Tycho is the ambient/electronic project of Scott Hansen, a producer, multi-instrumentalist and graphic designer who was raised in Fair Oaks and built his early career in Sacramento before relocating to San Francisco.[1][2] Hansen was born on February 7, 1977, in Sacramento, California.[3] Submerge repeatedly frames Tycho as a Sacramento-origin act — "one of our lost children" and a talent "originally from Sacramento" — that found national fame after leaving the region.[1][2]
At a glance
- Solo project of Scott Hansen, who also works as a graphic designer under the name ISO50.[2]
- Name taken from the 16th-century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe; chosen as a name "without any loaded meaning."[2]
- Hansen was raised in Fair Oaks and lived in Midtown Sacramento for eight years, making his first albums there.[1]
- Helped found the Command Collective, Sacramento's early-2000s electronica crew.[1]
- Releases on Ghostly International; Awake (2014) and Epoch (2016), the latter Grammy-nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album.[2][4]
- Touring band includes longtime Sacramento guitarist/bassist Zac Brown.[2][4][5]
Local status and origin
Tycho is local to the Greater Sacramento region by origin. Hansen "was raised in Fair Oaks and lived in Midtown for eight years, where he made his first two (and a half, somehow) albums."[1] A 2017 piece states plainly that "Hansen has very strong Sacramento ties. He was born here."[4] A 2018 announcement describes Tycho as a group "who originally formed right here in Sacramento."[5] Submerge frames the move to San Francisco as a later relocation, noting that Sacramento artists "move to San Francisco and blow up, resulting in press that neglects to mention origins prior to the Bay Area," and counting Tycho among "our lost children."[1] Hansen himself has confirmed he moved from Sacramento to San Francisco in 2006.[6] Confidence: high.
Scott Hansen and the ISO50 / graphic-design career
Before and alongside the music, Hansen built a reputation as a freelance graphic designer under the pseudonym ISO50, after dropping out of art school at the University of San Francisco.[2] In his Sacramento years he designed album art for Tha Fruitbat, Blue Bell compilation covers and Command Collective show posters, which he credited as "the impetus to my whole style."[1] As ISO50 he went on to design album art, posters, magazine covers and snowboards.[2] Visual design remains integral to Tycho: live sets feature tweaked visuals built around his graphic design, and his album covers carry recurring motifs — the Awake cover's multicolored striped orb is meant to be flag-like and to represent an "iconic sun," with its eight color bands each standing for a track.[1][2]
Formation and the path to music
Hansen says he had "zero musical experience" before getting into electronic music; he was introduced to drum and bass and other electronic music during his second year of college in San Francisco, drawn to "the machines" rather than guitar and drums.[2] A serious injury at age 24 took him away from design work for two months and let him focus entirely on writing music for the first time.[2] He self-released his first EP, The Science of Patterns, in 2002, followed by his first full-length, Sunrise Projector, in 2004.[2]
Command Collective and the early-2000s Sacramento electronica scene
Hansen co-founded the Command Collective, a loose group of Sacramento electronic musicians. He recalled it as "a pretty loose deal" formed less as a band than out of necessity — "we were the only electronic musicians in Sacramento. We might as well play these shows together rather than open up for a bunch of rock bands."[1] Per Evan Schneider (Tha Fruitbat), "Donald [Bell, Chachi Jones] and Tycho put [the collective] together to reel in all the top dudes from the different crews that were doing beat shows."[1] Members included Dusty Brown, Evan Schneider (Tha Fruitbat), Park Avenue (later Lifeliner), Tycho and Chachi Jones, with DJ Mupetblast as resident DJ; the collective focused on IDM, jungle and ambient sounds.[1] By consensus, Command Collective shows at Espresso Metro between 2002 and 2004 were "the scene."[1] The collective is credited with prompting the addition of an electronica award to The Sammies after a letter from Bell to the editor.[1] It dissolved due to several factors, including the Rave Act limiting underground shows, declining venue/fan support, the revival of rock and folk, members' changing lives, Chachi Jones moving to San Francisco, and the sale of the Metro venue.[1] Tycho's own departure to San Francisco followed.[1]
