Broken English Club

Since the mid-'90s Oliver Ho has propelled the techno scene forward. He first gained recognition alongside Regis, Surgeon, and James Ruskin as one of the new British techno artists who absorbed not only contemporary techno but also Britain's longstanding industrial and post-punk traditions. After working under several aliases including Raudive, Birdland, and Zov Zov, Ho channeled those formative influences into the Broken English Club project. Its debut, the 2014 EP Jealous God #4, arrived on the newly established Jealous God label founded by Silent Servant, Regis, and James Ruskin and explicitly nodded to Throbbing Gristle, D.A.F., and Psychic TV. A few months later a split release with Silent Servant, the Violence and Divinity EP, appeared on Veronica Vasicka's Cititrax imprint. Building on that momentum Ho issued Scars on Cititrax in 2015 and followed it several months afterward with the full-length Suburban Hunting. The same year Broken English Club began performing live, appearing in Moscow and at Berlin's Berghain as part of Regis' Downwards showcase. In 2016 Ho moved further into abrasive terrain with the Myths of Steel and Concrete single on his own Death & Leisure label. At the start of 2017 he supplied Jealous God's sixteenth release, folding '80s new beat and EBM into Broken English Club's established approach. Several months later the second album, The English Beach, surfaced on L.I.E.S., uniting the industrial and minimal wave threads of earlier work with fresh EBM and techno elements.