Panacea (artist)
Encyclopedia
Mathis Mootz is a prolific German electronic musician
and DJ
from Germany. Mootz is best known as The Panacea (until 2005, simply as Panacea), his drum and bass
stage name and main musical project, and as m2 , his dark ambient
side project and alter-ego.
Born August 18, 1976 in Wetzlar
, Germany, Mootz served an apprenticeship in classical music and was a member of the boy's choir of Windsbach
. After studying music engineering at the SAE Institute
, Mootz worked with the experimental hip hop
/illbient
label Chrome, an offshoot of Force Inc Music Works. Over the course of several drum and bass
albums and many singles, and as A&R
manager for Chrome, later renamed Position Chrome, Panacea became known for pushing the bounds of the drum and bass genre into industrial
and hardcore
territory, and for energetic DJ sets which fused these genres in a live setting. With his side project m2, he explored a more minimal side of electronic music, first in the realm of clicks 'n' cuts, and later in the dark ambient
territory pioneered by the likes of Lustmord
. Mootz lives and produces in Sommerhausen
, a countryside town near Würzburg
.
/illbient
with men in the mid-1990s, an offshoot of Force Inc Music Works. Under the name Panacea, he released a string of dark drum and bass
singles on the label in 1996, followed by the LPs Low Profile Darkness in 1997 and Twisted Designz in 1998, which pushed the tech step format established by the UK's Ed Rush
and Optical
into harsh industrial
/digital hardcore
territory. Mootz took over Chrome's A&R
, and the label was renamed Position Chrome soon after, evolving into one of the first and most notable German drum and bass labels.
Mootz's broad musical background led him to experiment in other style, from the avant garde minimalism
of his Brasilia
soundtrack (part of Caipirinha's Architettura series exploring the relationship between architecture and music), to his collaboration with J-pop
singer Hanayo
, which saw the duo electronically re-scoring Bach's
Ich Steh´ An Deiner Krippen Hier. A number of MCs guested on his LP Phoenix Metabolism (1999), while he refined his industrial drum and bass style on the LP German Engineering (2001). Mootz also began a number of side projects and collaborations in this period, releasing albums of raggacore (as Rich Kid), electro
(as Bad Street Boy), hardcore
(as Kate Mosh), and drum and bass with DJ Scud
(as The Redeemer) and Problem Child (as Disorder). Sinecore, the first album by his glitch/dark ambient
ego m2 was released in 2000 on Mille Plateaux
. A further ten albums were released by this project coming over labels such as Ant-Zen
and Hands Productions
.
The Hardest Tour on Planet Earth (2001) documented his partnership with fellow German drum and bass artist Cativo, where elements of oldskool hardcore and other early rave music
began entering his products. Underground Superstar (2002) found him fusing early hardcore and jump-up with modern production techniques. The album included "The Evil Seed", a vocal track for which a music video
was produced, and "The Last Brotherhood". Adopting an extremely energetic DJ persona, he became known for sets that were equal parts hardcore and drum and bass. He also began collaborating with Luna-C
, one of the champions of the breakbeat hardcore
revival known as hardcore breaks
. Panacea Shares Needles with Tarmvred, a collaboration with Needle Sharing and Tarmvred
in 2002 on Ad Noiseam
, combined drum and bass, hardcore, and noise
.
Position Chrome ceased activity briefly in 2004 when Force Inc.'s distributors EFA-Medien went bankrupt, but in 2005, Mootz revived the label, changing his name to The Panacea. He has since returned to somewhat darker sounds, releasing a number of singles on Position Chrome, as well as UK labels Outbreak and Offkey Records, the latter run by UK producer Raiden and specializing in Techno-DNB.
Currently, The Panacea is part of the Anger Management booking agency roster as well as Freak Recordings, which led him to headline several events of the Therapy Sessions
franchise.
