Hafler Trio


The Hafler Trio is an English conceptual, performance and sound art collaborative project. It was originally a duo formed in the early 1980s by Andrew McKenzie and Chris Watson. The third person in the 'trio' was a fictional scientist named Dr. Edward Moolenbeek. The Hafler Trio became the solo project of McKenzie with a strong focus on dadaesque sound art works and multimedia work. His recordings often having carefully and elaborately designed packaging. Chris Watson went on to a critically regarded career as a field recording artist and sound engineer.
Since, Andrew M. McKenzie's Hafler Trio project has seen the release of numerous albums and CDs in experimental musical styles ranging from electronic, cut-up, ambient, environmental soundscape, musique concrète, electro-acoustic, and audio-montage as cinema for the ears from 1982 to present, each of which use graphic design and text for contextual juxtaposition with the recordings, as well as having a diverse but concrete philosophical and sometimes quasi-religious framework to place them in.

History

Despite the name, The Hafler Trio is essentially the work of one man, Andrew M. McKenzie, born in Scotland in 1963 and whose family moved to Newcastle upon Tyne shortly after. McKenzie released his first 7" single at the age of 16, having formed a post-punk rock group named Flesh.
There have been numerous members and collaborators alongside Andrew M. McKenzie, including Cabaret Voltaire co-founder Chris Watson, the fictitious Dr. Edward Moolenbeek, Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound, Adi Newton of Clock DVA, Z'EV, Fluxus artist Willem de Ridder, David Tibet, Genesis P-Orridge, Annie Sprinkle, Jónsi Birgisson, Michael Gira, Chloe Vevrier, Erla Þórarinsdóttir, Blixa Bargeld, Netochka Nezvanova, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Jóhann Jóhannsson, John Lacey of COUM Transmissions, and Autechre among many others. McKenzie was also part of Whitehouse along with Steven Stapleton and William Bennett for their first live performance.
In addition to the 6-part retrospective set released by The Grey Area of Mute Records titled The Golden Hammer, CD releases include: Intoutof, A Bag of Cats, Mastery of Money, How to Reform Mankind, with several notable stand-out collaborations: One Dozen Economical Stories by Peter Greenaway, Nurse With Wound and the Hafler Trio Hit Again!, Snuff, Soundtrack to Brion Gysin's 'Dreamachine', a substantial 2-part collaboration with Autechre, and most recently a three part collaboration with Jónsi Birgisson of Sigur Rós.
2009 saw the shutdown of the Brainwashed h3o website, the renunciation of conventional CD releases, almost all internet activity, and the exclusive concentration on methods of "complementary education" and related disciplines referenced by and developed in tandem with the work of The Hafler Trio since its inception, under the umbrella of Simply Superior.

Selected body of audio work

  • The Hafler Trio – An Introduction
  • "BANG" – An Open Letter
  • Soundtrack To "Alternation, Perception, And Resistance" – A Comprehension Exercise
  • Seven Hours Sleep
  • Hotondo Kiki Torenai
  • Brain Song
  • Redintegrate
  • The Sea Org
  • Three Ways of Saying Two
  • A Thirsty Fish
  • Dislocation
  • Nurse With Wound and the Hafler Trio Hit Again!
  • Untitled
  • Intoutof
  • Ignotum per Ignotius
  • Present Brion Gysin's Dreamachine
  • A Bag of Cats
  • Alaura/Slave Priest
  • Kuklos
  • Kill The King
  • Masturbatorium
  • The Hafler Trio Play The Hafler Trio
  • The Hafler Trio Play The Hafler Trio Play The Hafler Trio
  • FUCK
  • Mastery of Money
  • Snuff
  • Resurrection
  • Walk Gently Through the Gates of Joy
  • Four Ways of Saying Five
  • All That Rises Must Converge
  • Designer Time
  • How To Reform Mankind
  • Negentropy
  • One Dozen Economical Stories by Peter Greenaway
  • Unentitled
  • An Utterance of the Supreme Ventriloquist
  • I Was There/That Would Be
  • Infidelity to Reason
  • Right Here Where You Are Sitting Now
  • The Day I Married The World
  • Who Sees Goes On #1: Timerape
  • Who Sees Goes On #2: Broadcast in White
  • Who Sees Goes On #3: Lipchamber
  • Who Sees Goes On #4: Godfood
  • Who Sees Goes On #5: Solvitur Ambulado
  • Who Sees Goes On #6: Dream Adjustments
  • Who Sees Goes On #7: Avec Le Vide Les Pleins Pouvoirs
  • Who Sees Goes On
  • Hljóðmynd
  • Cleave: 9 Great Openings
  • La Chanson Dada
  • A House Waiting For Its Master
  • A Small Child Dreams Of Voiding The Plague
  • æ³o & h³æ
  • How To Slice A Loaf of Bread
  • Kisses With Both Hands From Gods Little Toy
  • No Man Put Asunder: 7 Fruitful and Seamless Unions
  • No More Twain, Of One Flesh: 11 Unequivocal Obsecrations
  • Normally
  • The Birds Must Be Eliminated
  • The Man Who Tried To Disappear
  • The Moment When We Blow The Flour From Our Tongues
  • Untitled
  • Whistling About Chickens
  • "How To Slice A Loaf of Bread "
  • Anything That Anyone Else Tells You Is Not Good Enough
  • Where Are You?
  • Exactly As I Say
  • I Never Knew That's Who You Thought You Were
  • Only The Hand That Erases Can Write The True Thing
  • Scissors Cut Arrow
  • The Concentrated Recapturing of Thought
  • Wolf Sheep Cabbage
  • Wolf Sheep Cabbage
  • Wolf Sheep Cabbage
  • Á Ég Að Halda Áfram?
  • æo³ & ³hæ
  • Being A Firefighter Isn't Just About Squirting Water
  • Exactly As I Am
  • Exactly As I Do
  • If Take, Then Take: Tricks, Half-Tricks and Real Phenomena
  • No One Remains
  • The Explanation
  • The Water Has No Hair To Hold On To
  • 3 Eggs
  • A Pressed on Sandwich
  • The Discussion
  • An Answer
  • Who Gave You The Ability To Envisage Perfection?
  • ''ah³eo & ha³oe''

    Selected writings

  • Plucking Feathers From A Bald Frog
  • A Conversation Through A Sheet of Glass in an Empty Room
  • ''Just Because A Cat Has Her Kittens in the Oven Doesn't Make Them Biscuits''

    McKenzie's medical condition

In 2004, Andrew announced that he was suffering from diagnosed hepatitis B and autoimmune hepatitis. Both of these conditions require drugs which McKenzie has stated he cannot afford.