John Sellekaers


John Sellekaers is a Canadian-born musician and audio mastering engineer. Born in 1973 in Montreal, Quebec he later moved to Brussels, Belgium. Beginning with his project Xingu Hill in the 1990s, he has released over 60 records under various aliases such as Night Sky Pulse, Feral Cities, Meeple, and Dead Hollywood Stars on labels such as Ant-Zen, Hymen Records, Nova Zembla and Disques Hushush. His style ranges from experimental music to electronica.

Biography

Around 1988, under the influence of electronic music pioneers such as Cabaret Voltaire and Tangerine Dream, he began experimenting with synthesizers. Later, in the early nineties, he started a magazine devoted to underground culture entitled "Noyade mécanique". Other contributors for this magazine included Belgian artists such as Olivier Moreau and Seal Phüric.
Besides his main incarnation, Xingu Hill, Sellekaers has recorded under several aliases and in numerous collaborations. These include Dead Hollywood Stars, Urawa, The Missing Ensemble, Uncotones, Ambre, Moonsanto, Ammo, and Torsion.
He has collaborated with artists such as Mick Harris, David Thrussell, Olivier Moreau, Séba Dolimont, C-drik Fermont, Silk Saw, and Mathis Mootz.
During his career, John Sellekaers has extensively played live in Europe and North America.
Since 1998 he has owned and operated the Metarc mastering studio, currently located in Montreal.
Despite having released music under a number of monikers over the years, he didn't release music under his own name until 2019 with the release of Residual Broadcast, which was followed by releases in 2021 of Observer Effect on Glacial Movements and Foilum on the Oreille Gardee label. His more recent works trend towards ambient and atmospheric soundscapes, infused with elements of field recording.

Xingu Hill

His first project, Xingu Hill, began circa 1994 when the Belgian underground techno, ambient and IDM record label Nova Zembla signed Sellekaers for three albums. 1995 saw the release of his first album as Xingu Hill, Maps Of The Impossible. The remainder of the three-album deal included and Relay.
In 1999, Xingu Hill released Alterity on the Ant-Zen label imprint, Hymen Records. The same year, Ant-Zen released The Andronechron Incident, a collaboration between Xingu Hill and Black Lung, as a limited 10" vinyl with a subsequent CD release in 2002.
In 2005, Xingu Hill and Austin, TX, band Tamarin collaborated with former BYU professor Brian Evenson on the soundtrack and spoken word interpretation of Evenson's fiction work Altmann's Tongue, also released on Ant-Zen.
In 2021, Xingu Hill released a retrospective compilation entitled Strange Echoes 95 — 99. In 2023, Xingu Hill released Grigri Pavilion, the first new material in 20 years.

Moonsanto

Moonsanto is an experimental music and political project by Sellekaers, C-drik Fermont, Gabriel Séverin and Marc Mœdea. Active since 2000, Moonsanto can be called an industrial supergroup as it consist of members of Xingu Hill, Dead Hollywood Stars, Silk Saw and Ammo. Moonsanto's first full-length release is called Fraud Hell Dope. It is in fact a play on words about Monsanto Company's motto, "Food Health Hope". It is a multinational company active in the genetic engineering market.

Discography

As John Sellekaers

  • Residual Broadcast Cass; Oreille Gardée
  • Machines Inutiles Cass, Falt
  • Isolation Postcard Digital; Self-released
  • Observer Effect CD, Digital; Glacial Movements Records
  • Folium Cass, Digital; Oreille Gardée
  • Approaches Cass, Digital; Falt
  • What Happens at Night Digital; Self-released
  • Phaenomena Digital; Self-released
  • Territoires Anonymes Digital; Falt

    With Patrick Graham

  • Lacuna Digital; Parenthèses Records
  • Innerland Digital; Parenthèses Records
  • Unnatural CD, Digital; Parenthèses Records
  • Next of Kin Digital; Parenthèses Records

    As Concrete Garden

  • Furtive Digital; Self-released
  • In A Sealed Box Digital; Self-released
  • "Vénéneux" Digital; Self-released
  • Magnetic Dawn Digital; Self-released
  • 2:55 AM Digital; Drunken Forest
  • On Vanishing Digital; Drunken Forest

    As Feral Cities

  • "Remote" Digital; Self-released
  • Near Strangers Digital; Self-released
  • Unconscious Places Digital; Self-released
  • Slow Light Digital; Self-released
  • Arcs & Layers Digital; Fallen Moon Recordings
  • Double Shadow Digital; Heol Ddu

    As Meeple

  • Temporary Fantasy, Pt. 1 Digital; Self-released
  • Temporary Fantasy, Pt. 2 Digital; Self-released
  • Modern Cosmonautics Digital; Self-released
  • Micronations Digital; Drunken Forest
  • Diagrams Digital; Drunken Forest
  • Citadel Digital; Self-released
  • Polychromatic Digital; Self-released
  • In Unfamiliar Ways Digital; Self-released
  • Across the Continent Digital; Self-released

    As Nicolas Hall

  • At Nightfall Digital; Self-released
  • Sea Cave Digital; Self-released
  • Ebb Digital; Self-released
  • Instant Future, Pt 1. Digital; Self-released
  • Instant Future, Pt 2. Digital; Self-released
  • "Magnetic Midnight" Digital; Self-released

    As Night Sky Pulse

  • Arcana Digital; Self-released
  • The Hive Digital; Self-released
  • Habitat Digital; Self-released
  • No One We Know Digital; Self-released
  • Sole Witness Digital; Drunken Forest
  • Metamorphic Digital; Drunken Forest
  • These Possible Lives Digital; See Blue Audio
  • Superlunar Lounge Digital; See Blue Audio
  • Chromosphere Digital; Adventurous Music

    As Tuttle & Buttle

  • Fourth Wall Digital; Self-released
  • Offworld Digital; Self-released
  • Velvet Night Valley Digital; Self-released
  • Sun Echoes Digital; Self-released
  • Telltale Digital; Self-released
  • Airglow Digital; Self-released

    As Xingu Hill

  • Maps of the Imposible CD, LP; Nova Zembla
  • CD, LP; Nova Zembla
  • Relay CD; Nova Zembla
  • Alterity CD, Hymen Records
  • The Andronechron Incident 10" CD; Ant-Zen
  • 16 Bit Golem 7"; Mirex
  • Altmann's Tongue CD; Ant-Zen
  • Archives Compilation, Digital; Self-released
  • Strange Echoes 95 — 99 Compilation, Digital, LP; Traumgarten
  • Grigri Pavilion LP, Digital; Subexotic Records