SHORT:
Seth Horvitz (b. 1973, Los Angeles) has been producing and performing electronic music since the mid-1990s under the name Sutekh for record labels such as Leaf (UK), Soul Jazz (UK), Force Inc./Mille Plateaux (Germany), and his own Context Free Media. He is also one half of the spastic dance-theater-self-help duo Pigeon Funk with Joshua Kit Clayton. While often classified as a minimal techno artist, Sutekh’s work constantly defies this description, incorporating a range of influences from dub, funk, and free jazz to experimental noise, musique concrète, and ‘classical’ minimalism. Sutekh’s music is meticulously composed, yet full of accidents, frequently blurring the line between the repetitive and chaotic, abrasive and tranquil, serious and absurd, with an expansive sonic palette consisting of synthesized sound, field recordings, acoustic instruments, digital artifacts, and samples that exploit the beauty and unpredictability of the recording medium itself. Though he began his musical adventures as a self-taught misuser of electronics and radio DJ, in recent years he has gravitated towards a more studied approach to composition, taking private courses in piano performance and music theory and completing scores for several short films. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science from UC Berkeley (1995) and recently earned an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College, where he composed a series of works for computer-controlled piano among many other projects.
LONG:
Seth Horvitz (b. 1973, Los Angeles) has been producing and performing electronic music since the mid-1990s under the name Sutekh for record labels such as Leaf (UK), Soul Jazz (UK), Force Inc./Mille Plateaux (Germany), and his own Context Free Media. While often classified as a minimal techno artist, Sutekh’s work constantly defies this description, incorporating a range of influences from dub, funk, and free jazz to experimental noise, musique concrète, and classical minimalism. Sutekh’s music is meticulously composed, yet full of accidents, frequently blurring the line between the repetitive and chaotic, abrasive and tranquil, serious and absurd, with an expansive sonic palette consisting of synthesized sound, field recordings, acoustic instruments, digital artifacts, and samples that exploit the beauty and unpredictability of the recording medium itself.
As a remixer, Sutekh has reinterpreted the work of dozens of artists including Norweigan Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Hanne Hukkelberg, micro-sound artist Alva Noto (aka Carsten Nicolai), pioneer of conceptual art Lawrence Weiner, and the eight piece Klezmer ensemble KLEZ-X. In 2006, the Leaf Label compiled twenty-three of his remixes into a double-disc and four-LP set entitled “Born Again,” described by the BBC as “gorgeous minimalism paired to an unstoppable propulsiveness and a brilliant deployment of texture that’s so tactile it prompts feelings of synaesthesia.”
As a live performer, Sutekh has appeared at festivals, museums, concert halls, and nightclubs around the world, including Mutek (Montreal), Sonár (Barcelona), Dis-patch (Belgrade), Elektrodienos (Vilnius), Croma (Tenerife), Numero-Projecta (Lisbon), C-Sides (Jerusalem), Bios (Athens), Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), SFMOMA, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Sydney Opera House, Womb (Tokyo), and Tresor (Berlin).
Horvitz has been an active member of the Bay Area electronic music scene since the early 1990s. He made his foray into music by conducting a weekly radio show at KALX Berkeley, deejaying at numerous renegade parties, and organizing several weekly and one-off club events. Over the years, he has collaborated with many fellow Bay Area musicians including Matmos, Wobbly, Kevin Blechdom, Safety Scissors, and Twerk. With Joshua Kit Clayton, he also produces and performs under the name Pigeon Funk.
While his musical skills are largely self-taught, Horvitz has taken coursework in Computer Music and Psychoacoustics at CNMAT (Center for New Music and Audio Technologies) and studied tabla in India in 1994 while earning his bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science at the University of California, Berkeley. During the last several years, he has gravitated towards a more studied approach to composition, taking private lessons in piano performance and music theory, and completing scores for several independent films. In 2010, he earned an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College, where he composed a series of works for computer-controlled piano among many other projects.