John Sellekaers

John Nicolas Sellekaers is a Canadian-born musician and audio mastering engineer. Born in 1973 in Montreal, Quebec he later moved to Brussels, Belgium. Beginning with his project Xingu Hill in the 1990s, he has released over 60 records under various aliases such as Night Sky Pulse, Feral Cities, Meeple, and Dead Hollywood Stars on labels such as Ant-Zen, Hymen Records, Nova Zembla and Disques Hushush. His style ranges from experimental music to electronica.

Biography Around 1988, under the influence of electronic music pioneers such as Cabaret Voltaire and Tangerine Dream, he began experimenting with synthesizers. Later, in the early nineties, he started a magazine devoted to underground culture entitled "Noyade mécanique" (for Mechanical drowning). Other contributors for this magazine included Belgian artists such as Olivier Moreau and Seal Phüric.

Besides his main incarnation, Xingu Hill, Sellekaers has recorded under several aliases and in numerous collaborations. These include Dead Hollywood Stars, Urawa, The Missing Ensemble, Uncotones, Ambre, Moonsanto, Ammo, and Torsion.

He has collaborated with artists such as Mick Harris (of Scorn), David Thrussell (of Snog and Black Lung), Olivier Moreau (of Imminent), C-drik Fermont, Silk Saw, and Mathis Mootz (of Panacea).

During his career, John Sellekaers has extensively played live in Europe and North America.

Since 1998 he has owned and operated the Metarc mastering studio, currently located in Montreal.

Despite having released music under a number of monikers over the years, he didn't release music under his own name until 2019 with the release of Residual Broadcast, His more recent works trend towards ambient and atmospheric soundscapes, infused with elements of field recording.

Xingu Hill

His first project, Xingu Hill, began circa 1994 when the Belgian underground techno, ambient and IDM record label Nova Zembla signed Sellekaers for three albums. 1995 saw the release of his first album as Xingu Hill, Maps Of The Impossible. The remainder of the three-album deal included (Fiction) (1996) and Relay (1997).

In 1999, Xingu Hill released Alterity on the Ant-Zen label imprint, Hymen Records. The same year, Ant-Zen released The Andronechron Incident, a collaboration between Xingu Hill and Black Lung, as a limited 10" vinyl with a subsequent CD release in 2002.

In 2005, Xingu Hill and Austin, TX, band Tamarin collaborated with former BYU professor Brian Evenson on the soundtrack and spoken word interpretation of Evenson's fiction work Altmann's Tongue, also released on Ant-Zen.

In 2021, Xingu Hill released a retrospective compilation entitled Strange Echoes 95 — 99. In 2023, Xingu Hill released Grigri Pavilion, the first new material in 20 years.

Moonsanto

Moonsanto is an experimental music and political project by Sellekaers, C-drik Fermont, Gabriel Séverin and Marc Mœdea. Active since 2000, Moonsanto can be called an industrial supergroup as it consist of members of Xingu Hill, Dead Hollywood Stars, Silk Saw and Ammo. Moonsanto's first full-length release is called Fraud Hell Dope. It is in fact a play on words about Monsanto Company's motto, "Food Health Hope". It is a multinational company active in the genetic engineering market.

Discography

As John Sellekaers Residual Broadcast (2019) Cass; Oreille Gardée Machines Inutiles (2019) Cass, Falt Isolation Postcard (2020) Digital; Self-released Observer Effect (2021) CD, Digital; Glacial Movements Records Folium (2021) Cass, Digital; Oreille Gardée Approaches (2021) Cass, Digital; Falt What Happens at Night (2022) Digital; Self-released Phaenomena (2024) Digital; Self-released Territoires Anonymes (2024) Digital; Falt

With Patrick Graham Lacuna (2019) Digital; Parenthèses Records Innerland (2019) Digital; Parenthèses Records Unnatural (2020) CD, Digital; Parenthèses Records Next of Kin (2020) Digital; Parenthèses Records

As Concrete Garden Furtive (2020) Digital; Self-released In A Sealed Box (2020) Digital; Self-released "Vénéneux" (2020) Digital; Self-released Magnetic Dawn (2020) Digital; Self-released 2:55 AM (2020) Digital; Drunken Forest On Vanishing (2022) Digital; Drunken Forest

As Feral Cities "Remote" (2019) Digital; Self-released Near Strangers (2019) Digital; Self-released Unconscious Places (2020) Digital; Self-released Slow Light (2020) Digital; Self-released Arcs & Layers (2021) Digital; Fallen Moon Recordings Double Shadow (2022) Digital; Heol Ddu

As Meeple Temporary Fantasy, Pt. 1 (2019) Digital; Self-released Temporary Fantasy, Pt. 2 (2019) Digital; Self-released Modern Cosmonautics (2020) Digital; Self-released Micronations (2021) Digital; Drunken Forest Diagrams (2022) Digital; Drunken Forest Citadel (2022) Digital; Self-released Polychromatic (2024) Digital; Self-released In Unfamiliar Ways (2024) Digital; Self-released Across the Continent (2024) Digital; Self-released

As Nicolas Hall At Nightfall (2022) Digital; Self-released Sea Cave (2022) Digital; Self-released Ebb (2022) Digital; Self-released Instant Future, Pt 1. (2023) Digital; Self-released Instant Future, Pt 2. (2023) Digital; Self-released "Magnetic Midnight" (2023) Digital; Self-released

As Night Sky Pulse Arcana (2019) Digital; Self-released The Hive (2019) Digital; Self-released Habitat (2019) Digital; Self-released No One We Know (2019) Digital; Self-released Sole Witness (2020) Digital; Drunken Forest Metamorphic (2020) Digital; Drunken Forest These Possible Lives (2021) Digital; See Blue Audio Superlunar Lounge (2022) Digital; See Blue Audio Chromosphere (2024) Digital; Adventurous Music

As Tuttle & Buttle Fourth Wall (2022) Digital; Self-released Offworld (2022) Digital; Self-released Velvet Night Valley (2022) Digital; Self-released Sun Echoes (2022) Digital; Self-released Telltale (2022) Digital; Self-released Airglow (2022) Digital; Self-released

As Xingu Hill Maps of the Imposible (1995) CD, LP; Nova Zembla (Fiction) (1996) CD, LP; Nova Zembla Relay (1997) CD; Nova Zembla Alterity (1999) CD, Hymen Records The Andronechron Incident (with Black Lung) (1999) 10" (2002) CD; Ant-Zen 16 Bit Golem (2003) 7"; Mirex Altmann's Tongue (with Tamarin and Brian Evenson) (2005) CD; Ant-Zen Archives (1995-1997) (2020) Compilation, Digital; Self-released Strange Echoes 95 — 99 (2021) Compilation, Digital, LP; Traumgarten Grigri Pavilion (2023) LP, Digital; Subexotic Records