Richard "Richie" Hawtin (born June 4, 1970) is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with

Detroit techno Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, Jeff Mil ...

's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of

minimal techno Minimal techno is a subgenre of techno music. It is characterized by a stripped-down aesthetic that exploits the use of repetition and understated development. Minimal techno is thought to have been originally developed in the early 1990s by Detro ...

since the mid-1990s. He became known for his recordings under the Plastikman and F.U.S.E. aliases. Under the latter, he released his debut album ''

Dimension Intrusion ''Dimension Intrusion'' is the debut studio album by Canadian electronic music producer Richie Hawtin, credited under the alias F.U.S.E. It was released in June 1993 by Plus 8 and Warp, serving as the fifth album in Warp's ''Artificial Intelligenc ...

'' (1993) as part of

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 ...

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

series. In May 1990, Hawtin and

John Acquaviva John Acquaviva (born 1963) is an Italian Canadian DJ, producer, artist, and musical entrepreneur. Music career Acquaviva began his career in Detroit where he performed under the name of J'acquaviva+8. He met fellow DJ Richie Hawtin at The Shelter ...

founded the

Plus 8 Plus 8 (also spelled as Plus8) is a Canadian techno record label, based in Windsor, Ontario. Along with Underground Resistance and Planet E, Plus 8 was one of the early producers of Detroit Techno's 'Second Wave' music at the start of the 1990 ...

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 such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, which they named after their turntable's pitch adjust function. In 1998, Hawtin launched

M-nus Minus or M-nus is a recording label based in Berlin, Germany and Windsor, Canada. It was created in 1998 by Richie Hawtin when Plus 8, a label previously created by Hawtin, was put on hold. By 2005, M-nus was releasing 2 to 3 CDs and 12 to 14 rec ...

Records. From 2012-2015, Hawtin held the ENTER. Ibiza weekly party at Space in Ibiza. In 2016, Hawtin launched his own technology company called PLAYdifferently, and released the MODEL 1 mixer, co-designed with Andy Rigby-Jones.

Biography

Hawtin was born in

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, England,Gregory, Andy (ed.) (2002) ''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Europa, , p.224 and at the age of nine moved with his parents to

LaSalle, Ontario LaSalle is a town in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. It is a bedroom community of the City of Windsor and part of the Windsor Census Metropolitan Area, and is located south of that city. LaSalle, along with Windsor, is the oldest French settleme ...

, a suburb of

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...

, where he was raised before spending time in Detroit, MI. His father worked as a robotics technician at

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

and was a fan of electronic music, introducing his son to

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

and

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...

at an early age. He has one brother, Matthew, who is a visual artist and

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 ...

DJ. Hawtin attended Sandwich Secondary High School in LaSalle. He began to DJ in clubs at 17. He was mentored by Scott "Go-Go" Gordon at The Shelter in Detroit and his early style was a mix of

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

and techno.Richie Hawtin: Biography
".

Mute records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderm ...

. Retrieved on April 5, 2009. With Canadian DJ

he formed the label

in 1989 to release his own tracks under the name F.U.S.E. He dropped out of the University of Windsor, where he was studying film, and Plus 8 went on to release material by artists such as Speedy J and Kenny Larkin. Hawtin adopted his 'Plastikman' incarnation in 1993, releasing the single "

Spastik "Spastik" is an instrumental track by British people, British-Canadian people, Canadian Electronic musician, electronic musician and DJ Richie Hawtin, under his alias Plastikman. It was released on 4 october 1993 in Canada. It is his most well-kn ...

" and parent album ''

Sheet One ''Sheet One'' is the second studio album by Canadian electronic music producer Richie Hawtin, and his debut studio album under the alias Plastikman. It was released in 1993 by Novamute Records. Artwork The front inlay of ''Sheet One'' was perforat ...

'', going on to release a number of albums and touring a live show for the next decade.

Career

Hawtin was among pioneers of the

Minimal techno Minimal techno is a subgenre of techno music. It is characterized by a stripped-down aesthetic that exploits the use of repetition and understated development. Minimal techno is thought to have been originally developed in the early 1990s by Detro ...

movement that emerged in the early 1990s, where he represented a "second wave" of American producers, such as

Daniel Bell Daniel Bell (May 10, 1919 – January 25, 2011) was an American sociologist, writer, editor, and professor at Harvard University, best known for his contributions to the study of post-industrialism. He has been described as "one of the leading A ...

Robert Hood Robert Hood (born 1965 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American electronic music producer and DJ. He is a founding member of the group Underground Resistance as a 'Minister of Information' with Mad Mike Banks and Jeff Mills. He is often conside ...

