Luke Vibert (born 26 January 1973) is a British

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

ian and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, also known for his work under several aliases such as Plug and Wagon Christ. Raised in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, Vibert began releasing projects in the 1990s across varied genres, including

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

, and

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop ...

. He has recorded on labels such as Rephlex,

Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an English independent record label based in London. It has a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More (better known as Coldcut) and managed by Peter Quicke and others. Inspired by a visit ...

Planet Mu Planet Mu is an eclectic English electronic music record label created and run by Mike Paradinas. The label started out as a subsidiary of Virgin Records then Paradinas set up the label independent of Virgin. After releasing intelligent dance m ...

, and

Warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a ...

Early years: 1990s

Vibert's first musical output was in a variety of bands, including a

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

act called Five Minute Fashion and later a

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

-esque group called the Hate Brothers, but he quickly moved into the low-cost environment of solo electronic composition. Vibert grew up in Cornwall and attended the Wesleyan Methodist

Truro School Truro School is a coeducational independent day and boarding school located in the city of Truro, Cornwall, England. It is the largest coeducational independent school in Cornwall with over 1050 pupils from pre-prep to sixth form. It is a membe ...

along with a number of key members of

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic music, electronic styles such as techno, ambient music, ambient, and jun ...

Rephlex Records Rephlex Records was a record label launched in 1991 in Cornwall by electronic musician Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) and Grant Wilson-Claridge. The label coined the term ''braindance'' to describe the output of Aphex Twin and fellow artists ...

crew. Luke and another school friend, Jeremy Simmonds, released an album on Rephlex under the name of ''Vibert/Simmonds'' which attracted attention from the Rising High

music label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...

. As a result of the popularity of the style in the early 1990s, Rising High commissioned an

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It u ...

album from Vibert, who delivered ''Phat Lab Nightmare'' under the alias Wagon Christ in 1993. Vibert pioneered the "

drill 'n' bass Drill 'n' bass is a subgenre of drum and bass which developed in the mid-1990s as IDM artists began experimenting with elements of breakbeat, jungle, and drum and bass music. Artists utilized powerful audio software programs and deployed frenzie ...

" subgenre, which experimented with

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

and

drum 'n' bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

breakbeats, on his 1995 EPs under the name Plug. He would go on further over the next few years to produce more music under the Wagon Christ name for Rising High and

2000 and onwards

In late 1999 and 2000, Vibert began touring with

BJ Cole Brian John Cole is an English pedal steel guitarist, who has long been active as a session and solo musician. Coming to prominence in the early 1970s with the band Cochise, Cole has played in many styles, ranging from mainstream pop and rock to ...

to promote their fusion album ''

Stop the Panic ''Stop the Panic'' is a collaborative album by Luke Vibert and BJ Cole, released in 2000. Critical reception John Bush of AllMusic gave the album 4 stars out of 5 and said, "On most tracks, Cole's shimmering, fluid guitar lines are simply assim ...

''. In 2002, he would begin a series of live collaborations with

. Although Aphex Twin and Luke Vibert never released an album together, Aphex Twin used the song name "Analord", from Vibert's album '' Lover's Acid'', for a series of EPs. Vibert's later releases varied in style as he released albums under various names, including Plug, Amen Andrews, Kerrier District and Spac Hand Luke. "Amen Andrews" is a

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonet ...

on the name of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

game show host

Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...

, referring to the fact that each Amen Andrews track uses the

Amen break The Amen break is a drum break that has been widely sampled in popular music. It comes from the 1969 track "Amen, Brother" by the soul group the Winstons, released as the B-side of the 1969 single "Color Him Father". The drum break lasts about se ...

. In 2004, Vibert explored acid disco when he remixed a Black Devil song, which was released on '' Disco Club (Remix)'' and released his first album under the alias Kerrier District. In 2006, Vibert's song "Shadows" was featured on the DJ mix album '' A Bugged Out Mix'' by

Miss Kittin Caroline Hervé (born 1973), known professionally as Miss Kittin, is a French electronic music producer, DJ, singer, and songwriter. Since rising to prominence in 1998 for her singles " 1982" and "Frank Sinatra" with The Hacker, she has worked ...

, which charted at number one-hundred seventy on the

French Albums Chart French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

. In 2007 he founded a club night with

Posthuman Posthuman or post-human is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction, futurology, contemporary art, and philosophy that means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human. The concept aims at addressing a variety of ...

called "I Love Acid" after his track. In 2019 it won Best British Club Event in the

DJ Mag ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lat ...

awards. A vinyl-only record label of the same name was founded in 2014, with Luke contributing two EPs and an album "Valvable" written entirely on three pieces of

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

equipment: TB303, TR808, and JX3P. In 2015, he participated in the musical transmedia ''

Soundhunters ''Soundhunters'' is a transmedia musical project created by Nicolas Blies and Stéphane Hueber-Blies (aka the Blies brothers), Marion Guth and François Le Gall, broadcast on the Franco-German channel Arte in 2015 and deployed internationally w ...

'' broadcast on the Franco-German channel

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...

. For this project, Vibert appeared in the film ''Speak the way you breathe'' directed by the American film director

Antonino D'Ambrosio Antonino Pasquale D'Ambrosio (born June 23, 1971), is an Italian-American author, filmmaker, producer, and visual artist. Writing D'Ambrosio is the author of ''Let Fury Have the Hour: Joe Strummer, Punk and the Movement that Shook the World'' ( ...

and composed an original music of the same name.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Compilation albums

Singles

Compilation appearances

Remixes

References

External links

* Wagon Christ Biographyat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vibert, Luke Astralwerks artists English electronic musicians English record producers People from Redruth People educated at Truro School 1973 births Living people Ninja Tune artists Nothing Records artists Planet Mu artists Rephlex Records artists