Dirty Epic welcomes aboard @dj-t-1000 for its fifty third episode of Amplify Series.
Detroit-born, Berlin-based Alan D. Oldham has been called “Detroit Techno’s Renaissance Man” by Muzik Magazine (UK). Electronic musician, label owner, remixer, graphic illustrator, and international DJ, Oldham-under his stage name DJ T-1000-does it all.
A lifelong cartoonist and graphic designer, a young Oldham published his own indie comic book “Johnny Gambit” in 1987 to local notoriety. Hired that same year by his childhood friend Derrick May to illustrate several memorable pieces for his new Transmat label, this led to Oldham’s very first involvement in the fledgling techno scene. More art requests quickly followed, most famously from the Djax-Up-Beats label (NL), where his art took center stage for many years (the lone EP that Oldham produced for Djax, under the name Signal To Noise Ratio, brought home a 1991 Detroit Metro Times Music Award for best single in “Detroit Is Burning”). At the same time, college-student Oldham was hired at local radio station WDET, hosting Detroit’s first-ever all-electronic radio program, “Fast Forward,” introducing artists like UR, Richie Hawtin and Carl Craig to local airwaves.
Five years later, Oldham found himself under the tutelage of UR’s Mad Mike Banks. Initially hired as UR’s “Minister of Information,” working side-by-side with Rob Hood and others in the office, Oldham was eventually tapped to replace his departing friend Jeff Mills as DJ on UR’s world tour (quitting WDET in the process), and DJ T-1000 (and his label Generator, distributed by Submerge) was born. Big shoes to fill, but he was up to the task. For a year afterwards, Oldham toured with Banks in the UR techno boot camp. Since those long-ago days, a solo Oldham continues to rock crowds in Berlin (with an unofficial residency at Tresor), Milan, Barcelona (unofficial residency at Moog), Madrid, London, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and all points in between with his own no-nonsense brand of bangin’, funky-ass techno. When DJ T-1000 is on the flyer, fans know he’s bringing the ruckus.
In 2004, Oldham finally left a flagging Motor City for the Midwest boomtown of Chicago. And in 2005 he finally established his permanent European base in the world’s latest electronic music capital, Berlin.
When he’s not behind the decks or in the studio producing electronic dance music for labels like Tresor Berlin, Inzec (CH), Minimalsoul (CH), or his own Pure Sonik and Generator imprints, Oldham has provided artwork for the electronic music industry for almost 20 years. Also, his drawings and large-scale paintings have been on display in art galleries in Chicago, Berlin, Paris, Los Angeles, and most recently a sold-out opening in Amsterdam.
LINKS:
DJ T-1000:
Soundcloud: @dj-t-1000
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AlanOldhamMusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/alan_oldham_
Bandcamp: djt1000.bandcamp.com/music
RA: ra.co/dj/djt-1000
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