unreal Tournament.[2][5] Later, he joined Digital Anvil[6] (now a part of Microsoft Game Studios), and worked as a programmer and musician on Freelancer.[7] In 2006 he founded Diffusion Games, a gaming company which focuses on exploring emotional and social aspects of interactivity.[8]

In 2001, Sega founded The Alpha Conspiracy, and released two studio albums, Cipher (2001) and Aura (2004), and a split EP with Low Technicians, Forward Rewinding (2002). He also founded Diffusion Records, an independent record label through which he released The Alpha Conspiracy debut album. Gradually, Diffusion Records became a full-featured label, releasing albums by Iris, CTRL, Low Technicians, and Kilowatts and Vanek.[9]

Sega was introduced to Iris in 2001. He started working on several test tracks with Reagan Jones before becoming an official member in 2002.[10]

Sega is also a live member of industrial hip hop group Stromkern. As of 2011, he was working on a dark electropop side-project with Julia Beyer (Chandeen, Technoir).[2] In 2012 Sega and Dan Clark from Stromkern teamed up under the name The Mighty Chouffe and released an EP, The West Town. In 2013 he released Obelus, the debut album from his new side-project XYZZY.

Sega's influences include Underworld, μ-Ziq, Aphex Twin, Radiohead, Orbital, Fluke, The Prodigy, Hybrid, Mouse on Mars, Depeche Mode, Rush, Genesis, XTC, Public Enemy, Imogen Heap, and The Chemical Brothers, among others.[11][12][13] He described alternative rock, folk, techno, ambient, jazz, and synthpop as his favorite genres, but noted that he tries to avoid the categorization of music.[3]

Sega studied computer science and philosophy at Stony Brook University.[14] Throughout the years, he has worked primarily as a full-time software engineer for video games.

Video game credits

Andrew Sega has composed music for the following video games:

Discography

Necros

The Alpha Conspiracy

Iris

The Mighty Chouffe

XYZZY

References

  1. ↑ "Artist: Andrew Sega – Composer". OverClocked ReMix. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Augustini, Petrit (July 19, 2011). "Andrew "Necros" Sega Interview". necros.gibdon.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Warner, Glen (November 1998). "Interview With Andrew Sega". Static Line. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gabel, Tomer (November 28, 1999). "Andrew G. Sega". MobyGames. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  5. ↑ Bezeau, François (November 2007). "Interview with Alexander Brandon". Game Music Online. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  6. ↑ Leonard, Andrew (April 29, 1999). "Mod love: With their ears, their computers and a little code, 'mod trackers' build their own worlds of sound", Salon. Retrieved 2010-01-26.
  7. ↑ "Freelancer – behind the scenes *HQ*". YouTube. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  8. ↑ "Titan Gaming Incorporated". Xfire.com. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  9. ↑ "Diffusion Records – CDs and Vinyl at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  10. ↑ "Iris – The future of synthpop is assured". Side-Line. January 16, 2004. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  11. ↑ Fanale, Matt (January 12, 2009). "Iris: an interview with Andrew Sega and Reagan Jones". Connexion Bizarre. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Titan Gaming Incorporated". Xfire.com. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  13. ↑ "the alpha conspiracy | Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Releases, Photos, Videos". Myspace. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  14. ↑ "Andrew Sega's profile at LinkedIn". LinkedIn. Retrieved May 11, 2014.

External links

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