Backseat Artists


Orlingo

Orlingo is one of the aliases of Dutch guy Paul Rietveld. He began tracking around 1990 on a Commodore Amiga with the Pro Tracker software. He joined the MOD group Black Sista, where he released his instrumental hip-hop beats. At the same time he discovered the ascii-art groups Divine Stylers and Royal, which he joined and made many ascii-art collections for. Several years later he bought a PC and started to use Fast Tracker.

After this, his music developed more, making other influences, like jazz, soul and especially electro, noticable in a blend of abstract, loungy beats. He released a lot of these tracks under the names Oh Gosh and Hannibal Peck on netlabels Voodoo and Phase Distortion.

During this period, Orlingo's passion for collecting obscure electro and hip-hop records shines through. He starts using voice samples from unknown movies to give his beats a filmic touch. His style made people invite him to remix their tracks into his unique break & lounge style.

Besides making music, Orlingo is also involved in street art. Using the abstract vision he gained during the creation of his ascii-art, he is doing photography and designing stickers, stencils and posters with simple but strong designs. Recently he extended his music tracking with an iBook and Ableton Live, giving him the ability to perform his work live.

"...And he created this music on an old Amiga?! Yes, we want this in our record store." - Sounds Of The Universe (London)


Mortimer

Mortimer is the most widely used alias of Swedish citizen Lukas Nystrand and he arrived in the internet tracker scene in 1993. Having released over more than 300 MODs under names as Fresh, Sweet Tee, Velvet Jones, and Stacey Morell, Mortimer is now one of the most prolific trackers around.

All of his music is created on his Commodore Amiga, sampling little sound snippets from his record collection that is scattered around his bedroom. Whether its dub, drum n bass, hip-hop, house or a combination of styles, every single track is recognizable as part of his own musical world called Ageema.

In 1995 he starting the tracker group Black Sista, releasing soulful, hip-hop based MODs only. He also started the leading ascii-art group called Divine Stylers and joined House Of Style, because next to his music, he is also very dedicated to the ascii-art scene. Mortimer is famous for his graffiti-like ascii-arts of afro and b-boy humans.

Combining the music and the ascii-art, he was invited to do productions for the Amiga only netlabel Up Rough. He also released a majority of his music tracks on leading netlabels Monotonik, Tokyo Dawn Records and Theralite, of which one was released on the compilation CD Cyberlogik 3.11 from TRSI Recordz.

Recently he started to use an iBook to perform live, which he also did in 2003. As one of the very few, he made a unique performance in the Museum Of Modern Art in Ljubljana. Last year, one of his oldest tracks even appeared in the game Super Tux.

"The sheer quality of his music has made him stand out as sounding like nobody else who makes MODs." - Simon Carless (http://www.mono211.com)

"Why isn't this guy on vinyl yet?! He is the true beat master, the DJ Shadow of 4 channel MODs!" - Heard all around the tracker scene"


Willbe

Willbe is the alias of William Lamy from France. He started tracking in 1992, using Scream Tracker 3 and a Soundblaster 8 mono. When in 1994 the celebrated Impulse Tracker appeared, Willbe was excited because he now could use high quality samples and more effects. The complexity and style within his tracks evolved a lot because of this.

Before his tracking adventures, Willbe played drums in rock bands, but soon ran into the limitations of the traditional rhythm instrument and started to discover electronic rhythm programming. The same direction is visible through the music he listens to.

Besides the progressive rock from bands like Pink Floyd and Genesis, he was also irresistibly attracted to hip-hop and funk, and acts like De La Soul, The Roots and other east-coast crews who melt jazz and beats. This makes Willbe's sound so unique, his tracks having the diversity of programmed drums with the energy as if they were played live.

In 1999 he joined his first tracker group, the prominent netlabel Theralite. Next to releasing on Theralite he also made appearances on Tokyo Dawn Records and Mono211. Later he also joined Language Lab and created one track that was released on the first compilation CD by Neferiu Records.

Today William is still one of the more active producers in the tracker scene. He still enjoys it, he says, and he stays true to the concept, the music and the scene he's involved in. In 2001 his remix of Weededed by Lootpack made it on their remix 12 inch.

"The hip-hop culture isn't that widely represented in the Mod scene. However, there is one artist who brings forth this culture with the strength of many hundreds; William Lamy, aka Willbe. This French musician, is Augusts Artist of the Month; not only for the original style in his music, but for his brilliance in taking Mod music to new grounds. The authenticity, the experimentation and the distinct will to make a difference in the Scene all constitute the excellence to which is so long aspired." - Lisa Lindstron (http://www.traxinspace.com)

"Willbe is the shizzle. One of my absolute favourite trackers. Period. Looking forward to getting my hands on this new 7 inch disc." - Stephane Vera (DJ Teknostep, Canada)


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