SND

Mark Fell and Mat Steel are a pair of Sheffield DJs and music-makers who've departed slightly from their city's template for British techno (i.e. Warp Records) to embrace the experimental/minimalist wing of European artists (Oval, Microstoria, Gas) associated with the Mille Plateaux label. Naming their project after the extension often used for computer sound files, Fell and Steel are both expert programmers who disdain the usual electronics route of audio software or instruments. Instead, they usually rely on contact mics and their own software interfaces to record. During 1998-99, they debuted with the "Tplay" single and Newtables EP on their own SND label. In July 1999, Frankfurt's Mille Plateaux released SND's debut album, Makesnd Cassette, and the sophomore Stdiosnd Types followed one year later. With Jeremy Potter, Fell also works as Shirt Trax. ~ John Bush