David Harrow

David Harrow (born 29th June London) is a record producer and multimedia artist.

In the early 80’s, David Harrow could be found as a fledgling performer around art school, various squats in London and the Warehouse Theatre in East Croydon. It was here that the young keyboardist met poet Anne Clark after one of her performances. The two collaborated on her next album Changing Places and would continue to work together on a number of influential songs that have since been considered milestones of that musical era.[1][2]

In 1982 David Harrow wrote and produced his first solo album, The Succession. He soon began performing live with Psychic TV, a psychedelic/punk video art and music group. Harrow began touring extensively in Europe performing both as a solo artist and with Anne Clark as well. In 1983 he wrote and produced music for her album Joined Up Writing, and then relocated to Berlin, where he met his lifelong friend Mike Vamp of the Märtini Brös. Harrow produced Vamp's record Desperado, and followed that up in 1984 with another 12” of his own, called No Easy Targets.

In 1985 he released Sufferhead EP with British vocalist Peter Hope and Bite the Hand that Feeds You with singer Pinkie Maclure. His remixes of Anne Clark's tracks "Sleeper in Metropolis" and "Our Darkness" were released in Germany, and Harrow started producing for German music groups LeningradSandwich and Fougorki.

After working for six months in San Francisco at the request of seminal dance label Razormaid, he worked as in-house musician/producer for acts such as Debora and Sylvester, then relocating to Holland and began working with Jah Wobble Live and recording their album Without Judgement.

In 1987 it was back to London at the height of the acid house movement, and Harrow recorded his final album with Anne Clark, Hopeless Cases. He began performing with "Rubber" Ron Elliston from Black Britain at acid house events around the UK, including the Shoom at London Bridge and Oranges at the Astoria.

The following year, Harrow started working with ONU as one of the many groups signed to the label, and began touring as ONU Soundsystem along with Barmy Army, African Headcharge, Strange Parcels, Dub Syndicate, Jesse Rae and vocalist Gary Clail. Harrow wrote recorded and co-produced tracks for artists such as Lee "Scratch" Perry, Bim Sherman and Mark Stewart, and performed worldwide with all of the above.

Harrow wrote and co-produced Clail's two big hits, "Human Nature" and "Who Pays the Piper", and in 1989 released Radio Morocco as PULSE8 on Nation Records. In 1990 Harrow remixed Depeche Mode’s "Enjoy the Silence" and Candi Stanton’s "You Got the Love" to further critical acclaim.[3]

In 1991, Harrow began working with Andrew Weatherall under the name Bloodsugar; the duo released both remixes (notably of The Orb’s "Toxygene") and original material on Audio Emissions/Sabres of Paradise and secretly under the name Deanne Day (D and A).

1992 Harrow found himself working as a producer for many artists: Caligula, Headless Chickens, ATR, Salmonella Dub

Soon Harrow was signed to Weatherall’s label Sabres of Paradise under the moniker Technova, where he released the epic 12” “Tantra,” followed by the albums Tantric Steps and Transcience. That same year (1993), he performed a legendary party at the London club Blood Sugar, complete with naked dancers, fire eaters and body modification artists. Harrow also found time to collaborate with performance artist Ron Athey and throughout 1994 was still touring widely with ONU Soundsystem.[4]

In 1995, Harrow wrote Billie Ray Martin's worldwide hit, "Your Loving Arms", and began secretly working under the names James Hardway and Magnetic. The following year, he released the first record as James Hardway, Wider Deeper Smoother Shit, and began touring nonstop as James Hardway, which would continue for the next four years.[5]

In 1997 Harrow signed to U.S. label Shadow Records as Magnetic, and in 1998 he released Hardway albums Welcome to the Neon Lounge on Hydrogen Dukebox and Easy Is a Four Letter Word on Shadow Records. The album "A Positive Sweat" followed on label Recordings of Substance in 1999.[6]

