- Where digital art and music production collide.
- Tom Scholefield is one of electronic music's finest designers. He created an iconic video clip for Jamie Lidell and Warp while still in art school in Glasgow, leading to a series of sleeves and videos for a who's who of experimental artists and labels. Saturated neon colours, classic '80s sci-fi and early modernist cues are recurrent themes in a vivid aesthetic that's instantly recognisable. Optimo Espacio, Hyberdub, Brainfeeder and DFA are all past clients and he's helped shape the visual identities of Oneohtrix Point Never, Hudson Mohawke and Kuedo. But while learning his trade, he was booking the likes of Autechre and Squarepusher and running knees deep in a Glaswegian scene home to everyone from Rustie to Optimo, Eclair Fifi and the Numbers crew.
For Scholefield, the language of design and music production cross over. As a producer, he's released two LPs on Planet Mu, the first of which was a resolutely melancholy and grainy take on pastoral IDM, shaped by living alone in Glasgow. In contrast, his latest LP, Caramel, is a high-definition environment created during a move from his hometown to Berlin. It's the sound of a producer in transition, and in conversation with RA's Mark Smith, Scholefield describes how his feedback loop of design and sound is being blown open by exposure to new places and people.
Photo credit: Phillip Aumann
TracklistKonx-om-Pax - Rainbow Bounce
Konx-om-Pax - Caramel