Brian Borcherdt (born August 31, 1976) is a Canadian musician who has been both a solo artist and a member of Burnt Black, Trephines, Hot Carl,

By Divine Right By Divine Right is a Canadian indie rock band led by guitarist and vocalist José Miguel Contreras. History The band was formed in 1989 by high school friends Contreras, drummer Mark Goldstein, bass guitarist Liz Teear and guitarist Steve Berma ...

, Holy Fuck, Lids, and Dusted. As a teenager growing up in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, he founded independent music collective and record label

Dependent Music Dependent Music was a Canadian independent record label, owned and operated by the artists that were a part of the collective. Dependent Music was formed by Brian Borcherdt in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1994. Artists who have released material ...

Chipmunks on 16 Speed

Chipmunks on 16 Speed or Chipmunkson16speed (stylized in

lower case Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...

) is a 2015 musical project by Brian Borcherdt, in which he plays various

Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three s ...

songs and covers on vinyl, and slows them down to 16 revolutions per minute, slow enough that the vocals no longer sound sped up. Most of the songs come from The Chipmunks album ''

Chipmunk Punk ''Chipmunk Punk'' is an album by the Chipmunks, as well as being the first album released by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., after he took over the voices of the Chipmunks after the death of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., his father in 1972. Despite the title of ...

,'' and the album covers for the project are also adapted from its cover art. Borcherdt's work has been described as

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

, new wave, and post-punk, or a combination between

sludge metal Sludge metal (also known as sludge or sludge doom) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated through combining elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. It is typically harsh and abrasive, often featuring shouted vocals, heavi ...

and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

, while Borcherdt himself described it as "heavy", "beautiful", and "poetic". A SoundCloud playlist made for the project, titled ''Sludgefest'', was reuploaded to YouTube and now has over 3 million views. Borcherdt had discovered the concept as he began to play with Holy Fuck, after experimenting with the records on a turntable, and then found a suitcase turntable that could play at extremely slow speeds.

Discography

Solo albums

The Remains of Brian Borcherdt

* ''Moth'' (2002) * ''The Remains of Brian Borcherdt'' (2003) * ''The Remains of..., Volume 2'' (2004) * Torches/ Ward Colorado Demos (unfinished recordings from 2005 to 2006)

Brian Borcherdt

* ''Coyotes'' (2008)

Chipmunks on 16 Speed

* ''Vol. 1'' (2015) * ''Vol. 2'' (2015)

Collaborative albums

Burnt Black

*''Happy'' (1994) *''Nervous Wreck'' (1996) *''A Demonstration'' (1997) *''Burned out'' (1999)

Trephines

*''Trephines'' (2001)

By Divine Right

* ''Sweet Confusion'' (2004)

Holy Fuck

* '' Holy Fuck'' (2005) * ''

Holy Fuck EP ''LP'' is the second album from lo-fi improvisational electronica band Holy Fuck. The album was nominated for Alternative Album of the Year at the 2008 Juno Awards and was nominated for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize. Owen Pallett Michael J ...

'' (2007) * '' LP'' (2007) * '' Latin'' (2010) * ''Congrats'' (2016) * ''Deleter'' (2020)

Dusted

* ''Total Dust'' (2012) * ''Blackout Summer'' (2018) * ''III'' (2021)

References

External links

Record label website

City Sonic: Holy Fuck Film

An interview with Brian Borcherdt: Holy Fuck, he’s totally Dusted!
September 14, 2012 1976 births Canadian indie rock musicians Canadian rock singers Canadian rock guitarists Canadian male guitarists Canadian singer-songwriters Living people People from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia By Divine Right members 21st-century Canadian guitarists 21st-century Canadian male singers Canadian male singer-songwriters {{Canada-singer-stub