In 2000, Harrow relocated to Havana, Cuba and Kingston, Jamaica to begin work on the album Moors and Christians (Hydrogen Dukebox). A total departure from the jazzy drum and bass of his previous release, this new endeavor saw Harrow recording Santerían priests calling the Orishas to life as well as legendary vocalists such as Congo Ashanti Roy.[7]

In 2001, after the death of a close friend Bim Sherman, Harrow headed back to the West Coast of the United States, this time landing in Los Angeles. He soon released Straight from the Fridge as James Hardway, and began building a brand new studio for his new label Workhouse. In 2003 Harrow began scoring music for television and film, including Las Vegas, Sex Lives in LA and The Loaner, and in 2005 Harrow signed to Lunaticworks and released Over Easy as the James Hardway Collective.[8]

2006 Harrow established online label Workhouse Digital. Initially established to release Harrow's back catalogue, Workhouse soon became a showcase for his new recordings and fresh collaboration.

Still in demand as a collaborator, in 2007 Harrow produced Salmonella Dub's album Heal Me for Virgin Records. Harrow and rapper Lord Zen from LA crew The Visionaries worked together to become LVX Collective; the duo released 50.50.10 on Pressure Sound Records later that year. Turning the other direction, Harrow released an ambient experimental work Frozen Poetry under the name Numb and Number.

In 2008, released LA Instrumental as James Hardway on Ubiquity Records, followed by a release Wolf in the Machine on his own Workhouse label with Mirai Kawashima in a collaboration known as Kotodama Network. The following year, Harrow released the second LVX Collective album, LVXDeluxe, as well as the last James Hardway album Snake Eyes (Workhouse).

After his visual projection work at a UCLA’s Summer Nights at Hammer Museum party lead to a large crowd response, Harrow began branching further into multimedia work and the new and exciting realm of video mapping. OICHO was born. A form of spatial media, video mapping projects mutating images, shining hallucinations and brilliant displays of color for a thrilling multidimensional experience of digital art. Not only a moniker for the visual realm, Harrow has also released several EPs as Oicho as well as the 2011 album Downtime.

Discography

[As DAVID HARROW]

ALBUMS:

SINGLES/EP:

[With Anne Clark]

[As JAMES HARDWAY]

ALBUMS:

SINGLES/EP:


[As TECHNOVA]

ALBUMS:

SINGLES:


[As MAGNETIC]

ALBUMS:

SINGLES:

[As HIGH STEPPER]

SINGLE:

[As OICHO]

ALBUMS:

EP:

REMIXES:

References

  1. ↑ Deming, Mark. "Anne Clark - Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  2. ↑ Hammond, Jeff (16 July 2003). "Hard Beats from an Open Mind". The Japan Times. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  3. ↑ Ankeny, Jason. "David Harrow - Artist Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  4. ↑ "Technova - Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  5. ↑ Bush, John. "James Hardway - Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  6. ↑ Flick, Larry (26 February 2000). "Streetbeat/Pandisc's Hardway/Harrow Mixes Drum'n'bass/Jazz". Billboard. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  7. ↑ Mulholland, Garry (13 July 2000). "The Sound of Cigars". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  8. ↑ Cooper, Paul (21 February 2002). "James Hardway - Straight from the Fridge". Pitchfork. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  9. ↑ Muggs, Joe (11 April 2014). "A Darker Frame". FACT. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  10. ↑ "Soundcheck". The Wire (146). April 1996. Retrieved 22 February 2015 – via Exact Editions. (subscription required (help)).
  11. ↑ Pratt, Tim (13 September 2002). "TECHNOVA "Dirty Secrets"". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 22 February 2015 – via HighBeam Research. (subscription required (help)).
  12. ↑ White, Dave (14 September 2004). "Party Arty: Dance Beat Meets High Art in Technova's New CD". The Advocate. Retrieved 22 February 2015 – via HighBeam Research. (subscription required (help)).

External links

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