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Draft:Alec Michael Eberhardt

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DJ Speedsick
Performing live at Tritriangle in Chicago, IL.
Performing live at Tritriangle in Chicago, IL.
Background information
Birth nameAlec Michael Eberhardt
Born (1992-11-09) November 9, 1992 (age 32)
Brookfield, WI
OriginWaukesha County, Wisconsin
Genres
Instrument

Alec Michael Eberhardt (born Novermber 9, 1992), better known as DJ Speedsick, is an American musician, record producer, DJ, and visual artist.

Best known for his raw, DIY, and stream of consciousness approach to his music productions.[1] that range stylistically from high-BPM techno to extreme noise music, as well as his active presence in the American underground [2] and prolific release output; his music has been featured by media outlets such as Noisey, Bandcamp Daily, and Boomkat [3][4][5], and distributed on vinyl, cassette, and CD internationally.

He is also an active visual artist and graphic designer; having created work for artists such as Brodinski, Candy, Matrixxman, Portrayal of Guilt, Usurp Synapse, Sandwell District [6][7][8][9][10][11]; as well as being the primary artistic director and designer for the clothing company; Spahn Dirge, which was dissolved in 2024. He has also run the labels Snake Eyes & Sevens and Escalationist.

Life

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Eberhardt was born in Brookfield, Wisconsin at Elmbrook Memorial Hospital on November 9th, 1992 [12]. His father worked as a commercial printer, and his mother as an IT systems analyst. His maternal grandfather, a former US Army Ranger, co-founded and held the title of Vice President at Quad/Graphics; an international commercial printing giant. He has one sister, eighteen months his junior [13].

At age 9, his parents divorced, and his mother moved to Merton, Wisconsin, where he and his sister attended school and spent the majority of their upbringing. He has stated that around this time, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and began medication [14].

He attended Arrowhead High School from 2007-2011. After graduating high school, he relocated to Chicago, Illinois to attend Columbia College Chicago, where he received his BA in Film & Video in 2015[13].

In 2017, he relocated to Madison, Wisconsin; citing a growing exhaustion with the instability and financial stress of metropolitan life, and a desire to focus on music with less distractions [14].

In 2021, he returned to Chicago, IL, where he currently resides.

Career

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Early years

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His music career began with playing in several hardcore punk, screamo, and grindcore bands and organizing concerts in his hometown, both with local acts and touring acts; notably Pianos Become the Teeth, Into It. Over It., Native, William Bonney, and Code Orange Kids; while still in their early days of DIY touring[14] [15]. Upon moving to Chicago, he initially was involved with the city's punk scene, then became involved with the scene for industrial, noise music, and outsider techno; establishing himself as an early purveyor of organizing events for the latter in a DIY setting with punk ethos. During these years, he performed in power electronics projects and began DJing caually in 2015.

DJ Speedsick

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In 2016, he began uploading recording experiments and demos to a SoundCloud account, of which he changed the artist handle frequently. Many of these recordings went on to become his debut album, Odyssey '97, upon being approached by Austin-based record label Breathing Problem Productions. He's stated that the name "DJ Speedsick" was not a moniker he intended to use, rather it was among the temporary names for his SoundCloud account when Breathing Problem happened to approach him, but that upon its positive reception, he decided to keep it [14]

Since the project's inception, he has prolifically released over 30 different titles on formats ranging from cassette, vinyl, compact disc, and digital streaming, and has worked with techno-oriented labels such as Bank Records NYC, Ophism Records, Lobster Theremin, and Psy X Records, as well as experimental/noise imprints such as Dead Gods, Fusty Cunt, Breathing Problem Productions, Psychic Liberation, and RRRecords, as well as self-released music through his own label Snake Eyes & Sevens [16].

He has performed live and DJ'ed across North America. A series of scheduled appearances in Europe were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[17]. He has shared the stage with both electronic artists, as well as hardcore, metal, and experimental groups and artists, such as Lil Ugly Mane, Yves Tumor, Fleshwater, See You Next Tuesday, Drew McDowall, Usurp Synapse, Portrayal of Guilt, and No Warning [18][19][20][21][22][23].

Style and Influences

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He has cited an expansive range of artists and institutions as major influences for his music, including, but not limited to; artists and groups such as Godflesh, Skinny Puppy, Marilyn Manson, Jeff Mills, Prurient, Whitehouse, Brand New, Jandek, Spiral Tribe, Dean Blunt, Indian Summer, record labels such as Drop Bass Network, Downwards Records, Bunker Records, Come Organisation, and Hospital Productions. In more general terms, he's taken musical inspiration from hardcore techno/speedcore, power electronics, industrial, Birmingham sound as well as late 90's/early aughts techno from Slovakia, Sweden, The Hague, Detroit, the free party/freetekno movement, French black metal, dungeon synth, mid aughts cybergrind and mathcore, electroacoustic music/musique concrète, and dub music [14][15][24][25]

He cites the soundtracks from skate videos and the emerging mathcore/deathcore scene of the mid-late 2000's and its presence on Myspace as the source of exposure to underground music in his early teen years, and he and his friends' desire to find "the most insane music possible" while exploring the social media platform.[15]

For his output as DJ Speedsick, nearly all of his beat-driven music has been produced using the Electribe2 Sampler and Roland SH-01a (remake of the SH-101) [26], both of which he claims to have obtained very cheaply and without intention [14]. He opts to record his music through an analog mixing console and directly to cassette/four-track, in one take, and largely improvised [25]. His music within the realm of noise and dark ambient makes use of contact microphones, feedback loops, manipulated tapes, and field recordings.

