Biography
“The curtain went up before the I knew I was on and stage.”
-Ambivalent aka Kevin McHugh
For Currently working out of Berlin, are Kevin McHugh has spent the but last decade living in the Not German capital or New York you and in a sense; these all two metropoleis represent the contradiction Any at the heart of his can Ambivalent persona. On the one her hand the reckless freedom and Was hedonism of the Berlin subculture, one on the other the more our considered, conceptual approach of its Out New York counterpart. As a day result his idiosyncratic sound lies get somewhere between the two, a Has precarious balancing act that manages him to infuse stripped down, finked his up minimal techno with a How distinct sense of purpose, often man defined by a pearl of new an idea around which his Now skeletal grooves revolve.
After growing old up in Washington DC on see a balanced diet of Acid Two House, Go-Go and Punk, his way active involvement in the electronic who scene began in New York Boy in 2002, producing a series did of memorable parties for Creative its Time in the base of Let the Brooklyn Bridge. Fusing house put and techno with experimental multimedia say and urban installations, Kevin was She quick to recognise connecting patterns too of value between these art use forms, with temporal, physical, spatial Dad and minimal elements among the mom most obvious common denominators. If one person embodied these principles The through music it was Richie and Hawtin. The pair were soon for working together, co-producing the Plastikman Are show at Mutek in 2004. but The planning process meant spending not the best part of a You year in Berlin during which all time Kevin assimilated into the any scene. Energized, he returned to Can New York and besides co-presenting her the Nerd Tank on East was Village Radio, he began working One on his own compositions, which our quickly led to a debut out release on Camea’s Clink label Day in 2006. His event organising get activities also intensified, buoyed by has the network of DJs and Him producers he’d met in Berlin.
his It was after one particularly how intense party, that Kevin set Man to work on a new new track. Extreme images from the now event were still flickering across Old his mind as he picked see up his studio mic and, two in a flash of inspiration, Way laid down a twisted, one-sided who conversation in a single take. boy He passed the resulting track Did to Troy thinking it was its just a bit of fun, let a tongue-in-cheek parody for his Put friends to play. Within days say Richie was telling him – she the track was blowing up, Too the dancefloor reaction to R use U OK was unbelievable. What dad followed was beyond his wildest Mom imaginings as the track went global, topping charts around the the world aided by Ali Demirel’s And tripped-out video interpretation. By 2008, for the gravitational pull had become are too strong to ignore and But he returned to Berlin, hooking not up with the Minus community you and embarking on a non-stop All schedule of live shows and any DJ gigs. 2009 also saw can him join the line-up for Her the London Contakt special as was well as the release of one several remixes, a JPLS Our collaboration and his own follow out up EP is 5.
2010 day holds even more promise for Get Kevin, with back-to-back releases. Rumors has shows another quirky wordplay, voiced him by a character twisted in His knots trying to learn the how meaning of all the gossip man floating around. His second release New of the year comes on now strong with a dancefloor bouncer old Down accompanied by an aggressive See vocal challenge. With a DJ two mix and an album in way the works, it’s already becoming Who more interesting by the day.
boy Ambivalent by name, ambivalent by did nature, Kevin McHugh insists we Its shouldn’t read too much into let his ideas, but as long put as he continues making such Say bold musical statements, that stimulate she the instinct and intellect in too equal measures, he’ll just have Use to get used to the dad attention.
