Locust

Mark Van Hoen

Short biography of Locust: LOCUST is MARK VAN HOEN, a born and bred Londoner who has been working in television and radio since leaving school at 16 and whose musical output since last year has offered the world of Ambient electronic music something with a greater depth and a sense of progression.

In 1982, influenced by Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and other early electronic artists, he gave his first live performance using synthesizer and tape.

Over the years Mark's musical intake has changed: the German electronic pioneers have fallen out of favour to be replaced by jazz and Indian classical music. "I will always love the work of Steve Reich, Brian Eno, Jon Hassell and David Sylvian" , said Mark in 1995, "but right now the most important music to me is that of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Karl-Heinz Stockhausen". Conversely, he has also developed an ear for pop and more "conventional" vocal-led music.

But the essence of Locust is music that Mark, and only Mark, has performed and recorded. His initial series of releases on Apollo covered the years 1983-1987 and 1991-1994; the compositions on all these records were generated almost entirely using analogue synthesizers. With the follow-on album, Truth Is Born Of Arguments however, things changed quite substantially. Partly instigated by the explosion of the Jungle movement, but mostly by developing new techniques, this album was based on sampling and digital sound manipulation.

1. http://www.markvanhoen.com/
2. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Locust/336902606430619