1 Jan 2002

David Toop

musician, composer, writer

Born near London in 1949, David Toop is a musician, composer, writer, musicologist and sound curator.

He has published three books: Rap Attack, Ocean of Sound, and Exotica. His first album, New and Rediscovered Musical Instruments, was released on Brian Eno's Obscure label in 1975; since 1995 he has released six solo albums - Screen Ceremonies, Pink Noir, Spirit World, Museum of Fruit, Hot Pants Idol and 37th Floor At Sunset: Music For Mondophrenetic - and curated five acclaimed CD compilations for Virgin Records - Ocean of Sound, Crooning On Venus, Sugar & Poison, Booming On Pluto and Guitars On Mars.

In 1998 he composed the soundtrack for Acqua Matrix, the outdoor spectacular that closed every night of Lisbon Expo '98 from May until September. He has recorded shamanistic ceremonies in Amazonas, appeared on Top Of The Pops with the Flying Lizards, worked with musicians including Brian Eno, John Zorn, Prince Far I, Jon Hassell, Derek Bailey, Talvin Singh, Evan Parker, Max Eastley, Scanner, Ivor Cutler, Haruomi Hosono and Bill Laswell, and collaborated with artists from many other disciplines, including theatre director/actor Steven Berkoff, Japanese Butoh dancer Mitsutaka Ishii, sound poet Bob Cobbing, visual artist John Latham, filmmaker Jae-eun Choi and writer Jeff Noon. As a critic he has written for many publications, including The Wire, The Face, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Guardian, Arena, Vogue, Spin, GQ, Bookforum, Pulse, Urb, Black Book, The New York Times and The Village Voice.

He has curated Sonic Boom, the UK's largest ever exhibition of sound art, displayed at the Hayward Gallery, London, from April to June, 2000. Other recent projects include the composition of a soundtrack for Mondophrenetic (CD released by Sub Rosa), a CD-ROM installation created in Belgium and exhibited in Brussels and Santiago de Compostela, and Needle In the Groove, a collaborative album with novelist Jeff Noon, released on Scanner's Sulphur label in May 2000. In January 2000 he exhibited the sound installation Dreaming of Inscription On Skin with Max Eastley at ICC in Tokyo and in April 2001 he created sound collages for the Hayward Gallery's Brassai exhibition. Currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Sound Department of the London Institute, he is writing a new book about human physicality and digital music.

source: www.davidtoop.com