Andrez Bergen

Andrez Bergen

Andrez Bergen
Born Andrew Bergen
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Residence Tokyo, Japan
Other names Little Nobody, Funk Gadget, Slam-Dunk Ninja, et al.
Occupation Journalist
Years active 1996–present
Organization IF? Records, IF? Commix
Known for Music composition and production, writing, journalism, comic art, comic label and record label owner
Notable work Pop Tart, Action Hero
Style Dada, Gothic, Hardboiled, Post-punk, Pulp, Industrial, Experimental, Electronic
Home town Melbourne, Australia
Spouse(s) Yoko Umehara
Children Cocoa Bergen
Website andrezbergen.wordpress.com

Andrez Bergen is an Australian musician, author, journalist, comic artist, and comic label and record label owner, who uses Little Nobody as his primary electronic music production moniker.

Early life

Bergen was born in Melbourne, Australia[1] as "Andrew Bergen".[2] Bergen attended Melbourne High School and earned a degree at the University of Melbourne.[3]

Music

Bergen composes and produces his own music under multiple monikers, including Little Nobody, Schlock Tactile, DJ Fodder, Curvaceous Crustacean, Slam-dunk Ninja, Atomic Autocrac vs Admiral Anderision, Dick Drone and the LN Elektronische Ensemble, Little Nobody, Funk Gadget, Dick Drone, Nana Mouskouri’s Spectacles, and about 20 other aliases."[2]

Little Nobody

Bergen cites the 1970s industrial sounds and ideology of Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire as significant influences for his work as Little Nobody: "Since about 15 years ago, when I first heard their album The Voice of America.[4] In 1998, he released his first full-length Little Nobody album, titled Pop Tart.

Andrez Bergen in 2005

Three years later, the second Little Nobody album Action Hero was one of the four "Best Album of the Year" final nominees for 3D World's 2001 Australian Dance Music Awards, of which The Avalanches were the eventual winner. That year, his remix EP of Bare, a collaboration with vocalist Marcella Brassett, was also selected as "Single of the Week" in Melbourne's Beat magazine by reviewer Andrew Mast.[5] Little Nobody also appeared on the second compilation of Si Begg's cut-up beat Noodles Discotheque series in 2001.

Writing

In a March 2014 interview, Bergen stated that "writing fiction, especially via novels, remains the overall joy" in his creative life.[6]

In 2011, he published two novels: One Hundred Years of Vicissitude (2012) and Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa? (2013) through Perfect Edge Books. Following the publication of Who Is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?, Katy O'Dowd wrote on the "In Glorious Technicolor" blog: "Andrez Bergen must never sleep – what with the dayjob, fatherhood, and truly inspiring creative output. I don’t know how he does it, but he does, and still finds the time to be a thoroughly decent fella."[2]

Bergen's fourth novel, Depth Charging Ice Planet Goth, was released on 25 July 2014, and his fifth novel—based on his Roy & Suzie comic series—was published in December 2015 by Roundfire Books.[7]

IF? Commix

Bergen launched the IF? Commix publishing label in October 2013.[8]

Other work

Bergen worked on translating and adapting the scripts for feature films by Mamoru Oshii, Kazuchika Kise and Naoyoshi Shiotani.[1] In March 2014, Bergen said that he would be enthused by an offer to write for film or television: "as a journalist I write about movies and anime — so it would be a logical step."[6] When asked to name his favourite film in August 2013, Bergen explained that the decision was a difficult one and listed a series of films that he would like to mould together: Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon, Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actress and Norman Jewison’s Rollerball.[2]

Influences

When asked in 2014 about sources of inspiration, Bergen replied: "Everywhere? From anything? My daughter is inspiring, my wife, my friends. Living in Japan, and my memories of Australia. From listening to particular music and hearing particular sounds." Bergen stated that he "always loved the sense of mischief as well as iconoclasm and inventiveness" of the Dada art movement, including the work of Salvador Dali, while he named Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" (1917) as his favorite art piece in 2014.[8]

In terms of music, Bergen stated that his favourite album is either Cabaret Voltaire’s Voice of America (1980) or David Bowie’s collaboration with Brian Eno on Heroes (1977). In revealing his most significant musical references, Bergen also spoke of his preference for the vinyl format, explaining that his favourite albums would need to be "played on vinyl for the extra added crackle and pop".[2]

Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett are Bergen's foremost literary "heroes"—in 2013 Bergen cited Chandler’s The Big Sleep and Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon as his all-time favorite books. However, throughout Bergen's writing career he has also identified numerous artists who have influenced his short story, comic, novel and graphic novel work: Michael Chabon, Shuichi Yoshida, Jedediah Berry, Heath Lowrance, Josh Stallings, Nicholas Christopher, Ryu Murakami, Katsuhiro Otomo, Will Eisner, Hergé, Alan Moore, Ed Brubaker, Jack Kirby ("I grew up at the altar of Jack Kirby"), Jim Steranko, Steve Ditko, Steve Epting, Yukito Kishiro, Tarpé Mills, Frank Miller, David Aja, Kazuo Umezu, Joe Kubert, Hayao Miyzaki, Masamune Shirow, Barry Windsor-Smith, David Lloyd, Sean Phillips, Walter Geovani and Matteo Scalera.[6][8]

Personal life

Bergen lives in Tokyo, Japan with his wife, Yoko Umehara, and their daughter Cocoa.[1]

Discography

Little Nobody/Andrez Bergen

Other monikers

Compilations

Bibliography

Novels

Short stories

Graphic novels

Comic books

Anthologies

References

  1. 1 2 3 "guff about andrez". Andrez Bergen. Andrez Bergen. 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Katy O'Dowd (5 August 2013). "In Glorious Technicolor: Andrez Bergen". Been Caught Reading. Been Caught Reading. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "About". Andrez Bergen on Google Plus. Google Inc. 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Maunder, Trish (2 April 1999). "Culture Club Profile". The Age.
  5. ↑ Mast, Andrew (2001). "Beat: Single of the Week". Furst Publishing. Retrieved 2011-05-30.
  6. 1 2 3 Renato B (8 March 2014). "A Conversation With Andrew Bergen". Radikal News. Radikal News. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  7. ↑ Andrew Bergen (28 May 2015). "May 28". Roy & Suzie on Facebook. Facebook. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 Andrez Bergen (9 April 2014). "DEPTH CHARGING THE TOBACCO-STAINED MOUNTAIN GOAT". Pulp Pusher. Google Inc. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Books by Andrez Bergen". Goodreads. Goodreads Inc. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  10. ↑ John Kowalski (1 June 2014). "Nerd Bytes 56 – Days of Future Past, Marvel For Strat & More". Word Of The Nerd. John Kowalski. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
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