Tim Wright has been active as a musician and composer since the early 1990s, working predominantly at the experimental end of the spectrum of

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

and

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

. Besides his birth name, Wright has worked under various names, most notably Germ. He also worked under the name Tube Jerk, a solo project. He was a founding member of

Sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

, a five-piece experimental rock/jazz/electronic group. Other pseudonyms he has used include Pin, Moondog, Asphere, Speed Baby.

Germ

Wright's first commercially available releases were under the pseudonym Germ. Described as "one of the most influential, under-recognized forces of innovation in the European experimental electronic music scene" (Sean Cooper,

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 ...

), Germ was initially a solo bedroom project but grew with the aid of engineer John Dalby at Finsbury Park Studios to encompass collaborations with Hilary Jeffery (trombone), Matt Miles (double bass) and

Nicholas Bullen Nicholas Bullen (sometimes called Nik Napalm; born 1968) is an English musician and a founding member of the grindcore band Napalm Death. Biography Bullen is one of the founding members – with Miles Ratledge (Rat) – of Napalm Death, the ...

(electric bass). Germ released three EPs and two albums, "Gone" and "Parrot" on General Productions Recordings (GPR) in 1995. Wright continues to use the Germ name for the occasional remix, the most recent being of John Richards' "Suite for Piano and Electronics" (2007 Nonclassical).

Tube Jerk

When GPR ceased trading in 1996 Wright was temporarily forced to abandon the Germ name and went on to pursue a more dance-floor friendly sound with his solo project Tube Jerk. After commissioning the Germ remix of African Nightflight's "Make up your Mind" Sean Mayo, then head of PIAS UK offshoot iLL Recordings, persuaded Wright to tailor his sound for a

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

/club audience with the Tube Jerk project. The Tube Jerk sound was instantly recognisable with its use of enormous rolling

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

style bass-lines and tight house-influenced drum parts. Still active to date, two full-length albums have been released, "Shift" (2003 on Sativae Recordings) and "Fold" (1999 on iLL Recordings) as well as a number of remixes and vinyl only EPs. The two most commonly cited examples of the Tube Jerk sound are "Eight" on the album Fold, and the Tube Jerk remix of

Cristian Vogel Cristian Vogel (born 1972) is an Chilean experimental electronic musician. Biography Vogel was born in Chile and moved to England in the early 1980s with his family, fleeing from the government of Augusto Pinochet. Vogel first began working with ...

's "Whipaspank" (2000 on

Novamute Novamute Records is the electronic dance music subsidiary of Mute Records, which was started in 1992.Larkin, Colin (1999) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music'', Virgin Books, , p. 243 The label's staff included Mick Paterson (promotions ...

Tim Wright

The Vogel remix brought with it the attentions of

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 ...

's legendary electronic subsidiary

which commissioned Wright to produce two 12" vinyl EPs "Searcher/The Walk" (2001) and "Going Down/ The Lunge" (2002) under his own name. These EPs fused a 2step or

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. It ...

rhythmic sensibility with the darkness and power of Wright's

production approach, proving a success with

and breaks audiences alike. The tracks were licensed widely, appearing on compilations from the

Plump DJs Plump DJs are an English dance music duo consisting of Lee Rous and Andy Gardner, considered to be early pioneers of the breakbeat genre in late 1990s. Throughout the 2000s, they have been very prolific creatively, releasing many celebrated und ...

"Urban Underground - The Break Beat Elite" to Player and

Remady Marc Würgler (; born on 12 December 1977), better known by his stage name Remady, is a Swiss music producer from Zürich. His beginnings was under the name Player & Remady also known as Remady P&R. He later started to simply be called "Remady", ...

's "Sweet and Sexy - How 2 Step 2" (

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

). Wright went on to record an album "Thirst" which was released on

in 2004, featuring vocal contributions from Toastie Tailor and Juice Aleem (from

UK hip hop British hip hop, also known as UK hip hop or UK rap, is a genre of music, and a culture that covers a variety of styles of hip hop music made in the United Kingdom. It is generally classified as one of a number of styles of R&B/Hip-Hop. Briti ...

group New Flesh). Remix credits under his own name include

Goldfrapp Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo from London, formed in 1999. The duo consists of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals, synthesiser) and Will Gregory (synthesiser). Despite favourable reviews and a short-listing for the Mercury Prize, their ...

and Mediengruppe Telekommander. Notable live performances were at

Sónar Sónar is a festival dedicated to music, creativity and technology, founded in Barcelona in 1994 by Ricard Robles, Enric Palau, and Sergi Caballero. The festival has been divided into two parts since its inception: Sónar by Day and Sónar b ...

by Night,

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

2004 and

Transmusicales Les Rencontres Trans Musicales (generally referred to as ''Les Transmusicales de Rennes'') is a music festival that lasts for 3 or 4 days. It is held annually in December. The festival takes place in Rennes, Brittany, France. Since the festival's b ...

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

2004 where his laptop crashed in front of 12,000 people. He continues to write and perform live under his own name.

Sand

Parallel to his solo work Wright was also a founder member of

, a five-piece experimental rock/jazz/electronic group with Hilary Jeffery (trombone), John Richards (double and electric bass), Neil Griffiths (guitar and films) and Rowan Oliver (drums/percussion). Sand performed live for the first time at The Spotted Cow in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

in June 1995 with drummer Ben Clark. Their early work was dominated by a

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 ...

aesthetic, with Wright's role primarily one of manipulating the acoustic sound of the instrumentalists in real time. As a relationship developed with

Soul Jazz Records Soul Jazz Records is a British record label based in London. Outside of releasing records, the label also publishes books, occasionally films and performs as a DJ set. The music releases labels from a variety of genres, including reggae, house ...

owner Stuart Baker the sound became more focussed and guitar oriented, whilst maintaining an improvisatory approach to recording and performing. Sand have released three albums, Beautiful People Are Evil (1999 Satellite Records/

), Still Born Alive (2001 Satellite Records/

) and The Dalston Shroud (2006

) and several 12" vinyl EPs. Sand's collaboration with noted choreographer Saburo Teshigawara resulted in the creation of the piece Green which has been performed at the

New National Theatre, Tokyo The is Japan's first and foremost national centre for the performing arts, including opera, ballet, contemporary dance and drama. It is located in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. Since 1997 more than 650 productions were staged. There are about 300 ...

(2000, 2002) and the

Melbourne International Arts Festival Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festi ...

(2005).

Parrot Music

Wright also worked as head engineer at Parrot Music (formerly Finsury Park Studios) in

. Described as a "private

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

" it is where most of his work was recorded. He is credited as engineer on the majority of the output of

group New Flesh (

Big Dada Big Dada is a British independent record label imprint distributed by Ninja Tune. It was started by reputed hip hop journalist Will Ashon in 1997. It is best known for marketing of prominent British hip hop artist Roots Manuva, poet and playwri ...

Personal life

He studied for a PhD in composition of

Electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a genre of popular and Western art music in which composers use technology to manipulate the timbres of acoustic sounds, sometimes by using audio signal processing, such as reverb or harmonizing, on acoustical instrumen ...

at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

in 2013.

References

* Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/ search "Germ"

External links

Sand's website - https://myspace.com/mrsapple.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Tim British techno musicians British electronic musicians British composers Intelligent dance musicians Alumni of the University of York Living people Year of birth missing (living people)