Bio
Previously known as ‘Lightbomb’, Crayolon is Newcastle-based composer, producer and performer Brendan Ratliff. Various creative elements - piano, violin, guitar, bass, oldschool tracking/synthtracking, painstaking but affectionate beat programming, self-indulgent hardware synth fiddling - all contribute to Brendan’s work in the studio and offer fun live possibilities.Brought up playing Irish music in bars from an irresponsibly young age, Brendan eventually ended up studying postgrad musicology and composition under dangerous genius Dr. William Edmondes at Newcastle, helping Edmondes to realise his blisteringly cutting edge vision for online compositional discourse: the ever-controversial ICMUS Hub. Turning Newcastle’s Legends nightclub into a major rock/alternative venue by co-founding The Cage with Dan Black, then switching residency to the seminal EBM/Industrial clubnight Fight The Robots on the next floor down are happy memories of those student days, although Brendan can still be heard DJing every so often.
As well as playing keyboards for EBM/Industrial adventurers Outsight, and fiddle and bass in other live acts around the North East, Brendan has a strong background in the computer demoscene and composes (mainly Commodore Amiga) music as syphus. A member of demogroups (digital a/v art groups) BDSE and Up Rough, he recently toured the UK as syphus alongside Breakcore/Chiptune crossover luminary Sabrepulse and other international artists.
Expect to hear new and exciting things from Crayolon over coming months, particularly in support of the new netlabel Stropic which launches this year.
