This is the home of the shadow man of Brit electro: Brighton singer, multi-instrumentalist and kinetic music pioneer christopher rye.
The jukebox includes old faves, such as US Internet hit The Shadow Man, and tracks from the new album The Catch in christopher rye, (due end of November 2009), and 2008's The Return of christopher rye. The latter includes Rainy Night Sunday, as featured by Tom Robinson on BBC6music, who described the song as "gorgeous". Tracks from The Catch in... appear first.
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Brighton, UK-based christopher rye is a singer/songwriter, stage performer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, whose work fuses the Byronic with the electronic, the retro with the electro, and synthpop with space rock. His dramatic productions are gaining attention across the internet, attracting airplay and interest from movie makers.
This is life-affirming music for nightwalkers, ghostwriters, original thinkers, romantic misfits, travellers, clubbers and outsiders (by choice and inclination). It's ok to be outside. Et tu, Babe?
This is intelligent pop In the tradition of songwriters such as Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and David Bowie, in places touching on the dark soundscapes of Scott Walker, Trent Reznor and the Blue Nile. For many, his work also calls to mind post-punk, romantic Brit electro, such as Depeche Mode, Tubeway Army, The Cure, Freur, Joy Division, Tuxedomoon and Japan.
A polymath and an intuitive musician, he writes, plays and sings most of the songs himself, but he has also collaborated on some tracks with singers Emily Swift Jones, Martha Evatt, Jill Draper (Basement Jaxx) and 'happy hardcore' dance diva Lisa Abbott.
christopher famously works incredibly quickly, often writing, recording, producing and mastering a track in a day. He has written nearly 400 songs, only selection of which will appear on here at any time.
His songs flip between the blissed-out, starlit, and melancholy (Ghostwriter, The Prince of Serendip) and the pounding, moonlit, and pulsing (Et tu Babe, Monsters, Corridors, Shadow Man, Ghost), via highly original kinetic dance tunes (Everyone is a Heartbeat, From the Golden Light, Telethon!, and Hey Tinker Bell) and songs that create a dark and haunting world of their own (September Loves You, Killer on the Backlot, Heart in Your Hand).
From time to time his work throws up classic pop songs and ballads (Angel on the Underground, Satellites, Good Luck Glitterbug, Rainy Night Sunday) and trashy guitar anthems.
A classically trained guitarist, christopher has a separate set of acoustic material (not featured here yet), some of which he will finally release on a dedicated EP sometime in 2010 He will occasionally turn up unannounced at open mic nights in Brighton with his electric spanish guitar or a laptop.
As guitarist, he has recently joined the reformed (with new line-up) Brighton band Adhora, led by singer/songwriter Julia Fitness, with whom he will be gigging in Brighton in 2009 and 2010. Stand by for news on joint shows.
christopher rye's Rainy Night Sunday has several times been featured on the 'BBC Introducing' show with Tom Robinson on BBC6music (digital channel). In an email Tom described the song as "fucking gorgeous" and on air he said "ten out of ten", comparing it to the Blue Nile. He later described it on air as being a "longstanding favourite of this show".
Find out why the UK's christopher rye is making waves across a whole range of music sites, especially in the US, and why he has garnered dozens of awards on garageband.com, including several TRACK OF THE WEEK and TRACK OF THE DAY picks. On Stereofame christopher was a fixture in the top 20 artists on the site throughout 2008, and remains one of the most popular Electronic artists on that community, although it now hosts thousands of acts.
In January 2008, The Shadow Man topped the Electronic chart at amiestreet.com for one whole month, while the rest of the top 10 in the Electronic chart were all ryeTunes.
You can find hi-res ryeTunes on iTunes; amiestreet.com; Rhapsody; stereofame.com; last.fm; thesixtyone, eMusic; garageband.com; Tunecore; AmazonMP3, and indiestore. ryeTones for your mobile can be downloaded for free from myxer.com.
Cometh the hour, cometh The Shadow Man.
"The darkest part of the sky is the bluest." (christopher rye).
"Those stolen nights of wonder fall like dust behind us now." (christopher rye)
Reclaim the loners, the ghostwriters, and the nightwalkers. Reclaim the night for lovers.
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2009:
