A – Artists
Biography
Adam grew up in Toronto and was attracted to music from an early age. His parents met in a disco, and at home he was
raised to the soundtrack of MFSB and Donna Summer. In his teen years, he rebelled against his parents and got hooked
on the “indie rock” sound of the late 90’s - eschewing any
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Adam grew up in Toronto and was attracted to music from an early age. His parents met in a disco, and at home he was
raised to the soundtrack of MFSB and Donna Summer. In his teen years, he rebelled against his parents and got hooked
on the “indie rock” sound of the late 90’s - eschewing anything remotely “electronic”. His love of bands like Pavement, Dinosaur
Jr. and My Bloody Valentine lead him directly to the album that changed everything - Primal Scream’s “Screamadelica”.
It was Andrew Weatherall’s masterful production on this album which allowed Adam to overcome his distrust of
“electronic” music and appreciate the “soulful” techno and “deep” house of acts like B12, LFO, The Orb and The Black Dog
- all which still inspire him to this day.
While Toronto’s huge rave and club scene was climaxing in the late 90’s, Adam found more in common with what was
going on south of the border; in Detroit, Chicago and the US midwest. From the dark brooding environments of Richie
Hawtin’s Jak parties in Detroit, to the bumpity-bump of Derrick Carter going off at a warehouse on the Southside of Chicago
- house and techno music was alive and kicking; and it was going deep.
Hoping to foster a like-minded environment back home, Adam - along with long-time friends Jeff Milligan, Mike Shannon,
and Jeremy P. Caulfield - started to produce special events that showcased a new style of “techno” music”; one which
embraced soul, style and substance - and avoided the tired cliches of disposable dance music.
During this time, Adam’s skillful DJ sets were appreciated at many of the city’s major nightspots - playing weekly to big
crowds at underground raves and well-respected clubs such as Industry, System Soundbar, and his own club night “Blue”
(whose wide-open booking policy attracted a wide variety of guests including Chez Damier, Theo Parrish, Marco Carola,
Gene Farris, Moodymann & Ron Trent). Alongside a busy DJ schedule, he was the main record buyer at one of Toronto’s
most cutting-edge shops, Speed Records, which aimed to break down the artificial walls between the worlds of “house” and
“techno”.
As the once huge rave scene began to slowly implode, Adam took a step back from the DJ limelight and began to build
a studio and concentrate more seriously on music production. He released his first record in 2002, and followed that by
starting his own label in 2004 called Killer Recordings. Underground to a fault, and relatively unrecognized in North
America, Killer was well received in Germany and the UK and allowed Adam to make the connections neccessary to take
things to the next level.
For the next 4 years Adam released a number of singles on labels such as Cynosure, Dumb-Unit, Thema and Supesharu.
These releases - rough, raw, and tracky - allowed him to experiment with more organic directions usually ignored in the
clinical precision of “minimal techno”. From the dusty, monotone groove of “Magnum”, to the swinging jazz chops on his
Supesharu remix - Adam has consistently pushed the envelope in the opposite direction of his peers.
With these initial experiments behind him, Adam launched the New Kanada label in 2006 as a platform for himself and
others to release music too raw for “minimal” and too tough for “house”. From Dot Wiggin’s critically acclaimed “T-Rex”
release ( with it’s 12 minute jouney into analogue fuzz), to the epic dirty chords of Adam’s “Nightsailing” EP - New Kanada’s
sound has matured into a unique voice in the international scene.
As of January 2008, Adam will be relocating to Berlin to work and live.
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