Gavin Hardkiss

During the early 1990s Gavin Hardkiss played a central role in launching Hardkiss Music, the imprint that later issued dance tracks by God Within, Hawke, Little Wing, and Rabbit in the Moon. Beyond his work as a label executive he performs as a DJ whose sets concentrate on contemporary club sounds, particularly the tribal and funk-infused strains of house, trance, breaks, and techno. In that capacity he has carried his selections to distinctive and remote settings, among them a forest outside Eugene, Oregon, a disused whaling station close to Valparaiso, Chile, the surrealist Discotheque Rachdingue near Barcelona, Spain, and the neighborhood wildlife of San Francisco’s Lower Haight. He has also appeared at established clubs including the Ministry of Sound and the End in London, Nikita in San Francisco, and the Limelight and Tunnel in New York.

In April 1998 Hardkiss completed an original sonic score for the urban entertainment complex Sony Metreon, which maintained sites in both San Francisco and Tokyo. Around the same period he created three hours of music for a project initiated by French cartoonist Jean Girot, also known as Moebius, resulting in a two-volume compilation that remains available at the Metreon.

Under the alias Hawke, Hardkiss produces electronic soundtracks and dance music issued on both Hardkiss and his own Sunburn label. The debut Hawke full-length, Namaquadisco, earned favorable notices from both mainstream and underground outlets. Subsequent twelve-inch releases on the label included 3 Nudes in a Purple Garden, Acid Funk, Erections From Namaquadisco Vol. 1, 2 and 3, and Theme From Sticky Trumpets. Hawke material also appeared on the Hardkiss album Delusions of Grandeur. In 2001 Sunburn Recordings presented the opening installment of the Shadow Mix series, Through Rose Tinted Glasses.