Biography
Carl A. Finlow adopts the Silicon Scally alias strictly for his most unadorned electro recordings, steering clear of the new wave-derived vocals and accessible dance rhythms found in his Random Factor output and his releases issued under his legal name. Following the brief run of his Voice Stealer project in the late 1990s, the Silicon Scally name surfaced in 1998 via the album Electrocide and has since ranked among Finlow’s most active outlets, yielding further full-lengths such as 2007’s Bioroid and 2022’s Field Lines.
Born in Liverpool in 1970, Finlow drew early influence from vintage electronic figures including Tomita and began producing computer-based music while still a teenager. After relocating to Leeds he entered the record market in the early 1990s. Among his first credits was Circle City’s progressive house single “Moments of Inertia,” issued by Warp in 1993. He established an enduring collaboration with Leeds DJ Ralph Lawson, founder of 20:20 Vision and longtime Back to Basics resident, resulting in joint work under names such as Urban Farmers and Wolf n’ Flow. In the mid-1990s Finlow also teamed with Daz Quayle as Black Labs, later shifting toward more IDM-oriented material as Scarletron and IL.EK.TRO.
His initial substantial solo venture arrived as Random Factor, whose 1994 debut Purist Images from Conceptual Reality blended ambient and downtempo textures. Finlow launched the Voice Stealer alias with the 1997 album All-Electric House, an influential release that shaped later electro producers, followed by the 1998 EP Electromotive Force before he retired the name in favor of Silicon Scally, which opened with Electrocide that same year.
Whereas Random Factor gravitated toward song-oriented, new wave-inflected material, Finlow kept Silicon Scally largely instrumental, charting territory reminiscent of Drexciya. The 2000 EP Curvature preceded 2001’s The Silent Years, marking his first appearance on New York’s Satamile Records, alongside a split EP shared with Kalamazoo techno artist Jay Denham. SCSI-AV, the label behind the project’s debut, next issued the second album Mr. Machine in 2002. Satamile followed with 2005’s Dark Matter and 2007’s Bioroid. Finlow subsequently self-released Unreleased in 2011, the 2013 EP Augment, and 2016’s Machine Bias in digital format. A 2016 collaboration with Sync 24 appeared on Cultivated Electronics, while Innerspace Records put out a 2017 split EP pairing Silicon Scally with Morphology. Electrix Records issued the acid-focused Live @ Scand in 2018.
Silicon Scally entered the braindance and electro roster Central Processing Unit with the 2018 Projections EP and continued there on 2019’s Cobalt Blue, while Cultivated Electronics released Skoda Banger. The fifteen-track album Crushed surfaced as a digital self-release, after which 20:20 Vision extracted an EP of selections from it. Early 2020 brought the split EP Cymatics Operator with Telephasycx! on Rator Mute. Additional CPU releases followed, including the EPs Dormant in 2020 and Revelations in 2021, culminating in the 2022 full-length Field Lines.
Born in Liverpool in 1970, Finlow drew early influence from vintage electronic figures including Tomita and began producing computer-based music while still a teenager. After relocating to Leeds he entered the record market in the early 1990s. Among his first credits was Circle City’s progressive house single “Moments of Inertia,” issued by Warp in 1993. He established an enduring collaboration with Leeds DJ Ralph Lawson, founder of 20:20 Vision and longtime Back to Basics resident, resulting in joint work under names such as Urban Farmers and Wolf n’ Flow. In the mid-1990s Finlow also teamed with Daz Quayle as Black Labs, later shifting toward more IDM-oriented material as Scarletron and IL.EK.TRO.
His initial substantial solo venture arrived as Random Factor, whose 1994 debut Purist Images from Conceptual Reality blended ambient and downtempo textures. Finlow launched the Voice Stealer alias with the 1997 album All-Electric House, an influential release that shaped later electro producers, followed by the 1998 EP Electromotive Force before he retired the name in favor of Silicon Scally, which opened with Electrocide that same year.
Whereas Random Factor gravitated toward song-oriented, new wave-inflected material, Finlow kept Silicon Scally largely instrumental, charting territory reminiscent of Drexciya. The 2000 EP Curvature preceded 2001’s The Silent Years, marking his first appearance on New York’s Satamile Records, alongside a split EP shared with Kalamazoo techno artist Jay Denham. SCSI-AV, the label behind the project’s debut, next issued the second album Mr. Machine in 2002. Satamile followed with 2005’s Dark Matter and 2007’s Bioroid. Finlow subsequently self-released Unreleased in 2011, the 2013 EP Augment, and 2016’s Machine Bias in digital format. A 2016 collaboration with Sync 24 appeared on Cultivated Electronics, while Innerspace Records put out a 2017 split EP pairing Silicon Scally with Morphology. Electrix Records issued the acid-focused Live @ Scand in 2018.
Silicon Scally entered the braindance and electro roster Central Processing Unit with the 2018 Projections EP and continued there on 2019’s Cobalt Blue, while Cultivated Electronics released Skoda Banger. The fifteen-track album Crushed surfaced as a digital self-release, after which 20:20 Vision extracted an EP of selections from it. Early 2020 brought the split EP Cymatics Operator with Telephasycx! on Rator Mute. Additional CPU releases followed, including the EPs Dormant in 2020 and Revelations in 2021, culminating in the 2022 full-length Field Lines.
Albums
Field Lines
2022
Purplewave
2020
Cymatics Operator
2020
Skoda Banger EP
2019
Bioroid
2007
Dark Matter
2005
The Silent Years
2001
Singles
