A
producer of
electronic music from
Germany. Best known as
Biochip C and
The Speed Freak.
Has released over
250 records under nearly 50 different
pseudonyms and numerous
styles from
acid to
industrial. Even received two
gold records, both for remixes of mainstream artists' releases.
After getting
bored to the small
range of
sounds he could make with his parents'
piano at the age of
18, Mr.Damm bought a
sampler and started creating
techno music. His first records came out in
1990. His early releases on
labels like
Suck Me Plasma were the kind of
acid which was quite
prominent around
1991/
1992 in Germany.
Using the
Biochip C alias, Martin developed his own
unique style of
hard acid with
interesting samples, large amount of "
hooks" and
innovative ideas. He was involved with the
legendary Structure and
Monotone labels in
Cologne. The latter was sadly
destroyed way too soon by
financial problems. After this he parted ways with "
The Brotherhood of Structure".
On
Monotone, Damm released his first
EP as
The Speed Freak. It was meant to be an
attack towards the
gabber techno from
Rotterdam, which he
hated passionately. But the
record was liked among the
hardcore techno fans because it sounded extremely
fresh (as well as hard), and Mr.Damm himself got into the music style which made the
project very
prolific for a long time period.
The
Red Poison EP was incredibly
fast at that time, around 220
BPM. According to the
artist himself, it was meant to be an
experiment.
The style of The Speed Freak project could be described as a faster and less acidic
version of the Biochip C style, with a
huge amount of
(often hysterically funny) samples from
imaginative sources.
The
Search & Destroy project
(on Monotone) began as a similar attack, this time directed at the
ridiculously cheesy Happy Hardcore from
The Netherlands. But again his tracks became quite
popular, and most people completely missed the
point of this
parody.
Mr. Damm has also made
ambient under pseudonyms like
R.I.C. and
Braindub,
industrial as
Steel and
house as
Subsonic 808, proving that he truly is a
versatile artist. He has also been behind labels such as
Shockwave Recordings,
Anodyne and
Napalm, plus he operates his own
cover art company Kamikaze Induztriez.
Damm is a big
fan of
Japan,
anime and
horror films, and all of them have
influenced both his music and graphic
design.
During the last few years Martin hasn't released much, although he has done several DJ and live act tours around Japan and the
United States. At the moment it looks like he is doing a "
comeback", even resurrecting some of his old hardcore labels.
The home page of
Street Trash Alliance, which consists of all of Mr. Damm's labels, has a rather informative web page at
http://www.street-trash.de
Update (November 21, 2000)
Mr.Damm has just released a 12" on the Lux Nigra label, which was spawned from the Biophilia mailing list. An another release is in press at the time of writing.