One of the first ever alucidnation tracks - this was written back in '92 when I purchased my first studio! It's based around a 3 second Judie Tzuke sample from her 1979 hit 'Stay With Me 'Til Dawn'. Considering the very basic MIDI equipment that I was using, this sounds great! 

Alucidnation - Zook

alucidnation is Bruce Bickerton.

I've been writing and producing music since 1992, amassing a broad spectrum of what I'd describe as 'good quality listening music for the home and the head'.

To the uninitiated, my music is probably quite hard to categorize, as it ranges from blissful ambience through to deep, dubby beats, taking in electronica, pure pop songs and acoustic numbers along the way. Having been playing the piano (and various other bits and pieces) since my formulative years, I've always liked to improvise, messing around with chord structures and vocal harmonies. It was only when I took the plunge in the early nineties and invested in a small MIDI studio setup that I was able to realise some of those ideas. This resulted in a scramble of activity over the course of the next ten years, when I spent a good deal of time recording rough improvisations on whatever medium came to hand, whether that was cassette tape, DAT or MD. These improvisations either culminated in finished pieces, or if the groove or feeling wasn't there, they were either discarded, or put to use in future compositions. This way of working still informs much of my work these days, even with the advent of modern digital editing software : "I like to get a loop up and running that's 'doing it', and then just hit the record button and let the vibe take me away for about 15-20 minutes. Out of this, there's bound to be something that's useable - sometimes the whole thing is!"

My music eventually came to the attention of prolific producer Tom Middleton back in 2000. I'd produced a limited edition CD of material he'd been working on in 1999 (just 10 copies were pressed up!); one of which found its way to Tom and then by word of mouth to Pete Lawrence, co-curator of The Big Chill, a music and arts organisation based out of the UK. Pete signed alucidnation up to the then fledgling Big Chill Recordings label on the strength of 'I'm Not Bad', a ditty that I'd penned in a few hours. I ended up releasing two EPs and two LPs on the label, both sold well and were critically well-received.

With Pete Lawrence, I assembled and sequenced a Big Chill compilation ['Glisten'] that won a Time Out award. My music has also surfaced on plenty of compilations throughout the world, appeared on Grand Theft Auto and I've lent my hand to numerous remixes. I've collaborated with various composers of note, including Tom Middleton, Ulrich Schnauss, Pete Lawrence, Another Fine Day, The Verbrilli Sound, Pitch Black and many more. I run my own label, imaginatively called Lucid Recordings, and am signed to Interchill & Six Degrees Records. I am published by Faber.

I also spend a fair proportion of my time producing my weekly radio show for a number of radio stations throughout Europe called 'Eclectronica'.