Biography
Like other 1970s European electronic rock artists from Heldon to Conrad Schnitzer, Ilitch owes more to the avant-garde experiments of Stockhausen and Xenakis than to the rock and roll of Chuck Berry or even the Beatles… Ilitch came out of France, was the work of mostly one person, Thierry Muller, using unconventional guitars as well as keyboards and other electronics to create strange textures and sounds. Muller was a photographer and graphic artist from Paris who started making recordings in the early 1970s using prepared guitars, harmonium, and even using the tape recorder as another instrument. Initially he worked completely solo but by late 1975 he was being helped by Ruth Ellyeri. In 1976 his brother Patrick Muller on EMS synthisizer and treated guitar joined Ilitch, for a live performance at the Café La Manille, in Paris, and the duo also played there the following two years as well. In October and November of that year, Ilitch recorded the material for the LP "Periodikmindtrouble", but by the time the LP was released, in 1978, the original second side was scrapped for other more recent material. This album featured abstract music that was completely instrumental and with a heavy use of electronics. Though this is considered the first Ilitch LP, in fact a year earlier Muller released "Portraits" in an extremely limited edition of one with hand painted cover. By 1980 Ellyeri, on guitars, vocals and electronics, became more integral to the Ilitch sound, and Muller occasionally added in synth player Philippe Doray and saxophonist Patrick Dubot into Ilitch as well. They released a second LP, "10 Suicides" that year, a more varied album that included some heavily processed vocals as well as a sixteen page booklet with many of Muller's photo-collages. The same year under the Ilitch name Thierry released the cassette only "PTM Works"(Eurock), as well as the one-sided EP "Culture", which was credited to him and Edouard Nono. After this Muller took a break from music for a couple years, but in 1982 he began work on a new project. The project eventually became the group Ruth (though Ruth Ellyeri wasn't a part of it), as Muller began collaborating with many more musicians for recordings done in 1984 and 1985. Ruth's music was far more polished and accessible, adding a quirky new wave twist to Muller's textured guitar and synth treatments. The Ruth LP "Polaroid/Romans/Photos" came out in 1985 with a 12-page booklet. That same year Muller released an EP with Doray called "Pile on Face". Muller stopped pursuing music for the most part to devote more time to graphic arts after the Ruth album, though he did release three more extremely limited records, "D. Prune Tributes" Volumes 1 through 3, under his own name between 1989 and 1991. Though his records had limited releases and have long been out of print, much of his music has recently been made available on CD by the Fractal records label with Bonus tracks.
Extracts from Rolf Semprebon's article, All Music Guide
24 years. It has been 24 years since Ilitch’s previous solo album. Following the critical acclaim of Fractal’s reissue of his two solo LPs (and his 1985 project Ruth), Thierry Müller (Ilitch’s mastermind) went back to work and, five years later, gave birth to "Hors Temps/Out of Time", a satisfying – if slightly outstretched – slab of electropop truly out of time. Ilitch tackles modern technology with talent, but his music still relies on elements taken from the heydays of Krautrock and Cold Wave, along with a special something that recalls The Legendary Pink Dots or Nurse With Wound. Electronics hold a key place in the arrangements, but Ilitch also put electric guitar, drums and samples to good use, creating stimulating sound environments that don’t get in the way of his simple intellectual songs. His main collaborators are percussionist Hervé Zénouda, guitarist Laurent Saïet and keyboardist Guillaume Loizillon music-wise, engineer Patrick Müller recording-wise, and poet Phillipe Doray lyrics-wise. "Hors Temps/Out of Time" is a sharp, relevant, bold, and downright good opus. Let’s just hope Ilitch doesn’t let us wait another 24 years before he starts working on a follow-up.
Extracts from François Couture's article, All Music Guide.
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