Biography
Hatchback functions as the recording alias chosen by Samuel Milton Grawe, a dedicated lifelong enthusiast of music who crafts expansive, atmospheric, and relaxed electronic compositions. Although his output is often grouped with the cosmic disco and nu-Balearic movements, the work draws deeper inspiration from Krautrock and new age sources than from dance music traditions. Grawe also belongs to the duo Windsurf, with his debut solo album under the Hatchback moniker, Colors of the Sun, arriving in 2008. Three years later he issued the new age-influenced Zeus & Apollo. After remaining silent for an extended stretch, he resurfaced in 2018 with the characteristically unhurried Year of the Dragon.
Born in 1976, Grawe divided his early years between Maclean, Virginia, and New Delhi, India, among other locations, accompanying his father on travels for World Bank assignments while constantly carrying a Walkman that forged a lasting connection between music and movement. His parents exposed him at a young age to ABBA, the Eurythmics, and Culture Club; he later gravitated toward the '70s prog rock of Yes, Pink Floyd, ELP, and similar acts, which in turn sparked a Krautrock fixation during his late teens that began with Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze before progressing to Neu! and related artists. Synthesizers formed the unifying thread across these influences, making it natural that Grawe’s first attempts at creating music involved a Casio keyboard-cum-calculator he had observed a second-grade classmate operating. He advanced to analog synths and MIDI sequencers, exploring IDM and psychedelic electronica across the '90s.
Following his relocation to San Francisco in 1998, Grawe connected with guitarist Dan Judd of Call & Response, who recorded as Sorcerer. The pair initiated regular Saturday morning jam sessions that eventually yielded live performances, briefly under the trio name Brown Rainbow, before their studio partnership solidified around 2006 as Windsurf. While pursuing both joint and individual production efforts, they grew tied to the emerging international wave of electronica known as cosmic disco or nu-Balearic, establishing an unexpected bridge between Scandinavia and the Bay Area that also encompassed Arp, Rubies, and Dominique Leone. After uploading tracks to Dream Chimney, both Hatchback and Sorcerer received offers to issue 12"s on the European labels THISISNOTANEXIT and Tirk, each of which coincidentally commissioned remixes from Norwegian cosmic disco figurehead Prins Thomas; once Thomas recognized the link, he invited the duo to release an EP as Windsurf and later a full album on his Internasjonal imprint.
The duo also handled remixes for LCD Soundsystem and Low Motion Disco in 2007; in the same period, Grawe’s well-received 12"s "White Diamond" and "Carefree Highway" attracted notice from England’s Lo Recordings, opening the door for his long-developed debut album as Hatchback, Colors of the Sun, in 2008. Its successor likewise required an extended gestation before appearing in January 2011; Zeus & Apollo extended Grawe’s interest in new age music, prompting the artist to declare, “Welcome to the new age of new age.”
Apart from the 2013 EP Marin County, Hatchback remained largely absent until 2018. That year the project’s remix of “Posmeridiano” by Ukrainian composer Iury Lech appeared on an EP issued by German label CockTail d’Amore Music. Later in 2018, Lo Recordings released the project’s third album, the lush and expansive Year of the Dragon.
Born in 1976, Grawe divided his early years between Maclean, Virginia, and New Delhi, India, among other locations, accompanying his father on travels for World Bank assignments while constantly carrying a Walkman that forged a lasting connection between music and movement. His parents exposed him at a young age to ABBA, the Eurythmics, and Culture Club; he later gravitated toward the '70s prog rock of Yes, Pink Floyd, ELP, and similar acts, which in turn sparked a Krautrock fixation during his late teens that began with Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze before progressing to Neu! and related artists. Synthesizers formed the unifying thread across these influences, making it natural that Grawe’s first attempts at creating music involved a Casio keyboard-cum-calculator he had observed a second-grade classmate operating. He advanced to analog synths and MIDI sequencers, exploring IDM and psychedelic electronica across the '90s.
Following his relocation to San Francisco in 1998, Grawe connected with guitarist Dan Judd of Call & Response, who recorded as Sorcerer. The pair initiated regular Saturday morning jam sessions that eventually yielded live performances, briefly under the trio name Brown Rainbow, before their studio partnership solidified around 2006 as Windsurf. While pursuing both joint and individual production efforts, they grew tied to the emerging international wave of electronica known as cosmic disco or nu-Balearic, establishing an unexpected bridge between Scandinavia and the Bay Area that also encompassed Arp, Rubies, and Dominique Leone. After uploading tracks to Dream Chimney, both Hatchback and Sorcerer received offers to issue 12"s on the European labels THISISNOTANEXIT and Tirk, each of which coincidentally commissioned remixes from Norwegian cosmic disco figurehead Prins Thomas; once Thomas recognized the link, he invited the duo to release an EP as Windsurf and later a full album on his Internasjonal imprint.
The duo also handled remixes for LCD Soundsystem and Low Motion Disco in 2007; in the same period, Grawe’s well-received 12"s "White Diamond" and "Carefree Highway" attracted notice from England’s Lo Recordings, opening the door for his long-developed debut album as Hatchback, Colors of the Sun, in 2008. Its successor likewise required an extended gestation before appearing in January 2011; Zeus & Apollo extended Grawe’s interest in new age music, prompting the artist to declare, “Welcome to the new age of new age.”
Apart from the 2013 EP Marin County, Hatchback remained largely absent until 2018. That year the project’s remix of “Posmeridiano” by Ukrainian composer Iury Lech appeared on an EP issued by German label CockTail d’Amore Music. Later in 2018, Lo Recordings released the project’s third album, the lush and expansive Year of the Dragon.
Albums
Singles
