Dirk Markham

Dirk Markham grew up in Aboyne, a village in “Royal” Deeside in the north east of Scotland (an hour inland from Aberdeen). Dirk has been making experimental recordings and teaching himself every instrument he can get his hands on since his years studying mental philosophy at Edinburgh University in the late 90s. His music is mainly instrumental although occasionally the odd folk-rock song pops up out of nowhere.

While an ongoing collaborative exchange with the Forest Records Collective still provides a strong bond to Edinburgh, Markham has been residing in Berlin for the last 10 years where he previously worked for Gudrun Gut’s indie label monika enterprise and is now part of the research and development team with the music software and hardware manufacturer Native Instruments. Dirk’s experience working in the music industry has fed into his own music and continues to be a source of inspiration.

Equal parts music fan and composer, as well as producing and promoting his own music Drock is always looking to support fellow artists which he does via his involvement with the Digital in Berlin project which includes a fortnightly radio show, online magazine and hosting regular events.

Dirk Markham aka The Hemulen, Drock, systeme D, Disk is constantly re-reading Finite & Infinite Games by James P. Carse and The Manual by the KLF, which he regards as the only books worth reading. Despite this he is a long way from having a number one hit. Life for Dirk is a musical journey on which he is constantly searching for new sounds, ways of manipulating and controlling them, and cheap keyboards from the flea market. His recent works include the debut album by his electronic side-project Systeme D entitled Systeme D In Full Effekt and tracks on two Second Language compilations, Vertical Integration and Minute Papillon. He just released Vol. 8 in his ongoing and highly regarded Psycho-Acoustic Scultptures series and is already working on the next installment.