Born in Germany,
Thomas Melchior raised in the USA, Spain and finally England. At school he also started his musical career as composer/singer and keyboardist before moving to London where he soon formed his first Jazzfunk five-piece band (Blipvert Bigtop). Releasing records on his own Label (Earworm) they performed in London warehouses, clubs and pubs.
After getting married and becoming a father, Thomas's next project Ohm experimented with and fused electronic and
Funkadelic sounds with soul and jazz. Catching the attention of the likes of Africa Bambaata, Acid Jazz and Talking Loud's
Gilles Peterson. Ohm's `Heady Volt Experience EP' had a strong influence on the later emerging trip hop scene (
James Lavelle, Mo Wax often mentioning it as a blueprint).
But times were a changing and Melchior moved on to pioneer and explore other moods and grooves. With the arrival of a computer, he began to discover the world of reduced music making, leading him to work and hang out with weird beat master J. Saul Kane (Depth Charge, Bomb The Bass), introducing him to the early London acid house and warehouse underground. He hooked up with people like Peter "Baby" Ford,
Mark Moore, Big Audio Dynamite,
Carl Craig etc… soon he was on his way to making tripped out electronica.
In '92 Thomas hooked up with multi instrumentalist Tim Hutton and started recording as Vulva/Yoni. Quickly Vulva caught the attention of the
Aphex Twin's Richard James and his Rephlex label, who promptly released the now legendary `From The Cockpit' album. Vulva/YONI basked in the lights of success releasing records on San Fransisco's Reflective and Germany's Source Records as well as gigging alongside Armando,
Aphex Twin, Black Dog (Plaid),
Autechre, Global Communication,
Orbital etc.
As the years went by Thomas' musical interests shifted towards producing more minimal deep- and tracky style house tunes and after touring the USA as member of Lady Miss Kiers' (Deelite) band, Thomas moved to New York in 1996 familiarizing himself with some of the American house and techno scene before returning to London in '97 to work with old friend Peter Ford.
With the releases quickly mounting under various pseudonyms namely Deepah, Sunpeople, Soul Capsule (all Trelik), Ifach Collective, M-core (all Ifach) etc., Thomas established himself as a pioneer of minimal house.
His more personal London speed garage influenced deep hypnotic and sexy micro house cuts set a new manifesto on his label Aspect Music in 2000. His sound soon was reaching cult status, being supported by producers/DJs like
Daniel Bell,
Luke Solomon,
Ricardo Villalobos,
Akufen,
Richie Hawtin etc. By now Melchior Productions was being released on the mighty Perlon and Playhouse labels in Germany.
During the years Thomas also followed some of his other interests and studied to become an astrologer, masseur and sculptor.
In 2003 Thomas moved from London to Berlin after having set up a second home in Brasil, where he now has a new family. Throughout Thomas's career he has stayed dedicated to the underground, maintaining a low profile, allowing him to stay clear of trends and thus remaining, after more than twenty years of music production, at the cutting edge of music.
