Biography
Martin Jenkins channels his moody, retro-futuristic vision through Pye Corner Audio, summoning the enigmas of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and John Carpenter while also recalling the electro of Drexciya together with longstanding Detroit techno traditions. The tense atmospheres on his independently issued Black Mill Tapes Vol.1: Avant Shards from 2010 quickly drew notice from devotees of Demdike Stare, Ekoplekz, and the Ghost Box roster. By the arrival of his first Ghost Box release, 2012's Sleep Games, beats and melodies had grown equally central to his work as his gift for otherworldly textures, a balance that persisted across the three science-fiction-themed albums that followed: 2016's Stasis, 2019's Hollow Earth, and 2021's Entangled Routes. Whether shifting toward the bright, expansive psychedelia of 2022's Let's Emerge! or reverting to dystopian imagery on 2024's The Endless Echo, Jenkins maintained his command of atmosphere and texture.
Originating in the mid-2000s British underground electronic scene that author Warren Ellis labeled "British Cosmic Music," Jenkins—who records under the additional aliases the Head Technician, the House in the Woods, and the Howling Moss—launched Pye Corner Audio with self-released material in 2010. That year saw both the single The Head Technician's Generosity and Black Mill Tapes Vol.1: Avant Shards, followed in 2011 by Black Mill Tapes Vol.2: Do You Synthesize?. Type reissued the first two Black Mill Tapes volumes in 2012, the same year Black Mill Tapes Vol.3: All Pathways Open appeared. Also in 2012, Pye Corner Audio debuted on Jim Jupp's Ghost Box imprint with Sleep Games; the album, enriched with additional warped rhythms and eroded melodies, received broad critical praise.
A series of 2013 singles included "Conical Space/Dusk Veiled" on Dekorder and a Ghost Box Study Series 7" made with the Listening Center. Jenkins inaugurated the House in the Woods alias that year via a self-titled EP on Exotic Pylon, emphasizing ambient and experimental elements distinct from his other output. Type delivered the third and fourth Black Mill Tapes volumes in 2014, incorporating nods to house, disco, and darkwave alongside the earlier installments' weathered atmospheres, and also issued a triple-CD box set compiling all four volumes. A split LP with Not Waving surfaced on Ecstatic. More Than Human released the disco-leaning Prowler in November 2015. Jenkins returned to Ghost Box with the kindred Stasis in 2016, launching a trilogy of science-fiction albums, and joined Dalhous for the Run for the Shadows EP. Releases in 2017 encompassed the Spiral EP on Death Waltz Originals, the Where Things Are Hollow EP on Lapsus Records, and a collaborative EP with Silent Servant and Not Waving. Activity remained high in 2018, yielding the digital single Satan's Little Helper, Five Years in the Dark for TDO Cassettes, and Issue No. 22, another collaboration with Silent Servant and Marcel Dettmann.
Jenkins opened 2019 with Hollow Earth, his third Ghost Box album, issued that March. Among his most approachable works, it climbed to number nine on the U.K. Independent Albums Chart. In October he appeared at Sonic Cathedral's fifteenth-anniversary event at London's the Social; the performance, featuring guitarist Andy Bell, was documented as the live album Social Dissonance, released by Sonic Cathedral in 2020. He concluded the Ghost Box science-fiction trilogy with 2021's Entangled Routes, whose atmospheric and dancefloor pieces drew from subterranean plant communication networks. For his initial studio album on Sonic Cathedral, Jenkins adopted a markedly different approach. Rejoining Bell, he embraced sunny psychedelia and shoegaze on July 2022's hopeful Let's Emerge!, which reached number ten on the U.K. Independent Albums Chart. A year afterward, Let's Remerge: Sonic Boom Remixes presented Pete Kember's reworkings that highlighted the album's psychedelic and ambient qualities. Pye Corner Audio revisited Ghost Box with April 2024's The Endless Echo, a collection of shadowed reflections on time and its deceptions.
Originating in the mid-2000s British underground electronic scene that author Warren Ellis labeled "British Cosmic Music," Jenkins—who records under the additional aliases the Head Technician, the House in the Woods, and the Howling Moss—launched Pye Corner Audio with self-released material in 2010. That year saw both the single The Head Technician's Generosity and Black Mill Tapes Vol.1: Avant Shards, followed in 2011 by Black Mill Tapes Vol.2: Do You Synthesize?. Type reissued the first two Black Mill Tapes volumes in 2012, the same year Black Mill Tapes Vol.3: All Pathways Open appeared. Also in 2012, Pye Corner Audio debuted on Jim Jupp's Ghost Box imprint with Sleep Games; the album, enriched with additional warped rhythms and eroded melodies, received broad critical praise.
A series of 2013 singles included "Conical Space/Dusk Veiled" on Dekorder and a Ghost Box Study Series 7" made with the Listening Center. Jenkins inaugurated the House in the Woods alias that year via a self-titled EP on Exotic Pylon, emphasizing ambient and experimental elements distinct from his other output. Type delivered the third and fourth Black Mill Tapes volumes in 2014, incorporating nods to house, disco, and darkwave alongside the earlier installments' weathered atmospheres, and also issued a triple-CD box set compiling all four volumes. A split LP with Not Waving surfaced on Ecstatic. More Than Human released the disco-leaning Prowler in November 2015. Jenkins returned to Ghost Box with the kindred Stasis in 2016, launching a trilogy of science-fiction albums, and joined Dalhous for the Run for the Shadows EP. Releases in 2017 encompassed the Spiral EP on Death Waltz Originals, the Where Things Are Hollow EP on Lapsus Records, and a collaborative EP with Silent Servant and Not Waving. Activity remained high in 2018, yielding the digital single Satan's Little Helper, Five Years in the Dark for TDO Cassettes, and Issue No. 22, another collaboration with Silent Servant and Marcel Dettmann.
Jenkins opened 2019 with Hollow Earth, his third Ghost Box album, issued that March. Among his most approachable works, it climbed to number nine on the U.K. Independent Albums Chart. In October he appeared at Sonic Cathedral's fifteenth-anniversary event at London's the Social; the performance, featuring guitarist Andy Bell, was documented as the live album Social Dissonance, released by Sonic Cathedral in 2020. He concluded the Ghost Box science-fiction trilogy with 2021's Entangled Routes, whose atmospheric and dancefloor pieces drew from subterranean plant communication networks. For his initial studio album on Sonic Cathedral, Jenkins adopted a markedly different approach. Rejoining Bell, he embraced sunny psychedelia and shoegaze on July 2022's hopeful Let's Emerge!, which reached number ten on the U.K. Independent Albums Chart. A year afterward, Let's Remerge: Sonic Boom Remixes presented Pete Kember's reworkings that highlighted the album's psychedelic and ambient qualities. Pye Corner Audio revisited Ghost Box with April 2024's The Endless Echo, a collection of shadowed reflections on time and its deceptions.
Albums
