Daniel Vahnke (born April 2, 1965), sometimes credited as Anton Rathausen, is a Canadian composer and lyricist. He is best known as a co-founding member of

Vampire Rodents Vampire Rodents was a sound collage and experimental music ensemble based out of Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, although its core members originally came from Canada. The creative nucleus of the project comprised vocalist and composer Danie ...

, a band that integrated elements of classical,

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

, and industrial music into its work. Daniel uses German,

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and Chinese in his compositions.Villa, Stefano
Vampire Rodents: Science Collage
Vampire Rodents biography (translated). Retrieved on July 22, 2010.

History

Daniel Vahnke studied

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

in Toronto while working on piano pieces based on Chinese character stroke analysis. After the purchase of his first

Roland S-50 The Roland S-50 is a 61-key 12-bit sampler keyboard produced by the Roland Corporation in 1986. It featured a 3.5-inch DSDD floppy disk drive and had external CRT monitor support to facilitate editing of samples. It could hold up to 32 samples. A ...

, Daniel became fascinated with Sample Based Composition, considering it a cleaner, safer, and more efficient method of creating music. In 1988, he created Vampire Rodents with his friend Victor Wulf, who had been writing experimental pop music, as a form of entertainment. However, the band soon developed into a creative outlet for Daniel's darkly humorous lyrics as well as some of his anti-human ideals.Vampire Rodents/Ether Bunny Interview 2007!
Daniel Vahnke interview. Retrieved on July 22, 2010. His last commercially available project, '' Papa Woody'', was released in 1996 under the name

Ether Bunny Ether Bunny was the name of an experimental big band and sound collage project founded by composer Daniel Vahnke and based in Phoenix, Arizona. Ether Bunny's music was strongly influenced by the big band and cartoon music of the 30s and 40s but ...

, although it was basically a solo effort. Serving as his personal tribute to the cartoon and jazz music, Vahnke claims to have been more satisfied with his work on ''Papa Woody'' than on any Vampire Rodents album. A collaboration with

Athan Maroulis Athanasios Demetrios Maroulis (born September 22, 1964) is an actor, vocalist and record producer born in Brooklyn, New York. He is the older brother of singer Constantine Maroulis and also has a sister, Anastasia. Athan Maroulis formed the New ...

called Alchemia, later renamed Obsidian, was planned for release in 1997 but never came into fruition.Gariboldi, Marco
Vampire Rodents (Daniel Vahnke) (2009)
e-mail interview, retrieved on July 22, 2010. The overall project was described as a SBC and LTG approach to

The Blue Nile The Blue Nile is a river in Ethiopia and Sudan. Blue Nile may also refer to: * Blue Nile (state) Blue Nile State ( ') is one of the eighteen States of Sudan, states of the Republic of the Sudan. It was established by presidential decree nº 3 i ...

with string orchestra. Also, a completely instrumental Vampire Rodent album was completed the same year, but like the Alcemia/Obsidian project was shelved indefinitely.

Personal life

To give his vocal "characters" an individual identity, he decided to work under the alias Anton Rathausen. Although he rarely watches movies or television, Daniel remains an admirer of cartoons. His favorite films are ''

Life of Brian ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (also known as ''Life of Brian'') is a 1979 British biblical black comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michae ...

'', '' RocketMan'', ''

The Incredible Mr. Limpet ''The Incredible Mr. Limpet'' is a 1964 American live-action/animated hybrid comedy film produced by Warner Bros.'' Variety'' film review; January 22, 1964, page 6. and based on the 1942 novel ''Mr. Limpet'' by Theodore Pratt. It is about a ...

'', ''

Shaun of the Dead ''Shaun of the Dead'' is a 2004 zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Shaun, a downtrodden London salesman who is caught alongside his loved ones in a zombie apocalypse. It also star ...

'', and ''

Incredible Shrinking Man ''The Incredible Shrinking Man'' is a 1957 American science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold, based on Richard Matheson's 1956 novel, '' The Shrinking Man''. The film stars Grant Williams as Scott and Randy Stuart as Scott's wife, Louise. ...

''. However, Daniel has claimed that "Most films are best enjoyed played in reverse with several CD players playing random damaged CD's as an augmented soundtrack."

Musical style and influences

Working mostly with samples, Daniel uses a

and a

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

to create his music.1996 Vampire Rodents/Ether Bunny Interview
Daniel Vahnke interview. Retrieved on July 22, 2010. Unlike other artists who use a similar technique, he has been noted for "tweaking and twisting originals to create something new instead of simply relying on a familiar hook for instant recognition." Etherbunny: Papa Woody ''Papa Woody'' review. Retrieved on August 15, 2010. Although occasionally being listed as Industrial, Daniel has stated that it does not define his work, noting that he has paid very little attention to the scene. Daniel's musical influences range from cartoon music (

Milt Franklyn Milton J. Franklyn (born Milton Julius Frumkin; September 16, 1897 – April 24, 1962) was an American musical composer and arranger who worked on the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated cartoons, working alongside and later succeeding Carl Sta ...

Carl Stalling Carl William Stalling (November 10, 1891 – November 29, 1972) was an American composer, voice actor and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts produced by War ...

impressionist music Impressionism in music was a movement among various composers in Western classical music (mainly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries) whose music focuses on mood and atmosphere, "conveying the moods and emotions aroused by the subject ...

(

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

(

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...

Luigi Nono Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music. Biography Early years Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono bega ...

Edgard Varèse Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French and American composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; h ...

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

(

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental music, experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia (Berio), Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Seque ...

, Tod Dockstader,

İlhan Mimaroğlu İlhan Kemaleddin Mimaroğlu (, March 11, 1926 – July 17, 2012) was a Turkish American musician and electronic music composer. Biography He was born in Istanbul, Turkey, the son of the famous architect Mimar Kemaleddin Bey depicted on the T ...

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

), classical (

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

( Steve Roach), as well as big band music (

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

).Vampire Rodents' MySpace page
Ether Bunny description. Retrieved on July 22, 2010. Vahnke has also spoken about admiring modern rock artists such as

The Young Gods The Young Gods are a Swiss industrial rock band from Fribourg, formed in 1985. The original lineup of the band featured singer Franz Treichler, sampler player Cesare Pizzi and drummer Frank Bagnoud. For most of their history, the band mainta ...

Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The band currently comprises founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments, percussion, ...

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

Sigur Rós Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band that formed in 1994 in Reykjavík. It comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Jónsi, Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal soun ...

, and

Discography

* '' Music for Player Piano'' (2018, Rodentia Productions) * '' Early Soundtrack Sketches, Vol. I'' (2018, Rodentia Productions) * '' Early Soundtrack Sketches, Vol. II'' (2018, Rodentia Productions)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vahnke, Daniel Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Canadian composers Canadian male composers Canadian male singers Canadian rock singers Canadian experimental musicians Canadian industrial musicians Singers from Toronto 1965 births Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian singer-songwriters