Scott Hardkiss - Pure Space - Sep 1994 - Part 1

Biography of Scott Hardkiss

Scott hardkiss has been one of the most innovative, eclectic and influential artists, composers, producers, djs and remixers in the world for over 10 years, creating his own unique funky, psychedelic, and emotional fusion of house, breakbeats, techno, trance, rock, hip-hop, funk, punk, jazz, disco, dub, ambient, blues, latin, pop, and classical sounds. a true renaissance artist, he has blazed a trail of originality across many different art forms and media and disregarded all pre-conceived notions of genre, convention, commerciality, and limitation.

Scott was born in the bronx, ny and grew up between new york city, georgia, dc, and philadelphia. in the early 80s he fell in love with old-school hip-hop's 'anything-goes' sound, got his first set of turntables and taught himself to dj before being further influenced by mid-and-late-80's dance clubs where many different genres of electronic music were blended together with rock, dub, pop, and new-wave. in the late '80's he went on to study shakespeare at oxford university, living in the uk during the initial explosion of the rave and indie-dance scenes, as well as travelling to the spanish island of tenerife to take in the diverse balearic sound. all of these experiences led scott to conceive of the hardkiss name and aesthetic as a creative outlet for pursuing his own style of djing, producing, remixing and creating dance-music events. with his vision thus born, scott hardkiss set off to open heads and hearts and make booties shake by organizing and dj at some of the first raves and electronic-music-based multi-media dance parties in the us, beginning on the east coast and eventually working his way out west to san francisco.

Scott eventually inspired a very motley crew including robbie, gavin and others to join him in his hardkiss mission, and the trio, AKA the hardkiss brothers, founded the seminal independent record label, hardkiss music. using the name god within for his own original solo productions, scott became one of the central pioneers of the electronic dance music sound of the the 90's. his records and musical styles were embraced by countless underground and commercial djs/producers nationwide, as well as acclaimed taste-makers in far-off lands. his 1st god within single 'raincry' was the shot heard 'round the world, with it's bold fusion of funky breakbeats and psychedelic emotional trance. the song went on to enter the mainstream consciousness being featured in several major motion pictures, numerous compilations (including sasha and digweed's classic 'northern exposure,'), the billboard dance chart (as the #1 breakout), and eventually in muzik magazine as the most collectable 12' in the world. his next trail-blazing release 'the phoenix,' further innovated the fusion of rock and dance music and caused a commotion with it's highly-limited release and charting as #1 in mixmag's buzz chart. the 'crucial introspection' ep touched still others with its delicate, beautiful blend of ambient techno and classical music and it, too, went on to show it's face in film and as the #1 breakout in the billboard dance chart.

All of the hardkiss music releases were compiled in the underground classic double-album 'delusions of grandeur,' which scott named after a series of multi-media events that he produced combining music, art and film. he also wrote the most of the label's da-daist procovative press releases and personally designed the surreal, color-drenched album cover art-work and hand-scrawled graffiti logos which packaged the records and cds. in addition to his musical talents, scott also has a strong background and education in the visual arts with extensive studies in drawing, painting, design, and film and his vivid art-work has itself received much critical praise and awards and has been featured in several art and design books such as 'discstyle' and 'free agents: a history of dc graffiti.'

As a dj, scott became one of the first americans of the decade to play his music coast-to-coast and beyond, being touted as one of the top djs in the world and making many journeys to spread his sound to exotic locales such as london, paris, sydney, hong kong, panama city, frankfurt, glasgow, mexico city, honolulu, dublin, melbourne, and belfast. scott has performed at an untold amount of legendary clubs and events including the loft, the heavenly sunday social, twilo, the roxy, fabric, crobar, red rocks, bedrock, spundae, big beat boutique, gatecrasher, ministry of sound, universe, buzz, back-to-basics, sabresonic, full circle, sugar-sweet, the drum club and many, many more. he has also released two successful dj mix cds: 'yes,' (moonshine), one of the first dj mix cds to expand the form by using not just turntables, but software, synths, effects and samples, and scott's installment of mixer's 'united djs of america' received a glowing rating of 9/10 in spin magazine. he continually pushed the dj envelope further by creating his own exclusive remixes of songs like elton john's 'rocketman' to play in his sets and incorporating live musicians such as guitarists, percussionists, and vocalists in his performances.

