by John Bush
A classically trained cellist and former session vocalist, Andrea Parker's brilliant darkside electro-techno productions for Mo' Wax, R&S and Sabrettes displayed an artist with impeccable programming skills but also an increasing desire to integrate her own training into the mix. She began recording on her own early in the 1990s, and became a DJ by 1993. One year later, she began collaborating with David Morley, first for Infonet Records on the Angular Art EP, then for R&S on the Too Good to Be Strange EP (the former appeared under Morley's name, the latter as Two Sandwiches Short of a Lunchbox). Morley contributed engineering to Parker's 1996 solo debut for Mo' Wax, the 40-minute EP Melodious Thunk. Her second EP for Mo' Wax, Rocking Chair, featured London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra alongside sampled beats and effects. She also remixed Depeche Mode, Lamb, the Orb, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Steve Reich before beginning work on her actual debut full-length, Kiss My ARP. In the meantime, she contributed a volume in Studio !K7's DJ Kicks series in 1998.