| Khan

Can Oral, aka Khan, was born of a Finnish mother and Turkish father, and grew up as an outsider in a hostile Germany. He started his first band Mut zum Schlag (Courage to the Beat) in 1982 with 2 drummers and Khan screaming, and released the first German hip hop/no wave record.

He eventually tired of the rock-band life of rehearsals and beer, bought a cheap Atari computer and Prophet 2000 sampler, and started making music for German and Austrian TV programs. In the late 80s, Khan met the Time Tunnel/Structure posse from Cologne and started making techno with people like Walker, Jammin Unit, Mike Ink. and Jorg Burger.

In 1992 he left for New York, where he lived with Jimi Tenor and had a band called Public Extacy that played the early NY Illbient/Lalalandia parties. In their cockroach-infested kitchen studio, they also recorded hundreds of records such as the Bizz OD smash hit I'm Coming Out Of Your Speakers that became one of Junior Vasques [Sound Factory]'s favorites. In 1994, Khan opened Temple Records (an electronic record store in Manhattan) and started the El Turco Loco label.

Once he realized that his least favorite DJs were spinning his records, Khan decided to change his style and became one of ambient's most innovative producers, with projects like H.E.A.D., Global Electronic Network, Radiowaves and 4E, recording for such labels as Mille Plateaux/Force Inc., Harvest, and Rising High. These records had significant impact on the UK Fat Cat, Ifach, and Ninja Tune scenes.

In 1999, Matador released the electro-porn quasi-soundtrack 1-900-GET-KHAN, and a "greatest hits" compilation of sorts, Passport, in early 2000, No Comprendo in summer 2001. Khan is currently living between Berlin, NYC and Mexico exploring new languages, art, and music, and remaining an "outsider" until the term becomes irrelevant. He has worked with artists such as: Julee Cruise, Andre Williams, Kid Congo Powers, Francoise Cactus [Stereo Total], Hanin Elias [Atari Teenage Riot], Jon Spencer, Diamanda Galas, Air Liquide, Jimi Tenor, Lukas Ligetti, Thomas Brinkmann, The Modernist, Little Annie & Christian Jandreiko and many many more...

Alec Empire: "Khan is a true genius! A lot of people copied him, fuck them, he is the original. The collaboration between Hanin and him defines what New York's indie drum-machine bands are trying since years but never achieve. I just wish Hanin would stop carrying a gun..."

Diamanda Galas: "Turkish brother homopsychotic Khan is very disturbed - all the better for our mutual enemies."

Kid Congo Powers: "Khan has a great ass... and the music is fabtabulous! ... It's nice to fraternize with genius."

Hanin Elias: "Working with Khan was like a quickie, spontaneous, fast and satisfactory. I'm up for some more..."

Julee Cruise: "My dog thinks Khan's music is Devil music..."