Jorge Socarras

American musician Born to Cuban parents in New York City, Jorge Socarrás studied at the NY School of Visual Arts before transferring to San Francisco, where he met and began making music with musician-producer Patrick Cowley in the mid 70s, forming the post-punk duo Catholic. (Macro Music/Dark Entries) in 1980 he co-founded the avant-rock musical group Indoor Life, which based out of New York toured Europe, recorded three albums and several EPs between 1980-87, attaining cult status notably in France and San Francisco. (Complete anthology available on Compost) In 1987 Socarrás, motivated by the AIDS crisis, which had taken the life of Patrick Cowley among many others, took a break from music and co-founded the Silence = Death Collective, creating the eponymous slogan and visual design used by ACT UP. He also went on to work in independent music A&R, teaching in Humanities and writing in the arts before finally beginning various new musical collaborations, including Ceci N'est Pas. Since 2012, together with Cologne-based electronica composer and producer Mathias Schaffhäuser, their duo Fanatico X has produced several recordings (Yellow Tail/ Hallucienda), with the latest, White Rabbit" slated for 2023 release on Hallucienda.