The Horrorist

:This article is about the musician with the stage name "The Horrorist". For the Vertigo Comics title, see .
The Horrorist is a stage name for Oliver Chesler (born January 20, 1970), who is a native New Yorker and is known for his innovative electronic music. He is the owner of the Things to Come Records. He has live performances all around the world but a hotspot is Germany. Many remember him as the punk styled kid in D.A. Pennebaker's concert film "101", featuring Depeche Mode.
Manic Panic project
The 2001 release "Manic Panic" contains tracks that describes some aspects of life in New York City, or any major (western) metropolis. The album features, what sounds like, actual samples of the answering machine of Oliver Chesler (aka. The Horrorist), giving the album a feel of being auto-biographic. On August 30, 2004 the album was re-released on Out of Line Music with a bonus disc containing an additional nine songs. The re-release went to No. 1 on the Deutsche (German) Alternative Chart on October 1, 2004. The album had four singles associated with it: "One Night in NYC", "Flesh is the Fever", "The Virus" and "Mission Ecstasy".
"One Night in NYC" describes the experiences of a young innocent suburban girl during a night in New York City. It's a scary downbeat track, and what is described in the lyrics, could happen each and every night year round, a notion that makes the track even eerier. The single hit No.1 on the Deutsche Dance Charts the first week of January 2001. In the May 2001 issue of UK magazine MixMag, Pete Tong reviewed "One Night in NYC" and said, "Big records demand your attention, and this is bound to get yours... Love it hate it, you will certainly know when you've heard it." There were many 12" remix singles released for the song on several different record labels including Warner Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Superstar Recordings, CLR Recordings, A1 Records and Captivating Sounds. Some of the producers and DJs who contributed remixes include Chris Liebing, Pascal FEOS, Ricardo Villalobos and Orlando Voorn. Warner Music hired German firm Oktonet to produce the music video. It was directed by Nils Tim and shot in New York City at The Limelight club and live footage was shot in Frankfurt, Germany at the U60311 nightclub. For several weeks the video had B-rotation play on MTV and in Germany and The Netherlands. On February 10, 2002 The New Zealand Herald ran a story detailing how the Broadcasting Standards Authority banned the music video from airing again on TVNZ (Television New Zealand). In the story a man named Rod Valenta complained, "completely unacceptable for free-to-air television, especially during a weekend when children can view this damaging material".
"The Virus" is an upbeat, hardpumping track that describes what can happen "when people do evil things". The lyrics tell the story of a young man who was bullied through out his life and later becomes addicted to drugs. He thinks up a plan for revenge. He creates a virus and then unleashes it to destroy the world. Initially there were two different 12" vinyl releases each with different remixes for The Virus on the German label a45 (a division of Edel Music). Some of the producers and DJs who contributed remixes include Ben Sims, Northern Lite, Citizen Art and Zeil 100. Later, in 2004 another German label Robot Traxx released newer remixes of The Virus. The release aptly titled "The Virus 2004" included remixes by Longy, DJ Falk & Plasma Beat and Fritz Laurent.
Recognitions
*His song "One Night in NYC" went to #1 on the Deutsche Dance Chart in 2001 (DDC).
*British music critic Simon Reynolds once proclaimed, "My favorite contemporary American singer-songwriter is Oliver Chesler, a/k/a The Horrorist.".
Aliases
*DJ Cybersnuff
*DJ Silence
*DJ Skinhead
*Narcanosis
*Oliver Chesler
In Groups
*Arrivers
*SuperPower
*Temper Tantrum
*Disintegrator
*Koenig Cylinders
Discography
*The Horrorist - Flesh is the Fever
*The Horrorist - In The Year 1999 (Album: Thunderdome XIX 1997)
*The Horrorist - One Night in New York City
*The Horrorist - Run For Your Life
*The Horrorist - Sex Machine
*The Horrorist - Mission Esctacy 2003
*The Horrorist - Manic Panic (Album)
*The Horrorist - Metal man
*The Horrorist - The Virus
*The Horrorist - Manic Panic - Extended ver. (Album)
*The Horrorist - Wire to The Ear
*The Horrorist - Body to Body
*The Horrorist - Attack Decay (Album)
*The Horrorist - 13 Dobermans
Filmography
* ' (1989): self
* Revision - Apocalypse II (2008): actor, composer, performer

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