Curtis Paul

Inspiration from technological possibility and in local cultural ingenuity influences. Motivation from electronic music coming out on the air-waves of local Detroit radio stations in the 80’s. The new Dance Show was mind blowing stuff for this Downriver kid. A young impressionable Curtis Paul is thoroughly fascinated and creates electronic songs on an IBM PC using GW-BASIC during grade school. Curtis studies classical percussion from grade school through jr. high and thought punk was neat. During high school Curtis experiments with early computer based sequencing, sampling and drum machines. This is where the ball starts rolling. In 1992, graduation from a Taylor, Michigan high school meant working with life-long neighborhood friend Steve Rathbone on the early Detroit electronic death metal project “Junken Groil – Carcinogens of Popboy Green Christ”. This was at a time when grunge was pop music and Chicago made Industrial music. Curtis deepens his interest in self actualizing avant garde, noise and most importantly electronic music. There were also techno parties in Detroit and that was where you went to hear something really interesting. This was a time when people said “Punk is dead”. To Curtis Detroit techno was a futuristic new punk. Through the 90’s Curtis pursues solo electronic composition in the back drop of Downriver weirdoes, the rotted emptiness of Detroit and the local Detroit Motown/punk/art/techno/electronic music he grew up with. Curtis spends the 1990’s building up a synthesizer studio. Curtis spends his time in Detroit socializing/scheming/performing with area musicians and artists. Deep angst and a desire for artistic beauty was the reaction Curtis had to the cultural and structural decline of the post-industrial region. It was a combination of wondering why, releasing, and carrying on. From the 1990’s to mid-2000’s Curtis records and performs with various Detroit groups and artists on music ranging from futuristic hip-hop, noise, improvisational electronic jazz, and techno. Curtis records hundreds of solo tracks and many live recordings with no serious interest in releasing albums, self-promoting, or touring. In mid-2000’s Curtis releases a track from his Abused Current project on Detroit record label Kenaob’s “Smodowapo” album. This marks the beginning of Curtis’s musical sabbatical. Curtis moved to Fort Collins, Colorado at the end of 2013. In 2014 Curtis began dusting off old recordings and posting them online with the simple intent of sharing with old friends. The separation from Detroit and the cultural environment change adds a new perspective. In 2015 Curtis decides to start composing and recording again under the moniker lack_music. The intention of the lack_music project is to examine the folk music characteristics of Detroit Techno and explore the cultural reasons why he was drawn to it as a child and young adult.