Kompressor (musician)

KOMPRESSOR (born 1979) is an electronic musician and the alter-ego of Andreas K. from Washington Court House, Ohio, United States. KOMPRESSOR later revealed himself to be Drew, the author of the popular Toothpaste For Dinner daily webcomic and blog. [http://blog.toothpastefordinner.com/index.php?blogid=35]

KOMPRESSOR's music is self-described as: "KOMPRESSOR sound is hard and angry, good words used for song and electronic." KOMPRESSOR's work is often viewed as parody, but has also been widely recognized as legitimate and catchy synth-pop in its own right.

History and persona

KOMPRESSOR began in 2000, when Drew began recording songs under the Kompressor name and putting songs, and videos of the songs, up for free download. The songs became popular over the ensuing years, leading to four albums.

KOMPRESSOR is depicted in his albums and videos wearing a strange alien mask, usually with a black leather jacket and black gloves. He proclaims to be from Bremen, Germany, to speak English as a second language, and some of his songs are in German, or have some German lyrics.

Albums

*"KOMPRESSORMUSIK" (1998)
*"WORLD DOMINATION" (2001)
*"Crush Television" (2002)
*"UNDERGROUND ARCHIVES" (2003)
*"DISCIPLINE" (2004)
*"Discipline Remix CD" (2005)

KOMPRESSOR released a cover of the "Tunak Tunak Tun" song by Sikh bhangra singer Daler Mehndi. In KOMPRESSOR's version, the lyrics open with::KOMPRESSOR crushing American people:KOMPRESSOR driving cars into stores:KOMPRESSOR crushing all of Manhattan:KOMPRESSOR flying plane into building ^{[http://www.jollylager.com/kompressor/mp3/k-tuntun.mp3 mp3]} Eerily, the song was recorded before the September 11, 2001 attacks in which terrorists flew planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. After the attack, KOMPRESSOR replaced those two lines of the song in the web-released video, splicing in an old man playing "It's a Small World After All" on a piano. ^{[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3463679012560054152 video]}

Public domain

According to Sharing Machine, all existing KOMPRESSOR lyrics (as of 2005) are available in the public domain. "Speaking on behalf of Sharing Machine, KOMPRESSOR's record label, you have permission to post these lyrics anywhere you want. While the music is copyrighted, the actual lyrics for the three KOMPRESSOR albums released in the US are registered as public domain." He has also stated that his music is free to distribute, as long as it is not sold or used for commercial use.

KOMPRESSOR Singularity

KOMPRESSOR, who announced his intentions to revamp his project at the start of 2006, closed his online store at the end of 2005. Prior to closing the online store, he released all songs from "WORLD DOMINATION" and "CRUSH TELEVISION" (plus some songs from "UNDERGROUND ARCHIVES") for free download. [http://www.kompressormusic.com/audio.html]

As of January 1, 2006, KOMPRESSOR's "Singularity" occurred. While not explicitly stating all music production will cease, his statement on the matter indicates that he will no longer sell music, and he would be selling off his music equipment. Additionally, the old KOMPRESSOR web site is replaced with a discography, yet other pages still exist on the server.

Despite the apparent halt of Andreas K.'s production, KOMPRESSOR's LiveJournal hints at a past project that remains unknown to most, and proceeds to hint at a future project. [http://www.livejournal.com/users/kompressorpower/19080.html]

External links

* [http://www.kompressormusic.com KOMPRESSOR Web Page]
* [http://www.kompressormusic.com/equipment.html Equipment used on KOMPRESSOR albums]
* [http://www.livejournal.com/users/kompressorpower/ KOMPRESSOR's LiveJournal]
* [http://www.toothpastefordinner.com Toothpaste For Dinner webcomic and blog]