Philip Jeck

Composer and multimedia artist, Philip Jeck is known for his use of turntables and magnetic tape as a medium for his ambient electronic pieces. Born in Liverpool on November 15, 1952, he studied visual arts at Dartington College in Devon, and became interested in the potential of turntables and electronic devices, whose use he hijacked to create experimental collages based on dark sound effects. He went on to compose for sound installations, dance and theater companies, notably in collaboration with Laurie Booth, and for television. In 1993, he and Lol Sargent set up the Vinyl Requiem installation, featuring 180 record players, 12 slide projectors and 2 film projectors. The experiment was supposed to be short-lived, but was eventually repeated, winning a Time Out Performance Award. In 1995, the composer signed with the Touch label and recorded the album Loopholes, followed by Surf (1998), Live in Tokyo (2000), Stoke (2002), 7 (2003) and Sand (2007), as well as collaborating with other labels such as Intermedium Records for the Vinyl Coda I-III (2000) and Vinyl Coda IV (2001) series, Sub Rosa, Audiosphere and Asphodel. He has collaborated with Jacob Kirkegaard, Claus van Bebber, Otomo Yoshihide and Martin Tréteault, Jah Wobble and Jaki Liebezeit, Janek Schaefer, Faith Coloccia and Chris Watson, and produced his version of Gavin Bryars' The Sinking of the Titanic with the Italian ensemble Alter Ego in 2007. Other critically acclaimed albums followed, An Ark for the Listener (2010), Cardinal (2015) and the live performance Iklectik (2017), before his death on March 25, 2022, at the age of 69. In 2024, the posthumous album Rpm, made up of external sound samples, was released.

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