Releases and ascent
- The Science of Patterns EP (2002, self-released).[2]
- Sunrise Projector (2004), first full-length.[2]
- A Coastal Brake 12-inch on Ghostly International marked rising national exposure circa 2010.[1]
- Dive (2011), second LP, on Ghostly International, drawing attention from BBC music, Pitchfork and SPIN.[2]
- Awake (2014), Hansen's second LP for Ghostly, which he called the first "true Tycho album" — its first cohesive body of work realized as a full band.[2] Submerge ranked Awake No. 5 on its Top 30 Albums of 2014.[7]
- Epoch (2016), nominated for a Grammy in the Best Dance/Electronic Album category for the 2017 awards, competing against Flume, Underworld, Little Louie Vega and Jean-Michel Jarre.[4]
- Weather (2019), fifth studio album, received a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards — Tycho's second nomination in that category.[8] In February 2020, Tycho released Simulcast, an all-instrumental companion to the vocal-driven Weather.[9]
- Infinite Health (2024), sixth studio album, released August 30, 2024 on Mom+Pop Records in the US and Ninja Tune internationally, co-produced with Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor.[10] Hansen has described Infinite Health as "about hope for the future and a requiem for the past" and considers it to mark "a fourth era for Tycho."[11]
Awake was written in an intensive, traditional-band manner: Hansen and Zac Brown moved his studio to a cabin in Lake Tahoe one winter, then relocated to Santa Cruz to integrate drums with Rory O'Connor, finishing in a San Francisco studio.[2] Hansen credited Tahoe's "insulated, isolated space" for shaping the sound.[2]
Band membership
Though Tycho began as a solo studio project, by the Awake / touring era the live and recording lineup expanded. Guitarist/bassist Zac Brown — a Sacramento musician who also played in Doom Bird, Dusty Brown and I'm Dirty Too — appeared on a couple of Dive songs and became a core writing and touring member.[12][2] Drummer Rory O'Connor, from Washington, D.C., rounds out the live group.[2][4] Brown described Sacramento as "the birthplace of Tycho" and "my continued home base."[5]
Collaborations and remixes
According to Ninja Tune, Tycho has produced remixes and collaborated with notable artists including ODESZA, Maggie Rogers, Little Dragon, Leon Bridges, and Death Cab for Cutie.[13]
Sacramento shows and ties
Tycho performed at the first annual Sacramento Electronica Music Festival (Jan. 28–30, 2010), an event Hansen also promoted on his ISO50 blog, noting a partial Command Collective reunion.[1] He played the festival alongside Command Collective alumnus Dusty Brown.[1][14] Tycho headlined Harlow's in Sacramento on May 10, 2014 (a sold-out show, with Dusty Brown also performing).[2] In earlier years Hansen gigged at local venues including the now-defunct Marilyn's on K.[4] After a gap, Tycho announced its first headlining hometown show since 2014 for May 15, 2018 at The Sofia (the B Street Theatre's new home, 2700 Capitol Ave., capacity under 400), the same summer the band was booked at Lollapalooza and Outside Lands.[5]
Scene relationships and influence
Hansen maintained close ties to fellow Command Collective member Dusty Brown. In 2010 he posted Brown's EP This City Is Killing Me for free download on his ISO50 blog with a three-paragraph endorsement — "I've learned more about music from Dusty than anyone else" — which Submerge credits with pushing Dusty Brown's reach from Northern California to coverage by XLR8R, Pitchfork and Yourstru.ly.[14] Hansen also designed the EP's artwork.[14] Schneider observed that by 2010 Tycho's profile had grown enough that people in Seattle knew of both Tycho and the Command Collective.[1]