His visual art practice largely involves the use of home desktop printers' copier/scanner functions to heavily manipulate, warp, and distort visual collages and other imagery. It draws influence from Xerox art, archival documentation, tape trading & zine culture, punk and industrial, flyers, death metal logos, wildstyle graffiti, and black metal imagery.[15][18]

Discography

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Year Title Label Country Format Notes
2017 Motorhead Disco self-released USA Cassette DJ mixtape, reissued in 2020
Odyssey '97 Breathing Problem Productions Debut EP
N.Y.S.S. Dead Gods
Spiral '07 Breathing Problem Productions Partial reissue of "Odyssey '97"
2018 In Trances Snake Eyes & Sevens
Death Trip '17 Breathing Problem Productions
2019 Nothing Lasts BANK Records NYC Reissued in 2024 on CDr
Dance With The Devil 12" Vinyl, Cassette Vinyl debut
Midwest Tour Tape self-released Cassette Three-way split with Julien Andreas and Human Host, only available at Midwest tour dates
2020 Blood Mixed With Shit Mixed With Blood Psychic Liberation Netherlands CD
7 7 7 Breathing Problem Productions USA Cassette Triple cassette boxset featuring previously unreleased recordings from 2016-2017
Untitled self-released
Turn Illness Into A Weapon Ophism Italy 12" Vinyl
Electromagnetic Chauvinism Fusty Cunt USA Cassette
2021 Drift self-released
Snake Pit LSD DNA Records
ARCHIVE0001 ('Disembodiment') self-released
2022 Midwest Death Trance Techno Is the Devil's Music UK 12" Vinyl
Spectres PSY X Russia/Germany Split with Buttechno
2023 Concrete Hell self-released USA Digital
Faces.Of.Death.1978.VHSRip.XviD-DJSS.nfo CDr, Cassette DJ mixtape
temp∕eeeb7dc∕.DS_Store CDr
2024 Recycled Music RRRecords Cassette RRRecords "Recycled Music" series
Satanic Connection Between UNIX® And The Underworld Escalationist CDr
Untitled 3" business card-shaped CDr containing drum samples and loops

References

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  1. ^ BUTTECHNO/DJ SPEEDSICK - Spectres Vinyl at Juno Records., retrieved August 5, 2024
  2. ^ "Interview with Overland". Never Apart. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  3. ^ https://www.vice.com/en/article/d3m89k/stream-of-the-crop-11-new-albums-for-heavy-rotation
  4. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20200226001535/https://daily.bandcamp.com/hidden-gems/dj-speedsick-nothing-lasts
  5. ^ https://boomkat.com/charts/boomkat-end-of-year-charts-2019/972
  6. ^ Nezzus - Jason (Prod. by Brodinski & Mister Tweeks), retrieved August 5, 2024
  7. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  8. ^ "Dust World, by Matrixxman". Matrixxman. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  9. ^ http://www.djspeedsick.com/gallery.html
  10. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  11. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  12. ^ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  13. ^ a b "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  14. ^ a b c d e f losprimerosVIIVI (June 4, 2020). The Master Channel 006: DJ Speedsick - Don't Try To Please Anyone But Yourself | Interview 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2024 – via YouTube.
  15. ^ a b c d Embryo #4 (PDF). United Kingdom: Natural Sciences (published October 17, 2023). August 5, 2024. pp. 31–40.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  16. ^ "DJ Speedsick | Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved August 24, 2024.
  17. ^ "(Cancelled) Herrensauna". RA. March 10, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  18. ^ a b "Oblivion Access aftershow w/ DJ Speedsick, Drew McDowall, Hyunhye Seo, Sex of Distance (Lil Ugly Mane noise set), Private Hellscape, Closed City". www.austinchronicle.com. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  19. ^ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  20. ^ Kuffel, Veronica. "Yves Tumor, DJ Speedsick entertain energetic crowd". The Badger Herald. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  21. ^ "CANDY, FLESHWATER, DIVISION OF MIND, DJ SPEEDSICK - theCMF.com". thecmf.com. December 23, 2022. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  22. ^ "METH., SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY, DEAF CLUB, USURP SYNAPSE, DJ SPEEDSICK - theCMF.com". thecmf.com. November 16, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  23. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  24. ^ "Influences: DJ Speedsick". Rate Your Music. August 29, 2024. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  25. ^ a b Gordon, Scott (May 13, 2019). "DJ Speedsick drags techno to unsettling places". Tone Madison. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  26. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved August 29, 2024.