ArtistInfo

Subsurfing

Band, GB
Electronic and Dance
A.k.a. Greg Hunter & Ryoji Oba

A peculiar and fascinating blend of cultures and musical worlds, that is the essence of SUBSURFING, the collective fronted by English producer/engineer GREG HUNTER and Japanese instrumentalist/producer OBI. Their acclaimed 12-inch/CD The Number Readers in 1994 was one of the absolute highlights on the ambient firmament, while with their debut album Frozen Ants (released on Apollo Records in May of last year) they extended their intriguing pandemonium of cutting atmospherics, enchanting Indian textures and deranged hi-tech dub, displaying a stunning virtuosity in the combined use of electronics and live instrumentation. Considering the respective backgrounds of Subsurfing's members, it's no wonder their hybrid mixture of styles comes as a refreshment to today's music scene. Obi, a trained Nohkan (Japanese classical flute) player in the Noh theatre (Japan's oldest performing arts), before moving to Europe produced several local pop artists in his home country. In Amsterdam he worked on the music accompanying Joel Ryan's novel The Number Readers, in Cologne he collaborated with Japanese artist Miwa on a project in which vocals were combined with music randomly generated by computers. Now based in London, where he established his own label AO Records, Obi' s output has never been more consistent: over the past two years he produced and/or remixed remarkable tracks such as Suzuki K1 & 7.5 cc's Satellite Serenade, Akiko Kanazawa's Tanto-Bushi and Secret Squirrel by The Saxophonettes; he also teamed up with the classic counter tenor singer Slava and worked on a new "garage ambient" project baptised Medium Fruit. Greg Hunter has an impressive track record as studio engineer and (co-)producer for a wide range of artists including Culture Club, Depeche Mode, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Erasure, System 7, Steve Reich, The Mission, Tom Jones and Gene Pitney. With Youth he worked on the Crowded House album Together Alone and produced Pandemonium by Killing Joke, in the field of dance music probably most noted was his engineering on the Orb albums Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld and U.F.Orb and his remix work with the band on Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II and several Yellow Magic Orchestra tracks. Subsurfing is Greg's first own artistic venture. Obi and Greg first met in Tokyo, where The Orb were recording Assassin, and the pair immediately found a lot of common ground between them. Already during the first Subsurfing sessions at the Butterfly studio in London they attracted the attention of musicians like Kenji Jammer (Bomb The Bass, also collaborating with a.o. Tim Simenon and Keith LeBlanc in the live project Night Of Interference), Kris Weston, Charlie Hall (The Drum Club), Steve Hillage (System 7) and Youth. Some of them contributed to the Frozen Ants album and together with the band and other guest musicians Baluji (sitar, auto harp) and Jean (Chinese cello, kokyu) made it a brilliant electro-ethnic masterpiece. (1996)

Members

	Greg Hunter b *1965 GB
	Ryoji Oba

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