Mike Parker

Mike Parker

Mike Parker is a US minimal techno producer from Buffalo, New York. He lives and works in Buffalo, and the city’s history with the Moog Synthesizer company is part of the context for his practice. He is also a solo artist; the artist name is shared by two acts, but this entry refers to the Buffalo-based producer.

Background and practice

Parker graduates from Carnegie-Mellon University with a BFA in 1988 and from the State University of New York at Buffalo with an MFA in 1997. He also lectures at SUNY Buffalo. His background in visual art strongly shapes his music: he works from a process that treats techno in an abstract, improvisational way, similar to painting and drawing.

He makes electronic music through modular synthesis and uses analogue synthesizers without patch memory, so he creates sounds from scratch each time he writes. His recording and arranging method is direct: he rehearses a track many times, then records it live without later edits or overdubbing. He links this approach to spontaneity, and he also draws on human-form studies made from life in his works on paper.

Geophone

Parker begins the label Geophone in 1997. For its releases, he uses screen printing to make distinctive jackets, prints each one by hand, and treats each issue as both a recording and a limited-edition print. Geophone is also the label associated with his output as a minimal techno producer.

Style and reception

His music sits within minimal techno, with related tagging that includes techno, ambient, experimental and minimal. He says he is grateful to the DJs who play his tracks, and he hopes his work makes a distinct contribution to techno culture.