Discography
. Over the course of several albums on prominent industrial
labels Ant-Zen
and Hands Productions
, m2 became more rhythmic-orientated and gothic
in tone (featuring spoken word samples
from a BBC radio
adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien
's The Silmarillion
), with prominent Arabic influences. The most recent releases eschewed the vocal samples, digital edits
and heavy industrial rhythms in favour of spacious soundscape
s and dark, brooding ambient
in the vein of pioneers such as Lustmord
. m2 also performs live at events such as Maschinenfest
.
Discography
Electronic musician
An electronic musician is a musician who composes or plays music from synthetic sounds generated with synthesizers, samplers, drum machines or music sequencers....
and DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
from Germany. Mootz is best known as The Panacea (until 2005, simply as Panacea), his drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
stage name and main musical project, and as m2 , his dark ambient
Dark ambient
Dark ambient is a subgenre of ambient music that features foreboding, ominous, or discordant overtones. Although it had its roots in the 1970s, Dark ambient emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of newer, smaller, and more affordable Effects units, synthesizer and sampling technology...
side project and alter-ego.
Born August 18, 1976 in Wetzlar
Wetzlar
Wetzlar is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. Located at 8° 30′ E, 50° 34′ N, Wetzlar straddles the river Lahn and is on the German Timber-Framework Road which passes mile upon mile of half-timbered houses. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis on the north edge of...
, Germany, Mootz served an apprenticeship in classical music and was a member of the boy's choir of Windsbach
Windsbach
Windsbach is a town in the district of Ansbach, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 20 km east of Ansbach, and 29 km southwest of Nuremberg.-Location:...
. After studying music engineering at the SAE Institute
SAE Institute
The SAE Institute is a private college founded in 1976 by Sound Engineer, Record Producer and businessman Tom Misner. The first school was opened 1977 in Sydney,...
, Mootz worked with the experimental hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
/illbient
Illbient
Illbient is a term allegedly coined by DJ Olive to describe the iconoclastic music being produced by a community of artists based in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York in 1994...
label Chrome, an offshoot of Force Inc Music Works. Over the course of several drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
albums and many singles, and as A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
manager for Chrome, later renamed Position Chrome, Panacea became known for pushing the bounds of the drum and bass genre into industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
and hardcore
Hardcore techno
Hardcore techno is a type of electronic music typified by the rhythmic use of distorted and atonal industrial-like beats and samples...
territory, and for energetic DJ sets which fused these genres in a live setting. With his side project m2, he explored a more minimal side of electronic music, first in the realm of clicks 'n' cuts, and later in the dark ambient
Dark ambient
Dark ambient is a subgenre of ambient music that features foreboding, ominous, or discordant overtones. Although it had its roots in the 1970s, Dark ambient emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of newer, smaller, and more affordable Effects units, synthesizer and sampling technology...
territory pioneered by the likes of Lustmord
Lustmord
Brian Williams is a British electronic musician often credited for creating the dark ambient genre with albums recorded under the name Lustmord.- History :Williams started recording as Lustmord in 1980 before joining SPK in 1982...
. Mootz lives and produces in Sommerhausen
Sommerhausen
Sommerhausen is a municipality in the district of Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany....
, a countryside town near Würzburg
Würzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
.
The Panacea
Mootz experimented hip hopHip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
/illbient
Illbient
Illbient is a term allegedly coined by DJ Olive to describe the iconoclastic music being produced by a community of artists based in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York in 1994...
with men in the mid-1990s, an offshoot of Force Inc Music Works. Under the name Panacea, he released a string of dark drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
singles on the label in 1996, followed by the LPs Low Profile Darkness in 1997 and Twisted Designz in 1998, which pushed the tech step format established by the UK's Ed Rush
Ed Rush
Ed Rush is the recording name of Ben Settle; a prominent jungle/techstep/neurofunk DJ, who often produces tracks in collaboration with Optical. Hailing from west London, he came to prominence with the release of the track Bludclot Artattack in 1993...
and Optical
Optical (artist)
Matt Quinn, better known as Optical, is a drum and bass producer and DJ from England.He is best known for his work with Ed Rush, fellow head of the Virus Recordings label, and as a pioneer of the techstep and neurofunk sound...
into harsh industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
/digital hardcore
Digital hardcore
Digital hardcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk incorporating influences from electronic music. Digital hardcore fuses elements of hardcore punk with various forms of electronic music...
territory. Mootz took over Chrome's A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
, and the label was renamed Position Chrome soon after, evolving into one of the first and most notable German drum and bass labels.