Scott's musical ambitions eventually developed even further, and after nearly a decade on the 'left-coast,' he returned to new york city and began to shift his focus towards becoming a composer/producer of musical score for picture. his music has recently been featured in several major hollywood films, including 'kiss kiss bang bang' starring robert downey, jr. & val kilmer and directed by shane black, 'the bad news bears' starring billy-bob thorton and directed by richard linklater, 'he got game,' starring denzel washington & rosario dawson and directed by spike lee, '187', starring samuel l. jackson and directed by kevin reynolds, and 'groove,' directed by greg harrison. Scott recently composed the entire original score for two short films, 'wait' starring debbie mazar and directed by trudie styler, and 'good morning baby' starring piper perabo and directed by lisa leone. the films are being released as part of glamour magazine's 'reel moments' series.

His music has also been much in demand in television, being used extensively in show themes, programs, and promos for mtv, vh1, comedy central and direct tv. he co-scored an acclaimed levi's ad ('in prague you can trade them for a car') which won time magazine's 'top 10 best commercials of the year,' award and has since gone on to produce cutting-edge modern music for numerous major national ad campaigns including motorola ('motonext'), sprite (the last 5 'mr. thirst' spots), dasani (directed by wes anderson), american express (the 'money' spots & 'queer eye' amex 'open'), def jam university ('i am hip-hop') and phat farm. his music has also been used in various multi-media projects, including one of the all-time biggest-selling sports video games, electronic art's 'fifa soccer,' and in the official opening of the summer olympics in atlanta.

Scott has also executed a diverse array of production and remixes for and with a wide range of other artists of many different genres and styles. his mix of elton john's 'believe' went platinum in america and his mix of republica's 'ready to go,' also hit the pop charts. he has produced songs with artists such as parliament-funkadelic legend george clinton, grandmaster flash rapper melle mel, and the glide church gospel choir. scott collaborated with dr. octagon rapper kool keith for mtv's amp 2 compilation and remixed the flaming lips' 'do you realize???' featured on the album 'fight test,' which was nominated for the grammy for best alternative album. his remix of 'cherry,' the lead single for lisa shaw's debut album, has just been released by naked music through iTunes, and he has also completed a new remix for artist stephanie mckaye. in addition to this he is also currently producing new original material with artists including lisa shaw, san francisco singer/songwriter j bowman, nyc soul-sensation bobby harden and jazz pianist/arranger marc puricelli. much of this recent work has been taking new form as a large band of virtuoso live musicians, adding even more organic soul to his electronic sounds. it's all part of scott hardkiss' bold vision in fusing the futuristic with the traditional, the electronic with the acoustic, body-moving rhythms with heart-moving melodies and vocals, and hallucinatory sounds with surrealist imagery.

Robbie Hardkiss - Pure Space - Sep 1994 - Part 1

Biography of Robbie Hardkiss

Along with brothers Scott and Gavin, Robbie is an original member of the world renowned Hardkiss family. Based in San Francisco, these dj/remixer/producers helped pioneer the American electronic music scene with their early club nights and outdoor events. Between parties they begged, borrowed and charged their way toward building a recording studio and starting a record label; and in 1991 Hardkiss Music was born. Their 12 inch singles quickly attracted attention around the world, and the boys became known as originators of the west coast sound. They blended funky beats with psychedelic sounds and heart breaking melodies to create their own unique version of dance music. In 1995, their legendary status within the world of electronic music was solidified with the release of the double album 'Delusions of Grandeur.'

All the while, Robbie was becoming one of America's busiest touring djs. He's played as far away as Hong Kong, South Africa, Mexico City, the U.K. and Europe. He's held residencies in San Francisco and Chicago at Nikita, Spundae and Smartbar. He's played every major city and almost every major club in North America and has become known for his funkin' partied up sound. He mixes house, breaks, disco, techno electro, whatever...from any time and any place. 'As long as its funkin'.'

In 2000 Robbie partnered up with fellow San Francisco dj Laron to record music under the name Boozy+Swan. Sunburn Recordings released their club hit 'Champagne Beat Boogie', which charted number 1 in Mixer Magazine and was featured on the soundtrack of the Sony Pictures' movie 'Groove.' A Boozy+Swan full length album is to follow.

Robbie also recently teamed with Orlando dj/producer extraordinaire, Q-Burn's Abstract Message, for the '2DRUNKPUNKSonFUNK' tour. They toured the states spinnin' records, spillin' cocktails and generally living up to the name of the tour. After shaking off the hangover, they got into the studio and produced the first 2DRUNKPUNKSonFUNK single. Coming to a record label near you soon.

But first, Robbie's got a new one on Classic called 'Everything is Changing,' featuring remixes by Derrick Carter, Q-Burn's Abstract Message and Brett Johnson. A funky little package! like Robbie.