Alias

Growing up in the rural enclave of Hollis, Maine, a young Brendon Whitney adjusted his antenna to capture transmissions of the late-night program Friday Night Videos. Malcolm-Jamal Warner, familiar from The Cosby Show, hosting an assortment of hip-hop clips left a profound impression on the 13-year-old and steered him toward a future as the underground producer linked to Anticon and known professionally as Alias.

A holiday drum machine given by his parents opened the door to beat construction, and by age 17 he had honed his abilities enough to cross paths with rapper Sole. Three years afterward the pair belonged to the Live Poets, a circle that expanded around 1998 into Deep Puddle Dynamics once Slug and Doseone joined.

Continued partnerships with Anticon affiliates encouraged Alias to settle near the label’s East Oakland, California headquarters. Engagements with various roster artists followed, alongside his 2002 solo debut The Other Side of the Looking Glass, on which he supplied both beats and vocals.

The 2003 release schedule brought the entirely instrumental EP Eyes Closed and the largely beat-focused full-length Muted; across these projects his work gradually favored original keyboard parts over samples. Although remix commissions kept him stationed at computer and drum machine, he pursued outlets that felt more tactile and collaborative.

Recognizing the strides his younger brother Ehren had made as a musician, Alias arranged for him to travel to Oakland for a joint album. Issued as Alias & Ehren, Lillian appeared in 2005. Three years later, prompted by a return to his hometown, he issued the warmer, more inviting Resurgam.

The woozy Fever Dream surfaced in 2011, followed in 2014 by the single “Ghost Cloudz” and the album Pitch Black Prism. Whitney died at age 41 in March 2018.