Mootz's broad musical background led him to experiment in other style, from the avant garde minimalism
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....
of his Brasilia
Brasília
Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...
soundtrack (part of Caipirinha's Architettura series exploring the relationship between architecture and music), to his collaboration with J-pop
J-pop
, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music, such as The Beatles, and replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene...
singer Hanayo
Hanayo
is a Japanese musician and artist. She is known for her playful and subversive artwork, often deeply rooted in Japanese culture. Hanayo currently lives and works in Berlin.- Career :...
, which saw the duo electronically re-scoring Bach's
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
Ich Steh´ An Deiner Krippen Hier. A number of MCs guested on his LP Phoenix Metabolism (1999), while he refined his industrial drum and bass style on the LP German Engineering (2001). Mootz also began a number of side projects and collaborations in this period, releasing albums of raggacore (as Rich Kid), electro
Electro (music)
Electro is a genre of electronic dance music directly influenced by the use of TR-808 drum machines, Moog keytar synthesizers and funk sampling...
(as Bad Street Boy), hardcore
Hardcore techno
Hardcore techno is a type of electronic music typified by the rhythmic use of distorted and atonal industrial-like beats and samples...
(as Kate Mosh), and drum and bass with DJ Scud
DJ Scud
DJ Scud is an alias of South London breakcore producer and DJ Toby Reynolds. In 1997 he started the influential breakcore record label Ambush records...
(as The Redeemer) and Problem Child (as Disorder). Sinecore, the first album by his glitch/dark ambient
Dark ambient
Dark ambient is a subgenre of ambient music that features foreboding, ominous, or discordant overtones. Although it had its roots in the 1970s, Dark ambient emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of newer, smaller, and more affordable Effects units, synthesizer and sampling technology...
ego m2 was released in 2000 on Mille Plateaux
Mille Plateaux
Mille Plateaux is an influential electronica record label founded 1993 by Achim Szepanski in Frankfurt, Germany. It is known for mostly releasing minimal techno, glitch music and other experimental electronic music.-History:...
. A further ten albums were released by this project coming over labels such as Ant-Zen
Ant-Zen
Ant-Zen Audio and Visual Arts is a German independent record label founded in 1994 by Stefan Alt , who serves as the art director. Visual arts from Ant-Zen are typically bleak but astonishing landscapes, or microscopic studies of what is often overlooked...
and Hands Productions
Hands Productions
Hands Productions is a contemporary independent industrial music record label, founded in the early 1990s, based in Germany. Hands Productions is known for its CD packaging, using cardboard and paper rather than typical plastic jewel cases, and typically elusive and minimalist designs...
.
The Hardest Tour on Planet Earth (2001) documented his partnership with fellow German drum and bass artist Cativo, where elements of oldskool hardcore and other early rave music
Rave music
Rave music may either refer the late 1980s genre or any genre of electronic dance music that may be played at an electronic dance party such as a rave. Very rarely, the term is used to refer to less electronic related genres glam, powerpop, psychedelic rock and dub music parties...
began entering his products. Underground Superstar (2002) found him fusing early hardcore and jump-up with modern production techniques. The album included "The Evil Seed", a vocal track for which a music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
was produced, and "The Last Brotherhood". Adopting an extremely energetic DJ persona, he became known for sets that were equal parts hardcore and drum and bass. He also began collaborating with Luna-C
Luna-C
Luna-C is a British DJ and record producer, known for his work in breakbeat hardcore music. He made up a third of the rave group Smart E's in 1992, which had a number 2 hit in the UK with a remix of the Sesame Street theme song .Luna-C founded the Kniteforce Records label in 1992, which has...
