DJ Sprinkles

Already known for provocative and challenging works ranging from deep listening ambience to electro-acoustic abstractions to neo-expressionist piano solos, in the late ‘90s, multimedia producer and computer musician Terre Thaemlitz resurrected his club music moniker, DJ Sprinkles — a name he used earlier in the decade as a New York City club DJ. A Minnesota-born transplant (by way of Missouri), Thaemlitz arrived in N.Y.C. in the late ‘80s to attend art school at the Cooper Union. He eventually made his way into the club culture through his association with gay activist causes, lending his mixing skills for benefit parties and the like. He started a long-running mixtape series called Deeperama that focused on small, underground releases, often breaking classic tracks months ahead of other DJs. In 1991; he also had a residency at the infamous transsexual club Sally's, where Thaemlitz (as DJ Sprinkles) was spinning when he was awarded an Underground Grammy for DJ of the Year. Growing weary of club audiences who clamored for major-label releases, by the mid-‘90s, Thaemlitz turned his attention to the rising ambient movement, keeping house music on the backburner. At the turn of the millennium, Thaemlitz, by now a respected producer under his birth name, relocated to Japan and resumed his DJ activities (including the Deeperama mix series), continuing with his more experimental compositions as well. His first release as DJ Sprinkles, the 12" single "Sloppy 42nds," arrived in 1998 on his own Comatose Recordings imprint; a decade would pass before the release of his first full-length under the name Midtown 120 Blues in 2009.