David Toop: Biography

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• Martin Archer
• Brian Eno
• Jon Hassell
• Steve Beresford
• Mike Cooper
• Terry Day
• Lol Coxhill

• John Barry
• Miles Davis/Charlie Parker

• Luca Venitucci
• Organum

• John Zorn
• Derek Bailey
• Prince Far I
• Simon Finn

Born:

Jan 1, 1949 in London, England

Genres:

Electronic & Dance Music, Ambient Music, Techno Music

Decades Active:

1970's|1980's|1990's|2000's

Artistic Quality

Medium

Cultural Impact

Medium

Popularity

Low

Ratings Guide

Although British writer and composer David Toop's recorded output has included everything from experimental rock and jazz to musique concrete, the bulk of his solo and recent collaborative works have been in the vein of experimental ambient. Better known perhaps as a journalist and music historiographer, Toop is the author of a pair of widely hailed books -- -Rap Attack and -Ocean of Sound (both Serpents Tail) -- as well as a contributing editor and columnist for U.K. experimental music magazine ~The Wire. Recording since the early '70s, Toop's list of musical collaborators include everyone from Derek Bailey and John Zorn to Brian Eno and Prince Far I. However, it's his work as a solo composer and in combination with multi-instrumentalist Max Eastley, that have earned him highest marks. Toop and Eastley's 1994 collaboration, Buried Dreams, is a widely-hailed document of experimental environmental composition. A dizzying blend of found sounds, field recordings, electro-acoustics, and digital manipulation, its success (and critical popularity) also helped set the tone for Toop's subsequent solo work, Screen Ceremonies, released in 1996 on the Wire Editions label, as well as one-off tracks included on compilations released through Sound Effects and Time Recordings. He returned in 1999 with the mix album Hot Pants Idol.

- Sean Cooper, All Music Guide