Holger Hiller

In the early eighties, electronic experimentalist Holger Hiller left Palais Schaumburg behind to pursue an independent path. His foundational method took shape on the 1984 album A Bunch of Foulness in the Pit, where keyboard lines intertwined with assorted odd sounds and tense, clattering percussion. A slightly altered edition of the prior Hyperprism appeared in 1986 as Oben im Eck, with Hiller making full use of emerging sampling technology alongside vocalists Billy McKenzie and Kaori Kano plus keyboardist Izumi Kobayashi. Following an extended period of reduced activity, interrupted only by occasional mixing and editing assignments for artists such as Depeche Mode, he reemerged forcefully during the mid-nineties by releasing Little Present in 1995, then issuing five singles the next year along with the Demixed collection. Fall 2000 brought a self-titled album.