Biography
Louis Johnstone operates chiefly as Wanda Group, a London-based visual artist and experimental musician whose hissy, collage-like sound constructions engage themes of urban decay and personal issues. The same surrealist quality surfaces in his stream-of-consciousness social media posts, which appear entirely in upper case, while his music transitions without clear narrative from softly throbbing techno beats to sparse ambient passages.
Midway through the 2000s Johnstone began releasing limited cassettes and CD-Rs under assorted monikers and simultaneously uploading additional pieces online. Los Angeles-based Leaving Records noticed some of this material and issued the 2010 Caveman Smack cassette, recorded under his abstract hip-hop alias Dem Hunger; the album ranked among the label’s most favorably received early titles, yet Johnstone grew dissatisfied with the project and discontinued it.
His first recording as Wanda Group, the dubby, static-filled Bass Urine cassette, appeared on Vermont-based NNA Tapes in early 2011. Strong reception prompted further Wanda Group releases on labels such as Vlek and Further Records, along with numerous digital items on his own Umbro G imprint.
U.K. experimental techno label Opal Tapes released the limited-cassette album Piss Fell Out Like Sunlight in 2012; this haunting work became Johnstone’s most acclaimed release to date, leading the label to issue it on vinyl the following year. Also in 2013, NNA Tapes brought out the vinyl LP A Slab About Being Held Captive, Where to Now? issued the EP Masculinity Is a Wonderful Thing, and Gold Panda’s Notown label released the Outer Alsatian EP.
After additional digital releases, Wanda Group returned to vinyl in 2015 with We All Mutate Around the Mountain on Italian label Second Sleep, while Sun Araw’s Sun Ark label issued A Man Moves Out of His Skeleton on cassette. Early in 2016 NNA Tapes released the Ornate Circular cassette and Opal Tapes issued the Central Heating LP.
Midway through the 2000s Johnstone began releasing limited cassettes and CD-Rs under assorted monikers and simultaneously uploading additional pieces online. Los Angeles-based Leaving Records noticed some of this material and issued the 2010 Caveman Smack cassette, recorded under his abstract hip-hop alias Dem Hunger; the album ranked among the label’s most favorably received early titles, yet Johnstone grew dissatisfied with the project and discontinued it.
His first recording as Wanda Group, the dubby, static-filled Bass Urine cassette, appeared on Vermont-based NNA Tapes in early 2011. Strong reception prompted further Wanda Group releases on labels such as Vlek and Further Records, along with numerous digital items on his own Umbro G imprint.
U.K. experimental techno label Opal Tapes released the limited-cassette album Piss Fell Out Like Sunlight in 2012; this haunting work became Johnstone’s most acclaimed release to date, leading the label to issue it on vinyl the following year. Also in 2013, NNA Tapes brought out the vinyl LP A Slab About Being Held Captive, Where to Now? issued the EP Masculinity Is a Wonderful Thing, and Gold Panda’s Notown label released the Outer Alsatian EP.
After additional digital releases, Wanda Group returned to vinyl in 2015 with We All Mutate Around the Mountain on Italian label Second Sleep, while Sun Araw’s Sun Ark label issued A Man Moves Out of His Skeleton on cassette. Early in 2016 NNA Tapes released the Ornate Circular cassette and Opal Tapes issued the Central Heating LP.
Albums
