Khanoda

Infobox musical artist
Name = Khanoda
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Augustus John Richard Squillace
Alias = Khanoda Squillace, Khanoda "Gus" Squillace, Khanoda Agostino Giovanni Squillace, Khanoda Taconni
Born = birth date and age|1971|10|30
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States
Origin = New York City, New York, Europe, United States
Genre = Pop, dance-pop, electronica
Instrument = vocals, keyboards, percussion, drums
Occupation = Singer-songwriter, record producer
Years_active = 1988–present
Label = TSR Records (1988-1989) TSR/Creation, Ltd./Metropolis Muzik (1988–1989)
Offset (1989)
Minx Entertainment (1994-1995)
Kommunion Recording Company (1997-Present)

Khanoda’s first single was a dance track entitled, Do What You Feel. Released worldwide in Spring 1988, the single failed to take off in the US, however, was a modest success overseas in Germany, and lead to Khanoda touring parts of the country for most of the summer that same year. While an eponymous debut was released in Europe in the fall of 1988, which compiled songs recorded during his time in Germany, Khanoda had returned to the states and co-founded the thrash metal band, Armed n Dangerous, who released an album in January 1989 titled, SCUM, before disbanding shortly after the album’s release.

Following the demise of Armed n Dangerous, Khanoda returned to solo work and released the secular hymn, Say A Prayer in March 1989. In addition to “Say A Prayer“, a pair of alternative influenced pop singles, Something To Shout About and That’s My Desire followed; all finding their way to college radio. Without major label backing, and mostly through word of mouth, Khanoda won approval from the college radio crowd by the early ‘90‘s; labeling the singer an “Unsigned Hero.” [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:dbfyxqrjldte]

It would take over six years before Khanoda would release his second studio album, 1994‘s Lessons Learned on Leithgow St. Lyrically, the album dealt with topics that were considered too controversial at the time such as rape, abortion and homosexuality with fearless veracity, while musically, Khanoda, with the help of producer Larry Murray, further distanced himself from dance pop by way of celtic and hard rock music. Nevertheless, the album fell upon deaf ears for the most part, selling a humbling 5,000 copies.

In 1997 Khanoda released the cryptically titled, 603 muv to the UK. An EP of mostly cover songs, “603” marked Khanoda’s return to dance music, somewhat, by experimenting with both techno and electronic music to produce barely recognizable renditions of classics by Bruce Springsteen (“I’m On Fire”) and Madonna (“Burning Up”).

To acknowledge the ten year anniversary of the release of “Do What You Feel,” in addition to his decade of recording, in 1998, Khanoda released the amply titled, klosure. DISPOSABLE KLASSIX AND OTHER POTENTIAL FAILURES (1988 – 1998); a sendup on greatest hits albums released at year’s end which compiled previously unreleased track and remixes from both Khanoda’s first album and “Lessons Learned On Leithgow St.,” along with two new tracks recorded specifically for the album, “Twister/Farley Pinapple” and “Slowly.” As of January 2006, the mock hits collection has sold more than 100,000 copies independently and has become an underground favorite amongst the IDM and new music set throughout the United States and Europe.

Khanoda + Cyberland

In 1999 Khanoda launched khanoda.com, his official website. Since then he has taken full advantage of the medium as a way to entertain and connect with his audience. In 2002 khanodasugar.com launched as a component to “Sugar” the lead single from Khanoda’s yet to be released album, “Fever +Fetish.” The site was the first of its kind to include an audio biography. On May 28, 2003 several mixes of “Sugar” were premiered on khanodasugar.com for one day from twelve in the afternoon to midnight. The site received close to 30,000 hits during its 12 hour run. Khanoda will continue to break new ground with feverandfetish.com an album specific set to launch in late 2006 which will explore love through stories about Lust, Ecstacy, Anger and Cruelty. A sub-plot to feverandfetish.com launched on November 22, 2005 and is considered thus far as Khanoda’s most ambitious and controversial work to date. DISCIPLE OF TRUTH is a faux hate-blog featuring sexual and racial epithets against homosexuals, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and foreigners in its entries posted by Truth Disciple, a character that, according to Khanoda, serves as a gateway to the stories being told on feverandfetish.com. While Khanoda states on the site’s disclaimer that Truth Disciple is in no way a reflection of himself, he does add that the character is a reflection of all of us. Since its launch DISCIPLE OF TRUTH, or DOT, as it has come to be known, has received over 60,000 hits.

As of February 2007, khanoda.com and all Khanoda related sites were taken down at Khanoda’s behest.

Other Khanoda related articles

*Khanoda Discography

External links