Paul Jason Robb is a synthesizer player, producer, songwriter and one of the founding members of the band

Information Society An information society is a society where the usage, creation, distribution, manipulation and integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drivers are information and communication technologies, which have resulted in rapid inf ...

Biography

Robb was a member of Information Society from its inception in the early 1980s until 1992 (after its third release ''

Peace and Love, Inc. ''Peace and Love Inc.'' is an album by the synthpop band Information Society (band), Information Society. The album received great critical reviews but the label did little to promote it. It was the least successful of the three albums released by ...

''). When Information Society's contract with

Tommy Boy ''Tommy Boy'' is a 1995 American buddy adventure comedy film directed by Peter Segal, written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, produced by Lorne Michaels, and starring former ''Saturday Night Live'' castmates and close friends Chris Farley and David ...

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repea ...

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

ended, Paul (who at the time had a new infant) chose to work in films and commercials, winning two Clio Awards for BMW ads in the process. In 1996, he started a record company called Hakatak International. Hakatak featured his one-man industrial-tinged band Think Tank, as well as a

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 ...

- and world music-flavored collaboration with Minneapolis folk singer Barbara Cohen named Brother Sun Sister Moon. When trip hop briefly gained mainstream popularity following the release of Portishead's '' Dummy'', Brother Sun Sister Moon recorded for

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

, causing the temporary dissolution of Hakatak in June 1997. No album ever resulted from that deal, however, and to this day neither Robb nor Virgin will say what happened. Robb continued to do TV, film, and commercial work but had no further commercially recorded output until January 2002, when he reappeared with a new record company named Bleep! Records and an album under the name of Luminous, which turned out to be a renamed Brother Sun Sister Moon. The Bleep! Web site promised a new Robb solo album under the name Bitcrusher, but that album was not released before Robb's investors pulled the plug and killed Bleep! in late 2002. Robb owns a recording studio in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

called Digitalis (a pun on the heart drug) and continues to produce music for advertisements and television shows. His credits include

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's ''

The Real World Real World or The Real World may also refer to: * Real life, a phrase to distinguish between the real world and fictional, virtual or idealized worlds Television * ''The Real World'' (TV series), 1992–2017 * "The Real World" (''Stargate Atla ...

'' and ''

Road Rules ''Road Rules'' is an MTV reality show that was a sister show of the network's flagship reality show, ''The Real World''. The series debuted on July 19, 1995, and ended on May 9, 2007. This allowed ''Road Rules'' a total of 14 seasons and 12 year ...

'' and the score for

Trey Parker Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Matt Stone. P ...

and

Matt Stone Matthew Richard Stone (born May 26, 1971) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Trey Parker. Stone was interes ...

's first movie ''

Orgazmo ''Orgazmo'' is a 1997 American superhero sex comedy film written, directed and edited by Trey Parker and produced by Matt Stone, Jason McHugh, and Fran Rubel Kuzui. It stars Parker, Stone, Dian Bachar, Robyn Lynne, and Michael Dean Jacobs. The ...

''. He later remixed the theme for Parker and Stone's long-running ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...

'' series and was involved in the ''

Chef Aid "Chef Aid" is the fourteenth episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''South Park''. The 27th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 7, 1998. The episod ...

'' album as well. It was announced in 2006 that Robb and

James Cassidy James Cassidy may refer to: * James Cassidy (musician), American bass and keyboard player * James Edwin Cassidy (1869–1951), American Roman Catholic bishop in Massachusetts * James H. Cassidy (1869–1926), United States Representative from Oh ...

would reform Information Society with a new vocalist, Chris Anton. Original vocalist

Kurt Harland Kurt Harland is an American singer, songwriter, and audio engineer and is the lead singer of Information Society. He also works on video game scores, including two of the soundtracks for the ''Legacy of Kain'' video game series ('' Legacy of K ...

opted out, citing work and family obligations for a time, but resumed his role as lead singer in 2008. In 2007, the band released an EP, ''

Oscillator Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

'', and a new album, ''

Synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

'', under the resurrected Hakatak label. In 2014 Kurt rejoined the band full time and the album ''

Hello World ''Hello'' is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the ''Norwich C ...

'' was released being the first studio album featuring the lineup of Harland, Robb and Cassidy since 1992.

Hakatak

Hakatak International is an American

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

founded by Robb. It specializes in

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 ...

acts.

Roster

* Brother Sun Sister Moon * Dissonance *

* Metrognome:Falcotronik *

Think Tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

References

Santa Monica Mirror The ''Santa Monica Mirror'' is a weekly community newspaper which covers Santa Monica,. It circulates around 10,000 copies weekly according to their website. The Mirror focuses on local happenings, events, sports, and arts. The Mirror also has a ...

'' * 2007
November 2007 interview
on ''

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, l ...

" * 2007
March 2007 Plaza of the Mind
an interview with Paul Robb by Kurt Weller * 200
2006 podcast interview
o
morons.org
about the resurrection of Information Society and Paul's affinity for

Nilla Wafers Nilla is a brand name owned by Nabisco that is most closely associated with its line of vanilla-flavored, wafer-style cookies. The name is a shortened version of vanilla, the flavor profile common to all Nilla-branded products. Originally sold as ...

* 1999
March 1999 interview
in ''

Mix Magazine ''Mix'' magazine is a periodical, billing itself as "the world's leading magazine for the professional recording and sound production technology industry". The magazine is headquartered in New York City and distributed in 94 countries. Its Korea ...

'' * 1999
March 1999 interview
in ''

Sound On Sound ''Sound on Sound'' is an independently owned monthly music technology magazine published by SOS Publications Group, based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, a ...

'' magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Robb, Paul American freestyle musicians Living people American Hi-NRG musicians American synth-pop musicians Information Society (band) members Year of birth missing (living people)

Biography

Hakatak

Roster

References

External links