* En anglais uniquement
Hailing from Northern Ireland, electronic musician
Barry Lynn received an exceptional amount of acclaim for his work under the name
Boxcutter, which melded glitchy drum'n'bass breakbeats with the heavy sub-bass of grime and dubstep, often being referred to as "breakstep." Over time, the project evolved to incorporate more influences, including the frenetic rhythms of Chicago's footwork scene as well as more relaxed synth-funk rhythms, coming closer to the work of producers like
Dâm-Funk.
Boxcutter began producing drill'n'bass tracks during the early 2000s, and around the middle of the decade his sound became more influenced by U.K. garage and the developing dubstep scene. Hotflush Recordings issued
Boxcutter's 2005 debut single, "Brood," and the full-length
Oneiric appeared on
Planet Mu the following year. Enormously well-received by the underground electronic music community, the album was followed in 2007 by Glyphic (also on
Planet Mu), as well as non-album single "Philly" (on Hotflush). In 2008,
Lynn reverted to his given name for the album
Balancing Lakes, a collection of early tracks recorded between 2002 and 2005 that recalled artists such as
Squarepusher,
Meat Beat Manifesto, and
Boards of Canada.
Lynn resumed using the
Boxcutter moniker in 2009 for
Arecibo Message, which continued his breakstep sound but also found him dipping into downtempo electro and funk styles. The 2011 full-length
The Dissolve was significantly less glitchy than prior work, embracing disco and chilled-out Balearic rhythms, and including a few collaborations with vocalist Brian Greene. In 2012,
Lynn diverted even further from this sound with a self-titled full-length as
the Host, which resembled a more grainy, lo-fi take on the footwork sound combined with a theme of '90s Internet nostalgia.
Lynn also collaborated with
Drew Lustman (
FaltyDL) for a house 12" under the name NeferTT, released by Hotflush in 2012.
Lynn resumed using the
Boxcutter handle for the juke-influenced 2013 EP Gnosis, released by
Om Unit's Cosmic Bridge label. Following several digital EPs as
Boxcutter on Kinnego Records,
Lynn brought back
the Host for his next full-length, a trippy ambient album called
Esalen Lectures released by Touch Sensitive in 2015. The full-length was quickly followed by
the Host's EP Audience Science, released by Kinnego Records. ~ Paul Simpson