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Evian Christ

[UK]

Evian Christ is the formidable moniker of a young British producer making big noise in the dubstep experimental wash that is emerging from today’s bass and electronic scene. Landing almost immediate representation, with his breakthrough mixtape of melodic hip-hop chops, Kings And Them, Joshua Leary was swooped up by TriAngle Records in 2012.

Based in the sleepy town of Ellesmere Port, in the North of England, Joshua Leary was influenced by the presence of vintage keyboards at home, and by the age of 19 started laying down his own hip-hop influenced tracks with a basic MPC. A fortuitous internet find of his mixtape, Kings and Them, landed a conversation between Robin Carolan (of TriAngle Records) and Leary himself, resulting in a collaboration that would continue into a second album release in 2014, titled Waterfall. Though the Kings and Them mixtape is fluid with a softer tempo R&B and hip-hop flavours, Waterfall goes slightly aggressive, basking in the deeper darker side of dubstep.

As if to not pigeonhole himself into a singular musical footprint, Leary went on to release the ambient soundscape, Duga-3, as a mix for Dummy magazine, inspired by the recordings of the Soviet signal transmitter of the same name. Conceptual and gentle, the work is characterised by snippets of audio bites and taps, with the underbelly of a slow evolving synth stretched melody.

Currently studying to be a teacher at the Edge Hill University in Northwest England, Leary plans to take a years pause after graduation, to try his luck with music production. In line with his abundant successes, Leary has produced for Kanye West’s 2013 Yeezus album, signing a publishing deal with West’s creative company, DONDA.

Xeno III

Berghain, Thu 29.01.2015, 22:00

We Will Fail, Amnesia Scanner, Gazelle Twin, Suicideyear, Evian Christ live, Volte-Face