* En anglais uniquement
Initially based in Brighton, England and consisting of John Cohen and Barry Prendergast,
Dead Fader first appeared in 2010 with the single "Autumn Rot" and full-length Corrupt My Examiner. Issued by U.K. label 3by3, also home to the similarly minded
Cloaks,
Dead Fader's music was a harsh, punishing blend of noise, industrial, and electro influences, resembling what might have happened if
Wolf Eyes attempted to make dubstep. The duo's broken, distorted sound caught the attention of fans of harder-edged electronic music, and they soon played gigs and festivals with the likes of
Napalm Death,
Merzbow, and
Otto Von Schirach. A digital EP titled Luckeeey was released by Tigerbeat6 in 2011, and
Dead Fader remixed tracks by
King Cannibal,
Hecq,
Bo Ningen, and others.
By 2012,
Dead Fader was a solo project of Cohen, who had relocated to Berlin. He released a limited-edition live CD titled Askanes on the Japanese label Murder Channel Records, then signed with British imprint Robot Elephant Records, which issued much of his subsequent output. His first release for the label was the
Work It, No EP, which featured a collaboration with experimental hip-hop MC
Sensational. Cohen released a more experimental album titled Deaf Arena under his own name in 2013.
Dead Fader returned in 2014 with the 12" EP In Cover and full-lengths Blood Forest and Scorched (the latter released by Small But Hard Records), which found Cohen adding woozy IDM melodies to his splintered, noisy beats. Cohen continued in a less noisy, more melodic direction with his 2015 EPs Hyp 30,
Sun Copter, and Dosage (on Touchin' Bass) and full-length
Glass Underworld, although the releases still contained plenty of dark atmospheres and distorted elements. The Jenny 153 EP and a separate set of remixes followed in 2017.
Dead Fader returned a year later with the four-track effort It Works 2. ~ Paul Simpson