Kenny Larkin-Electric Underground Cork 1st Bday-Feb 15th

ElecUnderground

Electric Underground are very proud to present Kenny Larkin for his first ever Cork show on the 15th of February. This will be Electric Underground's First Birthday Bash - Cost - 15euro - Doors 9pm, runs til 2:15am

Electric Underground is held every friday night in the Liquid Lounge, Malboro Street, Cork.

Kenny Larkin (DETROIT)
(Art of Dance/Planet E/Warp Records/Plus 8 Records/Peacsfrog/KMS)


Kenny Larkin is one of the chief innovators of Detroit's so called 'second wave' of techno producers from Detroit. He began his music career in 1990. After serving two years in the U.S. Air Force repairing computers, Larkin returned to Detroit to pursue stand up comedy. During his pursuit, he, along with other Detroit club goers, witnessed the birth of a new genre of music at local clubs. What came to be called "Detroit Techno," thumped in clubs like; The City Club, The Majestic Theatre, The Shelter, and the legendary Music Institute. The latter considered home base for the bumping, sultry, emotive, yet almost romantic style of club music that rose out of urban plight, desperation, and decay.

Larkin mostly frequented The Shelter, where he soon hooked up with Richie Hawtin, who was one of the club's resident dj's, and the two became good friends. While driving around the city at night, they stumbled onto a local Detroit radio mix show. The dj creating the mind-blowing mixes that changed both of their lives was none other Derrick May, or "Mayday," his call-name on the radio. May along with others, inspired both Larkin, and Hawtin to pursue this new form of music.

When Hawtin formed +8 with John Acquaviva, Larkin released his first two singles. But, it wasn't until 1992, when he founded his own label, Art of Dance, that he came into his signature sound. Under his "Dark Comedy" moniker, Larkin created 'War of the Worlds,' which went on to become a seminal dance floor techno classic for Derrick May's Transmat Records, of which Larkin licensed the project to. After contributing the exquisitely beautiful and sublime tracks 'Serena X' (under the name Yennek) for the compilation Panic in Detroit and 'Tedra' on the hugely innovative Virtual Sex (Buzz) compilation, Kenny was pushed to the forefront of techno's soulful elite.

In 1994, Larkin shrewdly carved out his own classic sound when he signed to Warp Records, and released his first album, entitled Azimuth. The album was hailed by European and U.S. press as one of the most original techno albums to date.

A few quotes: "Azimuth is one of the most imaginative and original techno albums yet." MUSIC WEEK "Delightful, pure Detroit-style techno. Melodic, emotive and, like so much great U.S. techno, almost jazz-like in places. Larkin is a man with his finger on the fast forward button of music's future." SELECT "A masterpiece. This LP of intelligent Detroit techno is an upcoming classic." STREETSOUNDS Street Sound magazine later voted Azimuth as one of the top 50 Techno CD's of all time.

Larkin's music career seemed very bright, but tragedy struck when on November 17, 1994, he almost lost his life after being shot in his suburban Detroit home by two unknown assailants. Luckily, the bullet missed vital organs, but it sliced through his lower abdomen. After 12 hours of surgery, Larkin was in critical condition, but pulled through. Hospitalised only for 6 days, Larkin began touring just two weeks after he was discharged from the hospital to support his new album, Metaphor, which was released on R&S Records in February of 1995. The release earned him more accolades as a leader in electronic music.

"This is electronic soul music, full of human feeling and warmth" MixMag

"A juxtaposition of polished classic Detroit and quirky jazz-inspired innovation. At times very minimal and ambient, other times well informed by house, Kenny's warm dance beats hit in just the right places at just the right time." I-D

Metaphor was nominated for best electronic album of the year in Keyboard Magazine. In his hometown, Metro Times voted Larkin 'Best Techno Artist of The Year' at it's yearly music awards.

Since the release of Azimuth, Larkin has travelled over 2 million miles around the globe, dj'ing and playing live at the biggest Festivals in Europe, some which had him doing his electronic performance in front of as many as 25,000 fans.

In addition to his own productions, Larkin lent his melodic sensibilities to various artists. He has done remix work for Carl Craig, Inner City, Charm Farm, L.A. Synthesis, and most notably, Sade. Although a bootleg, the remix of 'Surrender' sold 10,000 in 3 weeks. Apparently, Sade wasn't amused. Her attorney contacted Larkin and demanded they stop selling the single, or face litigation. Larkin agreed, and stopped distributing the single.

Larkin's new album Keys, Strings & Tambourines is to come out on Planet E in April 2008

First single out in February

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