Karl Hyde

Karl Hyde (born 10 May 1957) is an English musician, composer and artist. He is a founding member of British electronic group Underworld. Hyde has also released a solo album, made albums with Brian Eno and Matthew Herbert, and contributed towards the score for the London 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony alongside his Underworld bandmate Rick Smith.^[4]

Karl Hyde
Hyde performing in 2016
Background information
Birth name	Karl Hyde
Born	(1957-05-10) 10 May 1957 (age 67)[1][2]
Origin	Bewdley, Worcestershire, England[3]
Genres	Electronic trance progressive house experimental
Occupations	Singer musician
Instruments	Vocals guitar synthesizer
Years active	1978–present
Website	karlhyde.com

He is a founding member of the multi-discipline design and film collective Tomato and has published several books.

Career

Hyde grew up in Bewdley, England.^[5] He moved to Cardiff in the late 1970s to study at Cardiff College of Art.^[6] There he formed the new wave-synthpop band Freur in 1982 with Rick Smith and Alfie Thomas.^[7] The band released two albums, Doot-Doot (1983) and Get Us out of Here (1986), before relocating to Essex, and renaming themselves Underworld. They have continued to make music since.^[7]

He contributed towards the score for the London 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, alongside Underworld's Rick Smith who was the ceremony's Musical Director.^[4]

In January 2013, Hyde announced the release date for his debut solo album, Edgeland.^[8][9] It was released worldwide on 22 April that year^[10] through Universal. It was co-produced by Leo Abrahams.^[11]

In 2014, Hyde collaborated with English musician and record producer Brian Eno on the album Someday World, which was released on Warp.^[12] The first single from this album, "The Satellites", was released in March 2014.^[13] Within weeks of the album's release, it was announced that a second album, High Life, would be released on 30 June (1 July in North America),^[14] also through Warp. In 2017, he collaborated with the director Simon Graham and the playwright Simon Stephens to produce the play Fatherland at the Royal Exchange in Manchester.^[15]

Hyde performed at Coachella 2023.^[16]

Personal life

Hyde's daughter Tyler performs in the experimental rock band Black Country, New Road.

Discography

With the Screen Gemz

• I Just Can't Stand Cars / Teenage Teenage (7" Single, 1979)

With Freur

Main article: Freur § Discography

With Underworld

Main article: Underworld discography

Solo album by Hyde

• Edgeland (Universal, 2013) – co-produced by Leo Abrahams

Singles by Hyde

• "Cut Clouds" (Universal, 2013)
• "The Boy with the Jigsaw Puzzle Fingers" (Universal, 2013)

Albums with others

• Someday World (Warp, 2014) – with Brian Eno
• High Life (Warp, 2014) – with Brian Eno
• Fatherland (Original Music from the Stage Show) (Universal, 2017) – with Matthew Herbert

Publications

Publication by Hyde

• I Am Dogboy: The Underworld Diaries. London: Faber and Faber, 2016. ISBN 978-0571328659. Contains diary entries, autobiographical writing, photographs and abstract poetry.

Publications paired with John Warwicker

• Mmm ... Skyscraper I Love You: a Typographic Journal of New York. London: Booth-Clibborn, 2002. ISBN 978-1873968581.
• In the Belly of Saint Paul. Underworld Print, 2003. ISBN 978-0954613105.

References

1. Jeffries, David. "Karl Hyde Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
2. Montgomery, Hugh (23 October 2011). "How We Met: Rick Smith & Karl Hyde". The Independent. London. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
3. "Karl Hyde: 'It's interesting how one's moral compass can shift when you become a parent' | Music". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
4. Baltin, Steve (8 December 2011). "Underworld Named Music Directors of 2012 Olympics". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
5. "Karl Hyde: 'It's interesting how one's moral compass can shift when you become a parent'". The Guardian. 7 June 2017. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
6. Montgomery, Hugh (14 November 2010). "How We Met: Rick Smith & Karl Hyde". The Independent.
7. "Freur". WalesMusic. BBC Wales. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
8. "Underworld's Karl Hyde announces solo album Edgeland: stream the first track inside". FACT Magazine. 24 January 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
9. Unterberger, Andrew The SPIN Interview: Underworld SPIN. 15 March 2016
10. "Karl Hyde to release first solo album". Chaos Control. 2013. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
11. Geslani, Michelle (24 January 2013). "Underworld's Karl Hyde announces solo debut album, Edgeland". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
12. Blistein, Jon (4 March 2014). "Brian Eno and Underworld's Karl Hyde Launch 'The Satellites'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
13. Minsker, Evan (4 March 2014). "Listen: Brian Eno and Underworld's Karl Hyde: "The Satellites"". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
14. Henry, Dusty (28 May 2014). "Brian Eno and Karl Hyde announce new album, High Life, stream "DBF"". Retrieved 29 May 2014.
15. Gardner, Lyn (16 June 2017). "Fatherland: look back in anger, love and pride". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
16. "Coachella 2023 Weekend 2 Lineup & Schedule: All the Set Times You Need to Know". Pitchfork. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2023.

External links

• Official website