Gordon Raphael

This article is about the record producer. For the Canadian flying ace of the Second World War, seeGordon Raphael (RAF officer).

Gordon Raphaelis an American record producer and musician fromSeattle, WashingtonandNew York,currently living in Hebden Bridge (UK), after a 15 years in Berlin. Gordon runs a website calledGordotronicwhich features his own original music, artwork and writings. In the year 2022 he published his first book, "The World Is Going To Love This (Up From The Basement With The Strokes)" thoughWordville Pressin London.

Gordon Raphael
Origin	Seattle, Washington,U.S.
Occupations	Record producer songwriter musician
Instrument(s)	Keyboards, guitar, bass, vocals
Website	gordotronic

Raphael is most widely known for his work withThe Strokes,whom he met while attending an early show at Luna Lounge on Ludlow Street, New York City. He produced their debut EPThe Modern Ageas well as their first two albumsIs This ItandRoom on Fire.The EP and first album were recorded entirely in his basement studio Transporterraum NYC (co-owned by Jimmy Goodman). He has also produced songs for The Cribs, Sarah Maguire,Skin,Mexico's top rock bandFobia,Satellites (from Mallorca), andSoviet KitschbyRegina Spektor.

Other notables he has worked with include the Cult's Ian Astbury and Ian Brown of The Stone Roses. Other rock music he has produced: from Bognor RegisKill Kenada,Britain'sThe Moonies,the London bandThree Trapped Tigers,operatic art rockersOx.Eagle.Lion.Man,Swiss literary-rock band The Mondrians, Finland's Caroline Taucher and The Whas, UK artists Charly Flynn and The Sound Explosion, Peruvian band Los Outsaiders. He worked as engineer, and played keyboards, on all of New York singer-songwriter Roxanne Fontana's second album,Souvenirs d'Amour.As of early 2025 he is mi xing an album forPinc Louds.

Career

Early career

As a musician, Raphael formed two bands in Seattle, Mental Mannequin and Colour Twigs. He was also the keyboardist for the Seattle-based psychedelic bandSky Cries Maryand part of a dark-wave band called Absinthee with Anna Mercedes.His favorite instrument is the Arp Odyssey, which he started learning at age 18. This small 1970's analog synthesizer creates an infinite pallet of evocative, intense outer space noises as well as a barrage of bass which he uses on many of his own and other artist's recordings.

2000s: The Strokes and work in Europe

Raphael moved to London in 2002 following the success ofIs This It,and founded a studio there called The Silver Transporterraum of London. In his first year living there, he worked with thirty bands, and was asked to produce the debut album ofThe Libertineswhilst mi xing live sound on their first-ever UK Tour (withThe Vinesand The Strokes). Rapahel also began curating a club night called The Basement Club withTransgressive Recordsco-founder Toby L, presented very early concerts byRegina Spektor,Bloc Party,The Libertines, and Raphael's own band Black Light among many others.

In 2005, after working for almost a year on The Strokes albumFirst Impressionsof Earth,Raphael was replaced as producer byDavid Kahne.

He moved to Berlin to be close to his friend, producerMoses Schneider.From his Berlin base, many European bands began to contact him via the internet to work, including Zeno and the Stoics (Madrid), Mikkel Glasser (Copenhagen), Satellites (Mallorca),Big Deal(London),A Brand(Brussels), Deportivo (Paris),Scanners(London),Olivia Anna Livki(Berlin), Super 700 (Berlin),Ian Astbury(London), Eva Loft (Berlin), and The Michelles (Berlin).

2010s: Further international work and original music

In January 2010, Raphael went toCape Town,South Africa, to produce the debut albumSharkby indie rock band The Plastics.

In 2011–2012, Raphael worked in San Antonio, Texas with Education,The Dirty Clergy,Ill Prospekt and Victoria Celestine. He then met Ricky Berger and co-engineered her new collection of songs. Around the time ofHurricane Sandy,he was back for a rare visit to Manhattan producing an album forLewis Lazar,then luckily being called to his beloved Seattle for an album with Ben Ireland (a drummer that Raphael worked closely with in his own bands including Mental Mannequin, The Tears of Gloom, and Sky Cries Mary). Whilst in the Pacific Northwest, Raphael was introduced toThe Tempers,a "wild-electronic band of brother and twin sisters" and was thrilled to record 6 interstellar electronic rock songs with them.

In May 2013, he went toLima,Peru, to record a Peruvian new band called Los Outsaiders. In October 2013, he went toSeattle, Washington,and recorded a seven-song EP with Red Martian. In April 2014, Raphael went toMexico Cityand recorded a six-song EP with the up-and-coming band Sol Flamingo while simultaneously filming a small documentary on "the making" of it withMontrealbased filmmaker Patrick Barbeau.

Raphael gave a pruduction master-class at British & Irish Modern Music Institute in Berlin (BIMM) in March 2016.

A fortunate development occurred when rising Argentinian musician Rocco Posca asked Raphael to produce his new album,Fervorfor Sony Music. In June 2018, these recording sessions began, and on the first day guitarrist Maria Florencia Silva, offered to start a new band with Raphael, called The Wild Cards which toured briefly through South America.

On January 1, 2019, Raphael released his albumI Lick The Moog,which had been recorded in his old NYC Studio Transporterraum during Christmas 2000, four months before the recording of The StrokesIs This Itbegan. At that time Raphael, was actually living in the studio, in a basement under Avenue A. The album contains outsider-rock songs, mixed with experimental soundscapes and electronic atmospheres created on his beloved Arp Odyssey, a Jupiter 6 and Mini Moog.

Production discography

Year	Title	Artist	Credits
1986	Skin Yard	Skin Yard	Assistant engineer, recording
1986	Dry As a Bone	Green River	Engineer
1998	Fresh Fruits for the Liberation	Sky Cries Mary	Engineer, mi xing
1999	Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time	Scout	Engineer, mi xing
2000	Colour Twigs	Colour Twigs	Producer
2000	Mélodie Citronique	Blonde Redhead	Engineer
2001	The Modern Age	The Strokes	Producer
2001	Is This It	The Strokes	Producer
2001	Souvenirs d'Amour	Roxanne Fontana	Engineer
2001	The Bellweather Project	Slang	Engineer
2002	Riff After Riff	The Wildhearts	Producer
2003	Soviet Kitsch	Regina Spektor	Producer
2003	Room on Fire	The Strokes	Producer
2004	Fake Chemical State	Skin	Producer
2005	Rosa Venus	Fobia	Producer
2006	First Impressions of Earth	The Strokes	Co-producer
2008	Reality Check	The Teenagers	Vocal engineer
2008	Close to the Sun	Jody Porter	Producer
2008	The Right Way to Do Wrong	Myriad Creatures	Producer, engineer, mi xing
2010	Close the Evil Eye	The Tellers	Producer, engineer, mi xing
2018	I Don't Run	Hinds	Producer
2021	Cool	Colleen Green	Producer, engineer

External links

• Gordotronic Website
• First Major Interview
• Silhouette Shack original PODCAST
• Shoplifter Records UK site
• Urchin Studios official website
• the mixtape chats with Gordon Raphael
• the mixtape chats with Gordon Raphael: Part 2
• Los Outsaiders, el grupo peruano que llamó la atención del productor de The Strokes
• Interview with Gordon Raphael - New BIMM Instructor and Producer of The Strokes.ArchivedJune 10, 2016, at theWayback Machine