Daniel Blumberg

Daniel Blumberg is an English artist,^[2] musician, songwriter and composer.

He has released music under a variety of names including Hebronix,^[3][4] Oupa,^[5], Heb-Hex ^[6], Daniel Blumberg and Guo.^[7]

'Unreal' by Hebronix ^[8], produced by Neil Michael Hagerty, was released by ATP Recordings in 2013. This was followed by a split single with Neil Michael Hagerty, released under the name Heb-Hex ^[9]

Since 2013 Blumberg has been performing and recording at Cafe Oto^[10].

Blumberg performs with Seymour Wright (saxophone) as GUO. Their first release, GUO1^[11], was self-released in 2016, with a text from David Toop. In 2017, GUO2 was released by Cafe Oto's label Oto Roku ^[12] and included text from American filmmaker Brady Corbet

In 2015, Blumberg signed to Mute Song,^[13] the publishing division of Mute Records.

On 15 March, Mute ^[14] announced they had signed Blumberg and would be releasing Minus, his debut solo album on May 4, 2018 ^[15]. The announcement included the video for the title track, created by Blumberg and edited by David Jansco.

Minus was recorded by legendary producer Peter Walsh (best known for his work with Scott Walker) with a group of radical musicians whom Blumberg met at Cafe Oto including Billy Steiger (violin), Tom Wheatley (double bass), Ute Kanngiesser (cello) and Terry Day (vocals). Jim White (Dirty Three) played drums on the album.

Minus received extremely positive reviews from the press. The Times gave it 5 out of 5 and hailed it as a ‘Modern Classic’ ^[16]. Billboard Magazine described it as "one of the more unique and exquisite records you're likely to hear this year.” ^[17] The Quietus wrote "Minus is a statement of intent from an artist who has found his voice and shaken off his past"^[18]. Rough Trade awarded Minus their May ‘Album of The Month’^[19].

On 11th April 2018 Cafe Oto's OtoRoku released a live album^[20], recorded at Cafe Oto on 28th February with Billy Steiger, Tom Wheatley and Ute Kanngiesser. It was mixed by Marta Salogni, recognised for her acclaimed work with Bjork^[21], amongst others.

On 5th June 2018 he performed two tracks from Minus, 'The Bomb' and 'Minus' on Later... with Jools Holland, accompanied by Billy Steiger and Tom Wheatley.

Blumberg is a visual artist working in the medium of drawing and is one of a small number of artists in the world practicing the old drawing technique of Silverpoint. In 2015 he was awarded a scholarship to study a diploma in traditional drawing techniques at London's prestigious Royal Drawing School^[22] and has had work exhibited at Christies^[23]. He has been described by Hans Ulrich Obrist as ‘one of London’s most exciting emerging artists’.

Curzon Cinemas/British Film Institute (BFI) commissioned Blumberg to compose music ^[24] to launch their Agnès Varda film season 'Gleaning Truths'^[25] which was announced in July 2018 and went on to tour the UK.

References