Holger Hiller

Electronic experimentalist Holger Hiller departed from the band Palais Schaumburg in the early '80s and embarked on a solo career. 1984's A Bunch of Foulness in the Pit established his basic approach of combining keyboard lines with assorted odd sounds, and tense, clattering percussion. 1986's Oben im Eck was a slightly revamped version of the earlier Hyperprism; it featured Hiller exploiting new sampling technology to its fullest behind a band including vocalists Billy McKenzie and Kaori Kano, and keyboardist Izumi Kobayashi. After laying low for quite some time, save occasional mixing and editing work for artists like Depeche Mode, Hiller returned with a vengeance in the mid-'90s, issuing Little Present in 1995 and following it with a total of five singles in 1996, plus the Demixed collection. A self-titled release followed in fall 2000.