Terre Thaemlitz is a musician, public speaker, and owner of the record label Comatonse Recordings. Thaemlitz's work critically combines themes of

identity politics Identity politics is a political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these i ...

– including

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

and

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

– with an ongoing critique of the socio-economics of commercial media production. This diversity of themes is matched by Thaemlitz's wide range of production styles, which include electroacoustic computer music, club-oriented

deep house Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ( ...

, digital

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, ambient, and computer-composed neo-expressionist piano solos. Graphic design, photography, illustration, text and video also play a part in Thaemlitz's projects.

Activism

As a speaker and educator on issues of non-essentialist

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

pansexual , meaning "all" , definition = Sexual or romantic attraction to people regardless of gender , classification = Sexual identity , parent = Bisexuality , synonyms = , associated_terms = Polysexual, queer, heterofl ...

and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

, Thaemlitz has participated in panel discussions throughout Europe and Japan, as well as held numerous cross-cultural sensitivity workshops at Tokyo's Uplink Factory near Thaemlitz's current residence in Kawasaki,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Terre Thaemlitz's ''Soil'' and ''Tranquilizer'' releases in the early and mid-1990s served to introduce a "political" form of ambient music, continued in later releases such as ''Couture Cosmetique'' and ''Means from an End'', which aim to recast the usually passive artist-listener-environment equation. Thaemlitz's colleagues in the political ambient music front include the sound activist group

Ultra-red Ultra-red are a sound art collective founded in 1994 by two AIDS activists, Dont Rhine and Marco Larsen. Originally based in Los Angeles, the art collective has expanded over the years with members across North American and Europe. Members in Ultra ...

. Following their remixes of Thaemlitz's ''Still Life with Numerical Analysis'' in 1998, Ultra-red joined Thaemlitz on the German label

Mille Plateaux ''A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia'' (french: link=no, Mille plateaux) is a 1980 book by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and the French psychoanalyst Félix Guattari. It is the second and final volume of their collaborativ ...

for their first two albums: ''Second Nature: An Electroacoustic Pastoral'' (1999) and ''Structural Adjustments'' (2000). Terre Thaemlitz published the essay collection ''Nuisance'' in 2015, which contained essays on identity and music written between 1996 and its year of publication. In the introduction, which was originally written in 2006, Thaemlitz writes, "My intention is to write in defense of pessimism, and to critically reject the incessant optimism lurking at the core of virtually all media, conferences, concerts, events and symposia – "critical media" or not."

Discography

Albums

*''Tranquilizer'', Instinct Ambient, 1994, EX-283-2 *''Soil'', Instinct Ambient, 1995, AMB:007-2 *''Die Roboter Rubato'', Mille Plateaux, 1997, MP34 *''Couture Cosmetique'', Caipirinha Productions, 1997 (US); Daisyworld Records, 1997 (Japan) *''G.R.R.L.'', Comatonse Recordings, 1997, C.003 *''Means From An End'', Mille Plateaux, 1999, MPCD53 *''Love For Sale'', Mille Plateaux, 1999, MPCD53 *''Replicas Rubato'', Mille Plateaux, 1999, MPCD71 and MPLP71 *''Fagjazz'', Comatonse Recordings, 2000, C.007 *''Interstices'', Mille Plateaux, 2000, MP94 *''Oh, No! It's Rubato'', Mille Plateaux, 2001, MPCD103/MPLP103 *''Lovebomb / Ai No Bakudan'', Mille Plateaux, 2003, MP117 *''Lovebomb / Ai No Bakudan'', double disc DVD & audio CD re-issue, Comatonse Recordings, 2005, D.001 *''Trans-Sister Radio'', Grain of Sound/Base Recordings, 2005, GOS018/BRCD00505 *''K-S.H.E (Kami-Sakunobe House Explosion): Routes Not Roots / Ruutsu De Ha Naku Ruuto'', Comatonse Recordings, 2006, C.013.CD *''Terre Thaemlitz presents... You? Again?'', Mule Electronic, 2006, MED05 *''DJ Sprinkles: Midtown 120 Blues'', Mule Musiq, 2008, MMD7 *''Terre Thaemlitz: Soulnessless'', 2012 *''Where Dancefloors Stand Still'', Mule Musiq, 2013, MMCD41

