biog

Snd was formed in Sheffield, UK, in 1998 by Mark Fell and Mat Steel. Fell and Steel knew each other from art school and had already worked on various projects together when, inspired by highly focussed label runs such as Mike Ink's Studio One or Thomas Brinkmann's Max/Ernst, and influenced equally by house, techno, and experimental music, they decided to produce and release a series of 12" records on their own eponymously titled label. Uncertain if anyone would ever buy it, the first unassuming 12" — Tplay — was produced, packaged in a plain sleeve with no information other than a hand stamped telephone number, and sent out into the world. Almost immediately they were contacted — via the aforementioned telephone number — by the influential but now de-funct Mille Plateaux, whose owner Achim Szepanski heard Peter Ford playing the record while djing in Germany. Thus began a period which saw three critically acclaimed albums for Mille Plateaux alongside the continuing series on their own label put snd at the forefront of new digital minimalism, pioneering a sound that always influenced but also resisted the so called 'clicks and cuts' movement that built up around them. After their third album — Tender Love — for Mille Plateaux in 2002, snd became disillusioned with the recording treadmill and proliferation of the genre they seemed to inhabit, and turned to other projects; solo work, curating events and installations, the occasional contribution to compilations, an album for Raster Noton from side project 'Blir', remix work for the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto, and sound design for fellow Sheffielders The Designers Republic. During this time they also honed their impressive live performance through extensive touring of Japan, America, and Europe (most notably with Autechre), and one off shows at major festivals and venues around the world. Experiencing an snd performance can be alienating, engaging, dynamic, and unforgiving; each event a unique exploration of the relationship between performer, audience, software and context. After essentially a 5 year recording hiatus, snd returned in 2008 where they left off/started: with their original and preferred format of 12" vinyl, minimally packaged on their own label. The release "4,5,6" — conceived of and recorded as a continuation of their label series and intended for release as three individual 12" records — was delivered with typical obstinance, control, awareness, and/or disregard for standardised marketing, distribution, and profit-making models, eventually packaged as a triple vinyl set and limited to 350 copies worldwide. This uncompromising and hard to categorize release sold out virtually overnight and was instantly added to many charts for the best of 2008. Snd continued an active year with another European tour supporting Autechre, a reworking of Billie Jean for the 'Recovery' box set on Fractured Records, a major feature in the Wire magazine, a tour of Japan with Raster Noton, and the recording of their fourth album as snd — "Atavism" — released March 2009, also on Raster Noton.

photo by aoki takamasa