Producer Gordon Raphael (The Strokes, Regina Spektor) Launches Gordotronic.com – Eclectic Music, Art & More
Gordon Raphael, who established himself as one of New York City’s most influential music producers during his relatively short residency here, announced that he has launched http://www.gordotronic.com, the “World Headquarters” for all things Raphael.
Gordon Raphael's original sounds are worldwide now on the Gordotronic (artwork by Fabrizio Moretti of the Strokes).
Raphael left a huge imprint on rock by producing The Strokes’ 2001 album Is This It in his Lower East Side studio Transporterraum NYC, and their 2003 follow up Room On Fire. (See the 2009 SonicScoop interview with Raphael about Is This It here.) He also produced NYC artist Regina Spektor’s brilliant 2004 album Soviet Kitsch (which was included in NME’s list of the decade’s Greatest 100 Albums in 2009).
Visitors to the site will be greeted and treated with a mélange of ear/eye-popping aesthetics from Raphael, who is now based in Berlin. The site contains choice video and art curated by Raphael, and his first 7 albums of his own music, none of which had ever been released before now.
Lovers of sonic discovery will especially appreciate his “Silhouette Shack” podcast that streams from the site – an eclectic and essential listen. “When I was a kid, I had a little transistor radio that I’d put under my pillow, and before I slept I’d hear a very atmospheric, psychedelic show called Silhouette,” Raphael told SonicScoop. “I was always transported by this show — the discussions and music were very special to me – dealing with how important young people are to the future, and also how music has the power to affect world change in a positive way.
“So I’ve made ‘Silhouette Shack’ as my own kind of psychedelic radio show, and put it on the front page of the Gordotronic World Headquaters. In aiming for my own music website, I had the chance to dig through my entire surviving music archive — my first decade of work was destroyed in a fire at my church studio in Seattle — and decided that the first radio show would feature a sampling of my favorite self-made songs, and things I produced that featured other artists, such as Miss Machine and Sarah Maguire.
“Analog Poodle and Black Light were two different bands I was in, and even though these albums aren’t out yet — I wanted to give a taste of our future releases. Since I literally spent about 2 1/2 decades composing and recording my own songs, the process of digging in the archives has led to re-discovering many songs, such as ‘Solina Space’ and ‘Queens Echo Two,’ which I had lost track of. As you can imagine, releasing my first seven albums on the same day has been unbelievably exciting and artistically satisfying!”
Raphael is now back in Berlin after a year in the USA, producing approximately 30 bands in San Antonio, Texas and California.
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