Tribute to - 80s Elektropop

DJ Morpheus

Tigersushi, Crammed Discs, Brussels

Mostly known as the man behind the acclaimed Freezone series and as host of his cutting-edge radio shows Samy Birnbach, aka DJ Morpheus, is a man with a rich musical history. He started out as a teenage poet as he was quite infatuated with the works of the beat generation and published a book of poetry. In the mid-'80s he was the lead singer and main lyricist with cult band Minimal Compact, whose Middle-Eastern-tinged dance/new wave exerted a strong influence, both in Europe and in America, where a couple of their singles became absolute underground anthems. 20 years on, it's happening all over again, as peeps such as James Murphy/DFA and Trevor Jackson are raving about 'Next One Is Real', 'Statik Dancin' and other vintage Minimal Compact faves. After the demise of Minimal Compact, Samy started the Gruesome Twosome project, enlisting the help of collaborators such as Frenchman Bertrand Burgalat (Mute, Laibach etc), Norwegian Per Martinsen (aka Mental Overdrive) and The Orb member Thrash. Their first release in 1989 called 'Hallucination Generation' became an instant cult track. Soon after, Samy recorded a last album of sung poetry ('When God Was Famous') in which he paid tribute to Yeats, Hermann Hesse, Malcolm Lowry and many other heroes of his childhood. Being a maniac collector of rare and obscure wax, Samy reincarnated as DJ Morpheus and got offered a slot as co-A&R for Crammed Records offshoot SSR. He took the controls of the Freezone releases, which rapidly became one of the most respected compilations series around, as well as album projects from Carl Craig, Telex and Bebel Gilberto. As a DJ, Samy has been gracing the decks everywhere from Brussels to Beijing, including some of the best festivals around such as Transmusicales, Sonar and the Montreux Jazz Festival. Samy recently released an excellent compilation on French Tigersushi label called 'I Can't Live Without My Radio'.