12" EPs

*''Comatonse.000'', Comatonse Recordings, 1993, C.000 (contains "Raw Through A Straw" and "Tranquilizer") *''Comatonse.000.R1'', Comatonse Recordings, 1997, C.000.R1 (translucent vinyl re-issue of C.000 with previously unreleased outro "Pretty Mouth (He's Got One)") *''Terre's Neu Wuss Fusion: She's Hard'', Comatonse Recordings, 1998, C.004 *''DJ Sprinkles: Sloppy 42nds'', Comatonse Recordings, 1998, C.006 *''DJ Sprinkles: Bassline.89'', Comatonse Recordings, 2001, C.008 *''Social Material: Class/Consciousness'', Comatonse Recordings, 2001, C.009 *''Terre's Neu Wuss Fusion: A Crippled Left Wing Soars With The Right'', Comatonse Recordings, 2002, C.010 *''Teriko: Hystoric Trace ("Fake")'', Hysteric Trace, 2003, INEX-002 *''The Opposite Of Genius Or Chance'', EN/OF, 2003, EN/OF 013 *''Comatonse.000.R2'', Comatonse Recordings, 2004, C.000.R2 *''K-S.H.E (Kami-Sakunobe House Explosion): Route 1'' EP, Comatonse Recordings, 2006, C.013.EP1 *''K-S.H.E (Kami-Sakunobe House Explosion): Route 2'' EP, Comatonse Recordings, 2006, C.013.EP2 *''K-S.H.E (Kami-Sakunobe House Explosion): Route'' 3 EP, Comatonse Recordings, 2006, C.013.EP3 *''You? Again? 1'', Mule Electronic, 2006, M019 *''You? Again? 2'', Mule Electronic, 2006, M020 *''You? Again? 3'', Mule Electronic, 2006, M025 *''Terre's Neu Wuss Fusion: She's Hard Remixes'', Mule Musiq, 2007, MM019 *''DJ Sprinkles: Grand Central, Pt. I'', Mule Musiq, 2008, MM033 *''DJ Sprinkles: Brenda's $20 Dilemma (Kuniyuki Remix)'', Mule Musiq, 2009, MM034 *''DJ Sprinkles: Grand Central (Motor City Drum Ensemble Remixes)'', Mule Musiq, 2009

7" singles

*''A-MUSAK'', Germany:

A-Musik A-Musik is a record label for experimental music, a record distributor and a music store. A-Musik is based in Cologne and was founded in 1995 in music, 1995. Artists on A-Musik *DAT Politics *Felix Kubin *Microstoria *Wolfgang Müller (musicia ...

, 1999, A-14 *''Selling'', Netherlands: Bottrop-Boy, 2000, B-BOY 003 *''Chugga: A Big 7-Inch'', Austria: Klanggallerie, 2003, GG73

DJ mixes

*''DJ Sprinkles: DEEPERAMA (Module Party 5)'', Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2003, DCM5 *''DJ Sprinkles' DEEPERAMA (Module Party 8)'', Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2004, DCM8 *''PASTIME PARADISE'', Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2004, DPP1 *''DJ Sprinkles' DEEPERAMA (Module Party 9)'', Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2004, DCM9 *''DJ Sprinkles' DEEPERAMA (Module Party 10)'', Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2004, DCM10 *''DJ Sprinkles' DEEPERAMA (Module Party 14)'', Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2005, DCM14

Collaborations

*''Web'', Subharmonic, 1995 (with Bill Laswell) *''Yesterday's Heroes: 1979'' (with Haco), France: La Louche qui Fait déborder le Vase, 2004, LOUCH 001 *''Complete Spiral'' 12", Comatonse Recordings, 2012 (with Mark Fell) *''Fresh Insights'' 12", Comatonse Recordings, 2015 (with Mark Fell)

Internet-only releases

* ''Below Code'', Comatonse Recordings, 2006, C.012 To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Comatonse Records, Thaemlitz released a free best-of compilation CD. Physical copies are no longer in print, but MP3s are available for free (along with a bonus track that did not fit on the original release) through Comatonse.

