Structure, as a musician, began as most often do--with experimentation. Mike began making homemade "songs" in early 1996 with nothing more than a 4 track mixer, some samples and vinyl albums. Truly rudimentary recording by most standards, but these "mixes" would set the stage for things to come.
Mike got into techno in 1991 during an exchange scholarship to Germany. There he heard many of the sounds of "techno" in the raging clubs of Cologne such as Club Xero and Das Ding (literally translated, "the Thing").
The DJs there would spin the earliest forms of house with odd snippets of sparse vocals from 50s albums thrown into the mix. Often asking around, he found many rare vocals and public announcement albums made popular in the 50s and 60s, now added into these 160bpm compositions of speeded up breaks and weird sinewaved sounds. He often would ask DJs what they used for gear, often trading artwork for skills using samples and breaks. Much time would pass, however, before Mike would have gear and an audience to appreciate his work.
His education into the early dance scene in Germany continued once he returned to the States; finding and attending some of the early dance scene events in Philly only reinforced his interest in this new dance scene—even as far back as high school, Mike was always into finding new music, at the time early industrial breakbeat with Meat Beat Manifesto, The Shamen and Consolidated to name a few. There he met good friend Chris Grillo who he would, in later years, reunite with and form Sunken Records.
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