Jeff Mills Jeff Mills (born June 18, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan) is an American DJ, record producer, and composer. Thanks to his technical abilities as a DJ, Mills became known as ''The Wizard'' in the early to mid 1980s. In the late 1980s Mills founded ...

Carl Craig Carl Craig (born May 22, 1969) is an American electronic music producer, DJ, and founder of the record label Planet E Communications. He is known as a leading figure and pioneer in the second wave of Detroit techno artists during the late 1980s ...

, Kenny Larkin, and Mike Banks, associated with Detroit techno. In 1996, he released a series of monthly

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

s, entitled Concept 1, which, alongside the work of

and other producers, explored

. His M-nus label also pursued this direction. In 1999, the '' Decks, EFX & 909'' mix album, the first in a series of three, included 38 tracks molded via effects and drum machines. In 2001, Hawtin performed at Life Fest in Windsor. He spent part of 2002 and 2003 living in New York City, before opening a label in Berlin, Germany, where he focused on his M-nus label, developing the careers of DJ-producers such as Magda, Gaiser, Hearttrob and Troy Pierce. In 2006, he collaborated with choreographer Enzo Cosimi on a composition called "9.20" for the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

opening ceremony. He said, "Enzo and I are very much interested in pushing boundaries, both as artists and for our audiences. Working together for the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Games delivers the creative endeavor to not only entertain a huge audience, but to also introduce them to sights and sounds that they may have never experienced before." In 2012, Hawtin worked with

Loco Dice Loco Dice (born Yassine Ben Achour on 10 August 1974) is a German DJ and electronic music producer born and based in Düsseldorf, Germany. He is best known for his work in the house and tech house genres and his residencies at Ibiza nightclubs ...

and Ean Golden in promoting Electronic Dance Music on a tour of North American universities entitled '' CNTRL: Beyond EDM'', which included music production seminars, lessons in the music business and live music performances. In July 2015, Hawtin was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music Technology by the

University of Huddersfield , mottoeng = Thus not for you alone , established = 1825 – Huddersfield Science and Mechanics' Institute1992 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £2.47 million (2015) , chancellor = George W. Buckley , vice_chancell ...

. Hawtin composed and scored music for the XXth Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony and 1928 silent French film Brumes d’automne.

Recordings

Hawtin has recorded under the aliases Plastikman, F.U.S.E., Concept 1, Forcept 1, Circuit Breaker, Robotman, Chrome, Spark, Xenon, R.H.X., Jack Master, Richard Michaels and UP!. He recorded and performed, with other artists, under group names such as The Hard Brothers, Hard Trax (with his brother Matthew Hawtin), 0733, Cybersonik (with

and

), Final Exposure (with

Joey Beltram Joey Beltram (born 6 September 1971) is an American DJ and music producer, best known for his pioneering singles "Energy Flash" and "Mentasm" and for remixing Human Resource's " Dominator". Rave recordings "Mentasm", co-produced with Mundo Muzi ...

and Mundo Muzique), Just For Fun (with Holger Wick), Narod Niki (with

Akufen Marc Leclair, better known by his stage name Akufen, is a Canadian electronic musician. His music is electronic music that is often described as minimal house, minimal techno, glitch, or microhouse. His 2002 release titled ''My Way'' introduced ...

, Cabanne, Dandy Jack,

, Luciano,

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 ...

Robert Henke Robert B. Henke (born 1969) is a German computer music artist working in the fields of audiovisual installation, music and performance. He was born in Munich, Germany, and lives in Berlin. Coming from an engineering background, Henke is fascinat ...

and Thomas Franzmann), Two Guys In The Basement (with John Acquaviva), Spawn (with

Fred Giannelli Fred Giannelli (born 1960 in Lowell, Massachusetts) is an American electronic musician. He began experimenting with electronics in the 1970s as Turning Shrines. In 1984, Giannelli met Psychic TV's Genesis P. Orridge while the group was in Bosto ...

and Daniel Bell) and States Of Mind (with Acquaviva). Hawtin and

Pete Namlook Pete Namlook (born 25 November 1960 as Peter Kuhlmann in Frankfurt, West Germany, died on 8 November 2012) was an ambient and electronic music producer and composer. In 1992, he founded the German record label FAX +49-69/450464, which he oversa ...

collaborated to produce the From Within series of albums which blend

and ambient. He released a mix CD ''Sounds of the Third Season'' with

Sven Väth Sven Väth (born 26 October 1964) is a German DJ and electronic music producer. He is a three-time DJ Awards winner, and his career in electronic music spans over 30 years. The single "Electrica Salsa" with OFF launched his career in 1986. Referr ...

