Cristian Vogel

Among the leading figures in experimental techno stands Cristian Vogel, whose output has encompassed a steady stream of provocative and unorthodox works issued both independently and in tandem with such established figures as Dave Clarke, Neil Landstrumm, Russ Gabriel, and Jamie Lidell. During the 1990s he earned recognition as a primary architect of wonky techno, the abstract variant distinguished by fractured beats and dissonant glitches. Numerous well-regarded albums appeared on Tresor and Mille Plateaux, ranging from the disorienting club-oriented pieces found on 1996’s All Music Has Come to an End to the industrial and ambient soundscapes of Specific Momentific that same year. Near the millennium he reached broader listenership as one half of the glitch-funk duo Super_Collider alongside Lidell, after which he supplied remixes for alternative and indie artists including Radiohead, Chicks on Speed, and Maxïmo Park. Although permutations of techno, IDM, and dubstep have continued to surface on imprints such as NovaMute, Shitkatapult, and EPM, Vogel has simultaneously pursued more avant-garde projects, among them 2010’s Black Swan, which housed his scores for contemporary dance works. The 2021 release Rebirth of Wonky functioned less as a stylistic return than as confirmation of his longstanding record of invention.

Born in Chile, Vogel departed with his family for the U.K. in the early ’80s to evade the dictatorial regime of General Pinochet. A youth spent with early computers, later joined by an interest in programmable music, expanded to encompass experimental electronic music and, ultimately, techno. He began shaping his own compositions in the late ’80s, collaborating with members of the Cabbage Head Collective (which included, among others, Si Begg and members of Germ), whose initial self-distributed tape cut-ups helped shape Vogel’s emerging aesthetic. In contrast to many peers, his engagement with electronic composition prompted formal academic study in 1992; he completed a degree in 20th century music at the University of Sussex in Brighton. Merging approaches from earlier Detroit, German, and English pioneers with perspectives drawn from close examination of composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen and Brian Eno, the outcomes frequently unsettled his instructors. Yet Vogel’s facility for merging flux and sound collage within a genre typically governed by rhythmic restraint and exact repetition has kept him at the forefront of roots-directed experimental techno.

Vogel’s extensive catalog originated toward the close of his university years, as some of his studio experiments began circulating within the techno underground. After gaining the regard of South Shore DJ/musician/record shop manager Luke Slater, Vogel’s name reached minimalist hardcore techno/electro producer Dave Clarke, which led to the substantial Infra EP, captured at the University of Sussex studio and issued on Clarke’s Magnetic North label. Building on Infra’s reception, Vogel issued a pair of EPs with Russ Gabriel on the latter’s Ferox and Berlin labels before securing deals with both Force Inc. and Thomas Heckmann’s Trope imprint. In 1994 he delivered his debut full-length, Beginning to Understand, on Force Inc. subsidiary Mille Plateaux, a concentrated and comprehensive realization of Vogel’s experimental approach within dancefloor techno conventions. Shortly afterward came Absolute Time on Tresor (Vogel being the first U.K. artist approached by the storied German label), together with joint efforts involving Neil Landstrumm and Si Begg. The year 1996 alone brought three Vogel albums: Specific Momentific on Mille Plateaux, Body Mapping, and All Music Has Come to an End, both on Tresor. In addition to ongoing DJ work, Vogel issued his own and others’ recordings via the personal labels Mosquito and Quinine and frequently undertook remix commissions.

In 1998 Vogel joined British vocalist/electronic musician Jamie Lidell (then part of wonky techno outfit Subhead) in the experimental electro-funk project Super_Collider. The duo’s opening single, “Darn (Cold Way O’ Lovin’),” achieved unexpected success, while their 1999 album Head On on Loaded Records received enthusiastic notices. That same year Vogel issued the solo album Busca Invisibles on Tresor before moving to NovaMute and releasing Rescate 137 in 2000. Super_Collider’s second and final album, Raw Digits, emerged on Vogel’s own Rise Robots Rise imprint in 2002. Also that year he delivered another Tresor album, Dungeon Master. Three years later he returned to NovaMute with Station 55. He subsequently established the label Station 55 Records, which put out his double-CD Double Deux/Delicado, a collection of his experimental pieces for Swiss choreographer Gilles Jobin. The label likewise released the debut album by Vogel’s indie rock band Night of the Brain. Also in 2007, Vogel issued his sixth Tresor album, The Never Engine.

In 2010 Vogel began placing select experimental material with Belgian label Sub Rosa. Black Swan, another work composed for Jobin, appeared on the label late that year. He then moved to Shitkatapult for his more beat-driven albums, beginning with 2012’s The Inertials, which incorporated dubstep explorations. Eselsbrücke surfaced on Sub Rosa in 2013, followed by the Shitkatapult release Polyphonic Beings in 2014. Vogel revisited earlier material in 2016 for the compilation Classics Remastered 1993-1998, issued by Sub Rosa. This preceded The Assistenz, his third album for Shitkatapult. Vogel created the immersive, 24-channel score for the performance piece The Ballad of Agnete and the Merman. A filmed version was produced as well, and Vogel’s score appeared in late 2017. He released several EPs of dubby techno on EPM Music, including three under the name NEL and 2019’s The Misty Quay under his own name. He collaborated with live techno trio Elektro Guzzi on 2020’s Coexist EP, then issued the Mind Control EP on The Wormhole. Endless Process released Vogel’s full-length Rebirth of Wonky in 2021.