Living Dead by Chris Oliver & Zachary Biggs

For over 20 years, it's been my dream to make an electronic early 1980s influenced album, with programmed sequencing being a key component. For many years I attempted to use a Yamaha SY-85, but the disk drive was broken and I found programming it to be difficult. It wasn't until 2020 that I purchased a proper analog synthesizer / sequencer, the Arturia Minibrute 2S.I spent considerable time studying the basis of synthesis before attempting any original music, but nothing of consequence developed until I started programming songs I'd written initially on guitar. Songs which almost always began with a melody or two sung into my cell phone recorder, some of which were by this point several years old (offhand, i found it difficult to pick up the initial inspiration again, and in the future intend to mostly finish an idea instead of leaving it undeveloped). Nevertheless, over the course of late Winter 2001 - Spring 2022 I wrote and recorded most of my parts and lyrics for the album. I took a lot of inspiration from artists like Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget, early Human League, New Order and various other "Dark Wave" artists from the same era, as well as a few later artists like Richard Fearless, Nine Inch Nails, Trickfinger and early Aphex Twin. The drums were sampled mostly from various drum machines of the era and programmed into the MPC 1000. Recorded into a Zoom R16 multitrack recorder, no other software was used in it's creation, and the results are contained here-in.
- Z. Biggs, 5-26-22


The time of recording this album fell upon the saddest period of my life. February 26th, My mother passed away. I was/am completely broken up over this. I needed music now more than ever. Thankfully Zach was working on what you now hear.

On songs like "The Listener", Zach was able to perfectly describe how I felt while also extending his hand and letting me know he was here for me if needed. It’s a very meaningful song & I feel one of our finest.

Usually I have a detailed list of my additions to the songs but this time I used the album as a way to explore a new synthesizer I recently bought called the Organelle by Critter & Guitari. About 75 percent of the synth stuff from me comes from the Organelle. You’ll be hearing much more of it in future recordings.
C. Oliver, 5-26-22