. ''Slices'' magazine launched a series of biographies in 2007 called "Pioneers of Electronic Music"; their first issue was a 60-minute biographical documentary on Hawtin. The film follows his career from his early days crossing the border to Detroit to his current life in Berlin, and contains interviews with many colleagues and family members. 2011 saw the release of ''Arkives 1993 - 2010'', a massive box set containing everything Hawtin has released under his Plastikman moniker, as well as a new mixed set and previously unreleased material. The collection includes CDs, vinyl, digital downloads and a DVD. In November 2013, Hawtin performed as Plastikman at the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

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 ...

. The recording of this show was included in ''EX'' album, which was released digitally on June 10, 2014 followed with a CD release on July 15, 2014 . On December 11, 2015, Hawtin released a fifteen-track LP titled ''

From My Mind To Yours ''From My Mind to Yours'' is a 2015 studio album by Richie Hawtin. It was released through Plus 8 on 11 December 2015 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the record label. It features productions under Hawtin's own name and his aliases Plastikman ...

'' to commemorate the 25 year anniversary of his record label Plus 8. The album consists of all new tracks from his various aliases such as Plastikman, F.U.S.E., Robotman, R.H.X., and Circuit Breaker. In its first week, it reached the top 20 in the UK dance album charts. Other Hawtin's collaborations include an installation performance in the Grand Palais in Paris with

Anish Kapoor Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor (born 12 March 1954) is a British-Indian sculptor specializing in installation art and conceptual art. Born in Mumbai, Kapoor attended the elite all-boys Indian boarding school The Doon School, before moving to the UK ...

in 2011, ''Not Abstract II exhibition'' at the Gagosian Gallery in New York with German artist

Andreas Gursky Andreas Gursky (born 15 January 1955) is a German photographer and professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany. He is known for his large format architecture and landscape colour photographs, often using a high point of view. His works ...

, and an audiovisual installation at 180 The Strand in London under his F.U.S.E. alias alongside his brother Matthew Hawtin, among others.

Entrepreneurship

Hawtin co-founded Plus 8 Equities, a music technology fund along with John Acquaviva, Rishi Patel, Ben Turner and Pete Tong, where Hawtin serves as chairman. According to

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

, the funds main goal is to advance music technology and collaborate with the startups engaged in developing new technologies able to advance music industry". Hawtin's established his own music technology company, called PLAYdifferently, in 2016. The first release was the MODEL 1 mixer, co-designed with the award-winning Andy Rigby-Jones. The mixer has been adopted by DJs such as

Carl Cox Carl Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, as well as radio DJ and record producer. He is based in Hove, Sussex, England. Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has performed at numerous clubs and e ...

, Jamie Jones,

and many others. In 2014, Hawtin launched ''ENTER. SAKE'', a sake brand in USA and Europe. The same year he was awarded a title of ''Sake Samurai''. In 2016, Hawtin released his own proprietary DJ mixer called the PLAYdifferently MODEL1 with help from Andy Rigby-Jones, a former Allen & Heath engineer. Loco Dice, Nicole Moudebar, Chris Liebing and Dubfire were among the early ambassadors of the mixer. In 2019, Hawtin launched his CLOSER App, allowing fans to deconstruct the audio from his own live performances while toggling multiple camera angles of the performance.

Selected discography

Albums

* F.U.S.E. : ''

'', 1993 * Plastikman: ''

'', 1993 *Richie Hawtin: ''From Within'', 1994 (with

) * Plastikman: ''

Recycled Plastik ''Recycled Plastik'' is an extended play by Canadian electronic music producer Richie Hawtin under the alias Plastikman. It was released in 1994 by Novamute Records. The EP, released a few months before the Plastikman album ''Musik (album), Musik' ...

'', 1994 * Plastikman: '' Musik'', 1994 *Richie Hawtin: ''From Within 2'', 1995 (with

) * Plastikman: ''Sickness (EP)'', 1997 *Richie Hawtin: ''From Within 3'', 1997 (with

) * Concept 1: ''96:CD'', 1998 * Concept 1: ''96:VR'', 1998 (remixed by Thomas Brinkmann) * Plastikman: '' Consumed'', 1998 * Plastikman: '' Artifakts c', 1998 * Plastikman: '' Closer'', 2003 * Plastikman to the power of 9: ''Kompilation'', 2010 * Plastikman: ''Arkives 1993 - 2010'', 2010 * Plastikman: '' EX'', 2014 (UK Dance #16) * Richie Hawtin: ''

From My Mind to Yours ''From My Mind to Yours'' is a 2015 studio album by Richie Hawtin. It was released through Plus 8 on 11 December 2015 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the record label. It features productions under Hawtin's own name and his aliases Plastikman ...

