Christopher Richard Watson (born 21 November 1953)[1] is an English musician and sound recordist. A founding member of the Sheffield-based industrial band Cabaret Voltaire, Watson's subsequent work in field recordings since 1981 has included television documentaries and experimental musical collaborations.
He has released several solo albums of field recordings including: Outside the Circle of Fire, Stepping into the Dark (which won an Award of Distinction at the 2000 Prix Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria), Weather Report, and El Tren Fantasma. He has also released a variety of works in collaboration with other artists, including Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic, Philip Jeck, Hazard, Fennesz, AER (Jon Wozencroft, aka "Alpha Echo Romeo"), Biosphere, BJNilsen, and Marcus Davidson. All of these recordings were released on Touch, which releases material digitally through Bandcamp.[3]
His album Weather Report (2003) was named as one of the "1000 albums to hear before you die" by The Guardian in 2007.[4]
In 2006 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Technology degree by the University of the West of England "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to sound recording technology, especially in the field of natural history and documentary location sound".[7]
In 2010 he devised an art project at Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital, using sound recordings made by children to calm other young patients as they received injections and other treatments.[8][9]
Watson was raised in the Sheffield suburb of Totley[13] and attended Rowlinson School and Stannington College (now part of Sheffield College), both in Sheffield. He is married to Maggie, who appeared momentarily on-screen with him in episode 3 of Autumnwatch 2010.[14] Watson now lives in Northumberland.[12]
Watson was a Policy & Enterprise Fellow at Durham University's Institute of Advanced Study from December 2012 to May 2013.[15]
Album discographyedit
Soloedit
Sunsets wordless recording made at Breachacha on Coll[16] 1994
^Cooper, Sean. "Biography: Chris Watson". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
^"Music-Chris Watson". Bandcamp.com. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
^"1000 albums to hear before you die: Artists beginning with W". The Guardian. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
^Shackleford, Tom (6 June 2019). "Score For HBO's 'Chernobyl' Was Recorded Using Sounds From Inside A Nuclear Power Plant [Listen]". Live For Live Music. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
^"The Quietus | Reviews | Chris Watson". The Quietus. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
^Moss, Stephen (24 August 2010). "Birdsong: the cure for all ills?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
^"Imagine Appeal - Alder Hey Arts". Archived from the original on 4 December 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
^Shackleford, Tom (6 June 2019). "Score For HBO's 'Chernobyl' Was Recorded Using Sounds From Inside A Nuclear Power Plant [Listen]". Live For Live Music. Retrieved 24 June 2019.