About

Dominic Robertson (AKA Ergo Phizmiz Public Limited Company), working across music, radio, opera, theatre, film, collage and performance, is one of the most prolific and indefinable artists in the world.

As a very loud voice in the 2000s free-music and Creative Commons world, he built a reputation through the profligate release of online music, from his notorious cover versions of the cream of pop music (through The Prodigy, The Velvet Underground, Beyonce, Aphex Twin, et al), to large-scale musique-concrete compositions. At the helm of the netlabel Chinstrap, Dominic also released the work of many underground and maverick composers from around the world onto an unsuspecting public.

From 2001-2004 the airwaves of Resonance FM were plied with over 40 hours of original programming by Ergo Phizmiz, including dozens of one-offs and the two 12 part series "Zip" and "Sticky White Glue".

In 2005 the past millennium was treated to a cut-and-paste dissection with the 3 hour work "M: 1000 Year Mix", a giant exploration of the possible interplays of music across time and the co-operation of composer, histories, and digital technology.

From 2006-8 the legendary New York radio station WFMU hosted Phuj Phactory with Ergo Phizmiz, a weekly splatter painting of sound-collage and experimental radio. This led to further collaboration with the station, including "Codpaste", a podcast series in collaboration with collagist Vicki Bennett (People Like Us), that took a detailed look at the processes of composition and collage in the 21st century.

"The Faust Cycle", a 15 hour album of music, sound-design and spoken-word was released by Headphonica in 2010, described by music blog Continuo as "the most ambitious music project conceived in the 21st century and certainly the only one able to challenge your listening habits".

 

Hidden inside many of PLC's larger productions were some rather exquisite examples of songwriting. It was inevitable, then, that some Quixotic dreamers would attempt to unleash this onto the music industry. London / New York based label Care in the Community released critically acclaimed albums "Things to Do & Make" (2010), "Eleven Songs" (2012), and "The Peacock" (2014). More recently the supagroop IG Witzelsucht (a collaboration with Lukas Simonis) released "Sometimes Puns Are a Sign of a Damaged Brain" on Knockemdead Records.

In 2010, prompted by an invitation from Peter Fengler of DePlayer, Dominic returned to his childhood habit of writing and presenting DIY operas. Since that time he has become one of the most radical voices in the opera world, his recent show "Mozart vs Machine" touring the UK, presented by Mahogany Opera Group, to widespread acclaim from audience and press.



PLC's work as a writer and director of radio has continued through a long running collaboration with Munich radio station Bayerischer Rundfunk, for whom he has created "Conversations With Birds", "Hollywood: A Bestiary" (described as raising the benchmark of live radio), "Sonora Mystery", "Die Bayerischer Prinzessin", and is currently working on the science-fiction piece "Animalium Kepler 22B".

The work of Dominic Robertson / Ergo Phizmiz PLC has been presented by BBC Radio 3, BBC 6Music, Channel 4, Tate Modern, the Royal Festival Hall, Deutschlandradiokultur, Arcola, Geneva School of Art, Operadagen Rotterdam, Tilburg School of Art, Glasgow School of Art, CCA Glasgow, Worm, Whitechapel Gallery, Serralves Museum, Sound & Music, Tete a Tete Opera, WDR, VPRO, and Cafe Oto.

Among artists with whom he has collaborated are Goodiepal, Frankie Boyle, R Stevie Moore, Felix Kubin, Frederic Wake-Walker, Christian Marclay, Vicki Bennett, Lukas Simonis, Patrick Sims, Bill Bankes-Jones, and Margita Zalite.

Ergo Phizmiz PLC struts like a peacock about London with partner / collaborator Lottie Bowater / Depresstival. They spend all their spare time planning the inevitable collapse of the music and art industries. They care because you don't.
 
* Photographs by Claire Shovelton.