Heiss Releases Awake(n) LP

Published: December 13, 2012

Today marks the release of Heiss' Awake(n), a twelve-song, free LP aiming to do just that. Heiss, the moniker of Frank Heiss, is a classically trained symphonic timpanist and drummer who traded in his kit for an Akai MPC-3000 in the mid 90's on his way to releases through Rising High (UK) in 1995, Liquid Sky Music in 1997 and Harvest/EMI in 1998. At a time when electronic music was still in its infancy, Heiss was pushing boundaries in the drum & bass world, drawing comparisons from media outlets to Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and Photek, while creating new genres like his Country / Hip Hop crossover release The Hick Step Massive in 2004.

Awake(n) is a product of maturation in a thirty-five year musical journey, paired with a philosophical shift in Heiss' life. Aptly referred to as a sonic sorcerer, Heiss calls on spiritual teachings and the ancient art of alchemy for the higher purpose of turning that which is dark into light. This is a guy who covered Mahavishnu Orchestra and opened for Phish in the early 90's, so the technical prowess is there. The combination of that musical proficiency with a spiritual paradigm shift opens this record to a whole new plane of sonic exploration.