Tipper

An innovative and widely respected sound designer, British electronic musician Tipper is a prolific recording artist as well as a successful performing act, frequently appearing at music festivals and occasionally curating his own. One of the key figures of the nu breaks scene during the late 1990s, he expanded and moved beyond the style with elaborate, technically advanced releases such as 2000's The Critical Path. He switched to a downtempo style with 2003's Surrounded, and with 2005's Tip Hop, the first release on his eponymous label, he focused on experimental hip-hop. Tipper's work helped the glitch-hop genre evolve from its early association with IDM into its more bass-heavy, festival-friendly EDM incarnation during the 2000s and 2010s. Both his live sets and recordings have alternated between downtempo material (including 2014's Forward Escape) and uptempo tracks (such as 2022's Marble Hunting), in addition to occasional ambient mixes. Dave Tipper started to DJ as a teenager, and met Richie Warren, who became his manager. The two co-founded the Fuel label, and Tipper released a trio of vinyl EPs, with the explosive 1998 single "Twister" earning exposure through its inclusion in an ad campaign. He released several breakbeat mix CDs and signed to Sony's Higher Ground imprint, which issued his debut album, The Critical Path, in 2000. Far more of a home listening effort than the dance album the label expected, it was his first and only major label full-length. During the making of the album, Tipper began to suffer from hearing damage due to the elaborate and booming stereo systems inside his cars. With the problem sorted out, Tipper returned early the next year with his sophomore effort, Holding Pattern, which led to tours of both Europe and America. The DJ mix Tipper Presents Sound Off appeared later in 2001. Tipper and Mike Wallis formed the IDM duo Crunch, issuing their 2001 debut on Funkstörung's Musik Aus Strom followed by several releases on their own Colony Productions. Tipper's Surrounded followed on Myutopia Recordings in 2003 and was one of the first electronic music albums to be recorded in 5.1 Surround Sound. Cell: Five, a multi-channel DVD-Audio release credited to the alias Correctional Facilities, was released by the same label near the end of the year. Tip Hop marked the debut of his own Tippermusic label in 2005. Incorporating Tipper's own scratching and guest raps by Epcot, it became a pivotal release of the glitch-hop genre. His imprint also issued 2006's The Seamless Unspeakable Something and Relish the Trough, as well as two of his more bass-heavy releases, 2008's Wobble Factor and Tertiary Noise. 2010's Broken Soul Jamboree saw him embrace a downtempo, more ambient sound. After a series of EPs, Tipper announced in 2013 that health concerns would limit his festival appearances, and he released Dusty Bubble Box: EP Remixes to help raise funds for medical bills that included cardiac surgery the same year. After time off to recover, he returned with 2014's Forward Escape, which hit the Top 20 of Billboard's electronic albums chart. By that time, Tipper was making festival appearances with dedicated so-called uptempo or downtempo sets. In 2015, he released two EPs, Fathoms EP and It's Like..., and in 2017, he returned with Flunked EP. It became his highest-charting release to date, reaching number 15 on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart. He curated the Tipper & Friends Festival, and held an event titled 4321 commemorating the solar eclipse on August 21. His EP Lattice appeared in October. He held additional Tipper & Friends events in New Orleans and Live Oak, Florida. The mostly downtempo album Jettison Mind Hatch appeared in 2019. In 2021, Tipper reissued many of his previous albums on vinyl, and released the EP Insolito. The concise, propulsive Marble Hunting arrived in 2022.
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