, one of the champions of the breakbeat hardcore
Breakbeat hardcore
Breakbeat hardcore is a derivative of the acid house and techno, of the late 1980s and early 1990s, that combines four-to-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats, and is associated with the UK rave scene.-The rave scene:...
revival known as hardcore breaks
Hardcore Breaks
Hardcore breaks is a genre of electronic music written in the style of old skool rave music or breakbeat hardcore using modern technology. The music is composed of from looped, edited and processed breakbeat samples, intense bassline sounds, melodic piano lines, staccato synthesizer riffs, and...
. Panacea Shares Needles with Tarmvred, a collaboration with Needle Sharing and Tarmvred
Tarmvred
Tarmvred is a music group from Gothenburg, Sweden that is the brainchild of Jonas Johansson.-History:Johansson got his start musically by making his own remixes of tracks by Skinny Puppy and posting them online under the name Triptamine, in 1998...
in 2002 on Ad Noiseam
Ad Noiseam
Ad Noiseam is an electronic music independent record label that has recently published mostly dubstep. based in Berlin, Germany. Ad Noiseam was founded in April of 2001 by Nicolas Chevreux, who also has done some of the design work for the label's releases....
, combined drum and bass, hardcore, and noise
Noise
In common use, the word noise means any unwanted sound. In both analog and digital electronics, noise is random unwanted perturbation to a wanted signal; it is called noise as a generalisation of the acoustic noise heard when listening to a weak radio transmission with significant electrical noise...
.
Position Chrome ceased activity briefly in 2004 when Force Inc.'s distributors EFA-Medien went bankrupt, but in 2005, Mootz revived the label, changing his name to The Panacea. He has since returned to somewhat darker sounds, releasing a number of singles on Position Chrome, as well as UK labels Outbreak and Offkey Records, the latter run by UK producer Raiden and specializing in Techno-DNB.
Currently, The Panacea is part of the Anger Management booking agency roster as well as Freak Recordings, which led him to headline several events of the Therapy Sessions
Therapy Sessions
Therapy Sessions is a franchise of drum and bass events created by Anger Management booking agency and UK based label Freak Recordings.The first Therapy Sessions event happened at the Herbal club in London in 2003, and from then it has expanded worldwide with shows in the United States, Romania,...
franchise.
Discography
- Low Profile Darkness (Chrome, 1997)
- Twisted Designz (Position Chrome, 1998)
- Hanayo in Panacea (Mille Plateaux, 1999) with HanayoHanayois a Japanese musician and artist. She is known for her playful and subversive artwork, often deeply rooted in Japanese culture. Hanayo currently lives and works in Berlin.- Career :...
- Phoenix Metabolism (Position Chrome, 1999)
- Architettura Vol 4 - Brasilia (Caipirinha Productions, 2000)
- German Engineering (Position Chrome, 2001)
- The Hardest Tour on Planet Earth (Position Chrome, 2001) with Cativo
- Underground Superstardom (Position Chrome, 2002)
- Panacea Shares Needles With Tarmvred (Ad NoiseamAd NoiseamAd Noiseam is an electronic music independent record label that has recently published mostly dubstep. based in Berlin, Germany. Ad Noiseam was founded in April of 2001 by Nicolas Chevreux, who also has done some of the design work for the label's releases....
, 2002) with Needle Sharing and TarmvredTarmvredTarmvred is a music group from Gothenburg, Sweden that is the brainchild of Jonas Johansson.-History:Johansson got his start musically by making his own remixes of tracks by Skinny Puppy and posting them online under the name Triptamine, in 1998... - Cryptonomicon EP (Position Chrome, 2007)
- Chiropteran (Position Chrome, 2010)
m2 (Squaremeter)
m2 is Mootz's main side-project, originally intended as a one off clicks n' cuts release for Mille PlateauxMille Plateaux
Mille Plateaux is an influential electronica record label founded 1993 by Achim Szepanski in Frankfurt, Germany. It is known for mostly releasing minimal techno, glitch music and other experimental electronic music.-History:...