'', 2015 * F.U.S.E. ''Computer Space (25th Anniversary Edition)'', 2019 * Richie Hawtin: '' Time Warps'' (EP), 2020 * Richie Hawtin: '' Concept 1 (Digital)'', 2021

Mixes / sets

* Richie Hawtin: ''Mixmag Live!'', 1995 (Live DJ mix album) * Richie Hawtin: '' Decks, EFX & 909'', 1999 (DJ mix album) * Richie Hawtin: '' DE9: Closer to the Edit'', 2001 (DJ mix album) * Richie Hawtin and Sven Väth: ''Sound of the Third Season'', 2002 (DJ mix album) * ''Richie Hawtin and Ricardo Villalobos Live at the Robert Johnson, Offenbach, Germany'', 2004 (11-hour DJ set) * Richie Hawtin: '' DE9 , Transitions'', 2005 (DJ mix album) * Richie Hawtin: ''DE9 lite: Electronic Adventures'', 2006 (DJ mix album, produced with Mixmag) * Richie Hawtin: ''Sounds from Can Elles'', 2008 (free with DJ Magazine issue 467) * Richie Hawtin: ''Mixmag presents: Richie Hawtin - New Horizons, 2012 (DJ mix album) * Richie Hawtin: '' CLOSE COMBINED (GLASGOW, LONDON, TOKYO - LIVE), 2019

Music awards

DJ Awards

DJ Awards DJ Awards is a celebration of electronic music, and aims to recognise and honour DJs and individuals who have influenced electronic dance music worldwide. Held annually in Ibiza at the end of the summer season, DJ Awards has retained the same et ...

organizes the annual

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 ...

DJ awards event. It is the only international ceremony for DJs and also the oldest, and is held once a year at Pacha club in

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The award is one of the most important accolades an artist can win or be honoured by. Hawtin has won the ''Best Techno DJ Award'' three times and received 17 nominations overall. , - , 1999 , Richie Hawtin , Best DJ Innovator , , - , 2001 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , - , 2002 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , - , 2003 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , - , 2004 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , - , 2005 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , - , 2006 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , - , 2008 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , - , 2009 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , - , 2010 , Richie Hawtin , Best International DJ , , - , 2010 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , - , 2011 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , - , 2012 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , - , 2013 , Richie Hawtin , Best International DJ , , - , 2014 , Richie Hawtin , Best International DJ , , - , 2014 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , - , 2015 , Richie Hawtin , Best Techno DJ , , -

AIM Awards

The Association of Independent Music (AIM) UK the AIM promotes independent artists producing their own music globally. , - , 2014 , Richie Hawtin , Outstanding Contribution ,

DJ rankings (current)

The DJ List Ranking The DJ List has approximately 1 million members who rate DJs in different EDM genres, these are the statistics for The DJ List as of 6 November 2015. Top Deejays Ranking Topdeejays is a global DJ database founded and operated by FM Agencija. It uses an

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specificat ...

that measures general

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

influence of a DJ by combining their

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Google Plus Google+ (pronounced and sometimes written as Google Plus; sometimes called G+) was a social network owned and operated by Google. The network was launched on June 28, 2011, in an attempt to challenge other social networks, linking other Google p ...

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

, MySpace,

Last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the tracks the user listens to, e ...

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

fans, subscribers and followers TDJ calculates and applies TDJ points to in order rank artists global, national and by genre influence. These are the statistics for topdeejays as of 6 November 2015. DJ Rankings The Official Global DJ Rankings is calculated according to an advanced algorithm, compiled to give an accurate, independent and fair ranking of all DJs. It considers the following criteria of DJ earnings, media presence, chart data from music releases and remixes, airplay data from radio stations, public data about royalties collected from copyright associations, followers on major social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter etc. and polling and rating data from various sites, such as dj-rating.com and djmag.com.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawtin, Richie 1970 births Living people English DJs English record producers People from Banbury Musicians from Oxfordshire English emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Canadian DJs Canadian techno musicians Ableton Live users Mute Records artists People from Essex County, Ontario Musicians from Ontario Paper Bag Records artists Electronic dance music DJs