Ian Dominick Fernow is an American

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

musician, poet and

multimedia art Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...

ist. He is best known for extreme music released under the stage name Prurient, as well as numerous other aliases including Vatican Shadow and Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement. His first releases date back to 1998, the same year in which he founded the record label

Hospital Productions Hospital Productions is an American record 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 ...

Life

Fernow was born into a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

household, and was raised in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

. He recounts his entrance into public school and his exposure to

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

and

tape trading Tape trading is an unofficial method of distribution of musical or video content through the postal system, which was prominent in the 1980s and 1990s. Although most commonly used to distribute and publicize limited-release musical demo tapes in ...

as early sources of musical interest. In particular, Fernow cites the death metal band

Deicide Deicide is the killing (or the killer) of a god. The concept may be used for any act of killing a god, including a life-death-rebirth deity who is killed and then resurrected. Etymology The term deicide was coined in the 17th century from m ...

's album ''

Once upon the Cross ''Once upon the Cross'' is the third studio album by American death metal band Deicide. It was released on April 18, 1995, by Roadrunner Records. The samples at the beginning of the opening track "Once upon the Cross" and "Trick or Betrayed" ar ...

'' as, "frightening ... A huge record for me, still to this day." Fernow has resided in

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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' ...

, and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and runs the labels

and Bed of Nails.

Career

In his early work as Prurient, Fernow worked primarily with a

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and public ...

and

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the v ...

, and sometimes drums. He eventually began utilizing more electronics, and currently works primarily with laptop and synthesizers. In the past, he collaborated with artists like John Wiese, Jeff Plummer (of Immaculate:Grotesque and Shallow Waters), Kris Lapke (of Alberich and MCMS),

Wolf Eyes __NOTOC__ Wolf Eyes is an American experimental music group from Detroit, Michigan, formed in 1996 by Nate Young. Currently a duo, Wolf Eyes are a prominent act within contemporary noise music. They have collaborated with a variety of artists from ...

Macronympha Macronympha is an American Noise music and power electronics group formed 1990 by Joseph Roemer and Rodger Stella in Pittsburgh, PA. Tim Oliveira ( Stimbox) and Dominick Fernow (Prurient) have occasionally appeared on Macronympha recordings and l ...

, and

Philip Best Philip Neil Best (born 15 June 1968) is an English industrial musician, visual artist, and author. A pioneer of power electronics, he formed the band Consumer Electronics in 1982 at age 14. Best joined the group Whitehouse, in 1983. After a nine ...

(of

Whitehouse Whitehouse may refer to: People * Charles S. Whitehouse (1921-2001), American diplomat * Cornelius Whitehouse (1796–1883), English engineer and inventor * E. Sheldon Whitehouse (1883-1965), American diplomat * Elliott Whitehouse (born 1993), ...

and Consumer Electronics). Fernow has also performed in various bands, such as Football Rabbit, Vegas Martyrs, Taylor Bow, Ash Pool, and formerly as part of

Cold Cave Cold Cave is the moniker for the music of Wesley Eisold, described as a "collage of darkwave, noise, and synthpop." A number of reviewers note the affinity with early 1980s post-punk and early synthpop, in particular Joy Division and New Orde ...

. Prurient has released material on numerous independent record labels, such as

Hanson Records Hanson Records is an American independent record label founded in Brighton, Michigan and now based in Oberlin, Ohio. It is operated by the musician Aaron Dilloway, formerly of the band Wolf Eyes. History The label's first release was a 7-inch ex ...

RRRecords RRRecords is a record label and used and new record shop based in Lowell, Massachusetts. RRRecords was the first American record label to publish underground "noise music" in the early 1980s, and published the first American vinyl by Merzbow, Maso ...

Load Records Load Records was an American experimental music-oriented independent record label based out of Providence, Rhode Island. "Load Records might possibly be in possession of the world's most challenging record roster," writes Mark Hensch of Thrash Pi ...

Troubleman Unlimited Troubleman Unlimited Records was a record label specializing in indie rock and similar genres. Founded in 1993, the label was based in Bayonne, New Jersey and owned by Mike Simonetti. History The label started as an offshoot of a fanzine called ...

, Chrondritic Sound, Kitty Play Records, American Tapes, and his own label

. Fernow has also recorded music under a variety of aliases, including Vatican Shadow, Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement, Exploring Jezebel, River Magic, Winter Soldier, Window Cleaning By Ian, December Magic, and Tortured Hooker. Prurient has been covered in outlets such as

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

, and

Resident Advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. It was established in 2001. ''RA''s editorial team provides news, musi ...

Partial discography

As Prurient

As Vatican Shadow

Studio albums

EPs and singles

Compilations

As Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement

Studio albums

*''Papua Land Where Spirits Still Rule'' (2012) *''Folklore Venom'' (2013) *''Green Graves'' (2016) *''Ambient Black Magic'' (2017)

EPs

*''The Plant with Many Faces'' (2013) *''Black Magic Cannot Cross Water'' (2013) *''Water Rose Above the Head'' (2013)

Compilations

*''Water Witches'' (2017)

As Christian Cosmos

Studio albums

*''Enthronement by God as the First-Born of the Dead'' (2012)

EPs

*''Cadence upon the Threshold of Judgement'' (2012) *''The Sharp Lines That Delineate His Robes'' (2012) *''Which Echo Again and Again'' (2012)

As Exploring Jezebel

Studio albums

*''On a Business Trip to London'' (2015)

References

External links

Prurient Ian Dominick Fernow is an American experimental musician, poet and multimedia artist. He is best known for extreme music released under the stage name Prurient, as well as numerous other aliases including Vatican Shadow and Rainforest Spiritual ...

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 ...

Prurient discography
on

RateYourMusic Rate Your Music (often abbreviated to RYM) is an online collaborative database of music releases and films. Users can catalog items from their personal collection, review them, and assign ratings in a five-star rating system. The site also fea ...

Prurient discography
on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernow, Dominick Living people American electronic musicians American noise musicians American industrial musicians Musicians from Wisconsin Load Records artists Dais Records artists 1981 births Profound Lore Records artists Power electronics musicians American techno musicians