. Over the course of several albums on prominent industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
labels Ant-Zen
Ant-Zen
Ant-Zen Audio and Visual Arts is a German independent record label founded in 1994 by Stefan Alt , who serves as the art director. Visual arts from Ant-Zen are typically bleak but astonishing landscapes, or microscopic studies of what is often overlooked...
and Hands Productions
Hands Productions
Hands Productions is a contemporary independent industrial music record label, founded in the early 1990s, based in Germany. Hands Productions is known for its CD packaging, using cardboard and paper rather than typical plastic jewel cases, and typically elusive and minimalist designs...
, m2 became more rhythmic-orientated and gothic
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
in tone (featuring spoken word samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
from a BBC radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
), with prominent Arabic influences. The most recent releases eschewed the vocal samples, digital edits
Digital signal processing
Digital signal processing is concerned with the representation of discrete time signals by a sequence of numbers or symbols and the processing of these signals. Digital signal processing and analog signal processing are subfields of signal processing...
and heavy industrial rhythms in favour of spacious soundscape
Soundscape
A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. The study of soundscape is the subject of acoustic ecology...
s and dark, brooding ambient
Dark ambient
Dark ambient is a subgenre of ambient music that features foreboding, ominous, or discordant overtones. Although it had its roots in the 1970s, Dark ambient emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of newer, smaller, and more affordable Effects units, synthesizer and sampling technology...
in the vein of pioneers such as Lustmord
Lustmord
Brian Williams is a British electronic musician often credited for creating the dark ambient genre with albums recorded under the name Lustmord.- History :Williams started recording as Lustmord in 1980 before joining SPK in 1982...
. m2 also performs live at events such as Maschinenfest
Maschinenfest
Maschinenfest is a yearly, three-day underground music festival featuring industrial, power electronics, noise and other alternative electronic performers. There are both independent and signed bands who are booked to play, as well as many vendors for music and related paraphernalia...
.
Discography
- Sinecore (Mille PlateauxMille PlateauxMille Plateaux is an influential electronica record label founded 1993 by Achim Szepanski in Frankfurt, Germany. It is known for mostly releasing minimal techno, glitch music and other experimental electronic music.-History:...
, 2000) - 14id1610s (Ant-ZenAnt-ZenAnt-Zen Audio and Visual Arts is a German independent record label founded in 1994 by Stefan Alt , who serves as the art director. Visual arts from Ant-Zen are typically bleak but astonishing landscapes, or microscopic studies of what is often overlooked...
, 2000) - Mono Brutal (Hands ProductionsHands ProductionsHands Productions is a contemporary independent industrial music record label, founded in the early 1990s, based in Germany. Hands Productions is known for its CD packaging, using cardboard and paper rather than typical plastic jewel cases, and typically elusive and minimalist designs...
, 2000) as Needle Sharing vs. m2 - Parsec (Hands Productions, 2001)
- Kopyright Liberation (Ant-Zen, 2001)
- This Anxious Space (Hymen RecordsHymen RecordsHymen Records is an imprint of the Ant-Zen record label, founded in 1997 by Stefan Alt . Hymen mainly releases material of a technoid, power noise/rhythmic noise, dark ambient, IDM, breakcore or similar experimental electronic nature....
, 2001) as xhm2 (a collaboration with Xingu HillXingu HillXingu Hill is a musical project of musician John Sellekaers.During the last ten years, John has released about forty records on various labels . Sellekaers has also recorded under names such as Dead Hollywood Stars, Ambre, Urawa, Uncotones, Moonsanto and Ammo...
) - The Bitter End (Hands Productions, 2002)
- War Of Sound (Ant-Zen, 2003)
- Aswad (Ant-Zen, 2004)
- The Frozen Spark (Ant-Zen, 2005)
- Nyx (Ant-Zen, 2006)
- Heliogabal (Ant-Zen, 2010)