Oliver Chesler (born January 20, 1970), better known by his stage name The Horrorist, is an American

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 ( electroa ...

artist from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He is the owner of the Things to Come Records. British music critic Simon Reynolds once proclaimed, "My favourite contemporary American singer-songwriter is Oliver Chesler, a/k/a The Horrorist."

Career

Manic Panic project

The 2001 release "Manic Panic" contains tracks that describes some aspects of life in

, or any major (western) metropolis. The album features, what sounds like, actual samples of the answering machine of Oliver Chesler (aka. The Horrorist), giving the album a feel of being auto-biographic. On August 30, 2004 the album was re-released on

Out of Line Music Out Of Line Music is an independent record label located in Berlin, Germany. Out of Line is distributed by Rough Trade (Believe Digital) and exclusive partner to publishing giant BMG Rights Management, through sister company Edition Layer Cake ...

with a bonus disc containing an additional nine songs. The re-release went to No. 1 on the Deutsche (German) Alternative Chart on October 1, 2004. The album had four singles associated with it: "One Night in NYC", "Flesh is the Fever", "The Virus" and "Mission Ecstasy". "One Night in NYC", a downbeat track, describes the experiences of a young innocent suburban girl during a night in New York City. The single hit No.1 on the Deutsche Dance Charts the first week of January 2001. In May 2001 for UK magazine

MixMag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was prin ...

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...

reviewed "One Night in NYC" and said, "Big records demand your attention, and this is bound to get yours... Love it hate it, you will certainly know when you've heard it." There were many 12" remix singles released for the song on several different record labels including

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and th ...

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

, Superstar Recordings, CLR Recordings, A1 Records and Captivating Sounds. Some of the producers and DJs who contributed remixes include

Chris Liebing Chris Liebing (born Christopher Liebing on 11 December 1968) is a German techno DJ, music producer and radio host and the founder of the record label CLR. Liebing was born in Gießen, Hesse. In the early 1990s, he became active on the Frankfur ...

, Pascal FEOS,

Ricardo Villalobos Ricardo Villalobos (born 6 August 1970) is a Chilean-born German electronic music producer and DJ. He is well known for his work in the minimal techno and microhouse genres, and is one of the most significant figures in today's minimal techno s ...

and Orlando Voorn.

hired German firm Oktonet to produce the music video. It was directed by Nils Tim and shot in New York City at

The Limelight The Limelight was the name of a chain of nightclubs owned and operated by Peter Gatien. It had locations in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, London and Hallandale. Context During the 1980s, club culture had died down because of the AIDS e ...

club and live footage was shot in Frankfurt, Germany at the U60311 nightclub. For several weeks the video had B-rotation play on MTV and

Viva (TV station) VIVA (abbreviation for: translating to "Video Exploitation Facility") was a German free-to-air music television channel, first broadcast on 1 December 1993. The channel was intended to compete against MTV Europe and was the first German-langua ...

in Germany and The Netherlands. On February 10, 2002

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspaper ...

ran a story detailing how the

Broadcasting Standards Authority The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA; mi, Te Mana Whanonga Kaipāho) is a New Zealand Crown entity created by the Broadcasting Act 1989 to develop and uphold standards of broadcasting for radio, free-to-air and pay television. The main ...

banned the music video from airing again on TVNZ (Television New Zealand). In the story a man named Rod Valenta complained, "completely unacceptable for free-to-air television, especially during a weekend when children can view this damaging material". "The Virus" is an upbeat, hardpumping track that describes what can happen "when people do evil things". The lyrics tell the story of a young man who was bullied throughout his life and later becomes addicted to drugs. He thinks up a plan for revenge. He creates a virus and then unleashes it to destroy the world . Initially there were two different 12" vinyl releases each with different remixes for The Virus on the German label a45 (a division of

Edel Music Edel is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname: * Abraham Edel (1908–2007), North American philosopher and ethicist * Alfred William Edel (c. 1930–2005), American television news presenter * Apoula Edel ...

). Some of the producers and DJs who contributed remixes include Ben Sims, Northern Lite, Citizen Art and Zeil 100. Later, in 2004 another German label Robot Traxx released newer remixes of The Virus. The release aptly titled "The Virus 2004" included remixes by Longy, DJ Falk & Plasma Beat and Fritz Laurent.

Recognitions

*His song "One Night in NYC" went to #1 on the Deutsche Dance Chart in 2001 (DDC). *The re-release of his first album ''Manic Panic'' (extended version) went to #1 on the Deutsche Alternative Chart in 2004 (DAC). *His second album ''Attack Decay'' went to #3 on the Deutsche Alternative Chart in 2007 (DAC).

Aliases

*DJ Cybersnuff *DJ Silence *Narcanosis *DJ Skinhead *Oliver Chesler

In Groups

*Arrivers * SuperPower *Temper Tantrum *Disintegrator *Koenig Cylinders

Discography

Full Length Albums

*The Horrorist - Manic Panic (Album) *The Horrorist - Attack Decay (Album) *The Horrorist - Joyless Pleasure (Album) *The Horrorist - Fire Funmania (Album) *The Horrorist - Separate Dimension (Album)

Singles

*The Horrorist - One Night in New York City *The Horrorist - Run For Your Life *The Horrorist - Flesh is the Fever *The Horrorist - The Virus *The Horrorist - Sex Machine *The Horrorist - Body to Body *The Horrorist - 13 Dobermans *The Horrorist - The Voice Of The Butcher *The Horrorist - Wire to The Ear *The Horrorist - Metal man *The Horrorist - Take this Step *The Horrorist - The Man Master *The Horrorist - Born this Way *The Horrorist - Haywire *The Horrorist - Here Comes the Whip *The Horrorist - Programmed

Filmography

As a teenager in 1989, Chesler appeared in D.A. Pennebaker's documentary '' 101'' as one of eight contest winners that got to travel with Depeche Mode on their

Music For the Masses ''Music for the Masses'' is the sixth studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 28 September 1987 by Mute Records. The album was supported by the Music for the Masses Tour, which launched their fame in the US when ...

tour.

References

External links

*
The Horrorist on FacebookThe Horrorist on InstagramOliver Chesler
on Myspace {{DEFAULTSORT:Chesler, Oliver Living people American electronic musicians 1970 births