Radio dramas

* ''Trans-Sister Radio'' – Germany:

Hessischer Rundfunk Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting, public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ...

Radio, Channel HR2, Frankfurt M, 2004. Premier airdate November 17, 2004. Hörspiel, Redaktion: Manfred Hess. Also released on CD (Portugal: Grain of Sound/Base Recordings, 2005, GOS018/BRCD00505). * ''The Laurence Rassel Show'' (with Laurence Rassel) – Germany: Hessischer Rundfunk Radio, Channel HR2, Frankfurt M, 2006. Premier airdate April, 2006. Hörspiel, Redaktion: Manfred Hess.

Filmography

* ''ffwd_mag'' (DVD + magazine) Italy: .::invernomuto::., 2005, Issue 3. Audio and photography. * ''Lovebomb / Ai No Bakudan'' (full-length film/music videos) Written, directed, filmed and edited by Terre Thaemlitz. Originally released on VHS (Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2003, V.002). In English and Japanese. Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2005/2003, D.001.NTSC , D.001.PAL. * ''Interstices'' (short film/music videos) Written, directed, filmed and edited by Terre Thaemlitz. Commissioned by

Lovebytes Lovebytes is a digital arts organisation based in Sheffield, UK, established in 1994 and best known for the Lovebytes International Festival of Digital Art. Founded by Jon Harrison and Janet Jennings who are the directors of the organisation. Lov ...

and funded by the

Arts Council of England The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

. Released with "Silent Passability" on DVD (Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2005, D.000.NTSC). Originally released on VHS (Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2001, V.001) and DVD ("Volatile Media," UK: Lovebytes, 2002, DSP2). Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2005/2001, D.000.NTSC. * ''Silent Passability (Ride to the Countryside)'' (music video) Written, directed, filmed and edited by Terre Thaemlitz. Released with ''Interstices'' on DVD (Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2005, D.000.NTSC). Originally released on VHS (US: Comatonse Recordings, 1997, V.000). Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2005/1997, D.000.NTSC. * ''Modulations'' (documentary) Directed by

Iara Lee Iara Lee (Ponta Grossa, Brazil, 1966) is a Brazilian film producer, director and activist of Korean descent who works mainly in the Middle East and Africa. Her recent projects include ''From Trash to Treasure: Turning Negatives into Positives'' (20 ...

, produced by

George Gund III George Gund III (May 7, 1937 – January 15, 2013) was an American businessman and sports entrepreneur. Gund was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 7, 1937, to Jessica Roesler and George Gund II, a powerful banker in Cleveland. A high-school dro ...

, (US: Caipirinha Productions, 1998). Interview. * ''Neue Kraft, Neues Werk (Transcodeur Express)'' (documentary) Directed by Ninon Liotet and Olivier Schulbaum, (Germany:

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

2002). Interview and music. * ''Synthetic Pleasures'' (documentary) Directed by Iara Lee, produced by George Gund, (US: Caipirinha Productions, 1995). Three tracks featured on soundtrack. Sound engineering for trailer.

Awards

* Album of the YearAlbum of the Year
/ref> 2009, for DJ Sprinkles – ''Midtown 120 Blues'',

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 ...

* Honorable Mention In Digital Musics, 1999 ORF

Prix Ars Electronica The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the best known and longest running yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria) ...

* Best Ambient/Experimental Artist 1997, 1997 Readers' Poll results in '' URB Magazine'' (US: March/April 1998) * Best DJ 1991, Underground Grammy Award from the House of Magic, Midtown

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

drag circuit

References

External links

Terre Thaemlitz
– official site *
Comatonse Recordings
– Terre Thaemlitz record label {{DEFAULTSORT:Thaemlitz 1968 births Living people American electronic musicians Ambient musicians American LGBT musicians LGBT people from Minnesota Transgender musicians LGBT DJs American women in electronic music Political music artists Deep house musicians