Foto - Francesco Bertola
“Hugo’s songwriting draws on pop culture from rock n roll to soul to delta blues to avantguard electronic soundscapes. Hugo defies any easy label and has staked out a creative territory entirely his own.” – KGB, Germany
Originally from the 1980's Melbourne post-punk music scene, Hugo began writing for avantgarde theatre in Melbourne after winning a playwriting prize at age 16. Recruited by Nick Cave for his nascent Bad Seeds, he recorded on the first Seeds album and toured the world. Following this full immersion in the global post-punk scene, Hugo returned to Melbourne to create his first major band The Wreckery. Although The Wreckery produced several hit independent Australian singles and some remarkably ahead-of-their-time albums, the band never played outside Australia/NZ. By the end of the 1980s, Hugo had moved to Europe, first to London and then to West Berlin, where Hugo signed a record contract with German indie Normal Records (as Hugo Race & The True Spirit) releasing 5 albums– Rue Morgue Blues, Earls World, Spiritual Thirst, Stations of the Cross and Second Revelator (produced by former Bad Seed bandmate Mick Harvey). In 1995, Hugo signed with German independent label Glitterhouse Records who continue to release his work today with both The True Spirit and the Italy-based Hugo Race Fatalists who have released 3 critically acclaimed albums with a 4th album ‘Taken By The Dream’ in 2019. Fatalists’ 5th album, Once Upon A Time in Italy, is set for release in 2022. https://www.facebook.com/hugoracefatalists/
Relocating from Berlin to Catania (Sicily) in 1999, Hugo’s songwriting and production expanded into different projects – Sepiatone (with Italian singer/songwriter Marta Collica) and the Merola Matrix, a surrealistic investigation of Sicilian roots culture. Hugo’s engagement with the Italian underground music scene is extensive (La Crus, Afterhours, Cesare Basile, to name a few) – but the fusion created between Hugo and Romagnolo instrumental band Sacri Cuori is the spark that created Hugo Race Fatalists.
In 2007, Hugo teamed up with American singer/songwriter Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts) to create Dirtmusic. Originally a straight-talking, mainly acoustic trio mining blues and country for 21st century gold, Dirtmusic’s first happy accident was to stumble upon the Tuareg band Tamikrest at the fabled Festival au Désert in Timbuktu in 2008. A new musical story began, running through that joyous first collaboration with Tamikrest in BKO (2010), followed by Troubles (2013) and Lion City (2014), which expanded the roster to include Ben Zabo, Samba Touré and a host of other superb Malian musicians. In the meantime, however, the Islamist takeover of Northern Mali in 2012 had darkened the sound and the songwriting, and the Dirtmusic project relocated to Istanbul, Turkey. https://www.facebook.com/DIRTMUSICBAND/
Hugo Race Releases 1988-2020
1. Rue Morgue Blues - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Rampant Records, 1988 / Normal Records 1990)
2. Earls World - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (incl. The Old Wound Fever 7“) (Normal, 1990)
3. Second Revelator - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Normal, 1991)
4. Spiritual Thirst - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Normal, 1993)
5. Stations Of The Cross - Hugo Race (Normal / Return To Sender, 1994)
6. Valley Of Light - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Glitterhouse Records / Village Roadshow Records 1995)
7. Wet Dream - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Glitterhouse Records, 1997)
8. Chemical Wedding (Glitterhouse Records, 1998) Hugo Race & The True Spirit
9. Last Frontier (Glitterhouse Records, 1999) Hugo Race & The True Spirit
10. Long Time Ago (Glitterhouse Records, 2001) Hugo Race & The True Spirit
11. In Sepiatone - Sepiatone (Milano 2000, 2001)
12. The Goldstreet Sessions - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Glitterhouse Records, 2003)
13. Mil Transit - Transfargo (RecRec Music, 2003)
14. Ready To Go 7" (Bang! Records, 2004) Hugo Race & The True Spirit
15. Live In Monaco (Mucchio Extra, 2004) Hugo Race & The True Spirit
16. The Merola Matrix - Hugo Race (Desvelos Records, 2004)
17. Darksummer - Sepiatone (Desvelos Records, 2004)
18. Ambuscado - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Glitterhouse Records, 2005)
19. Taoist Priests - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Glitterhouse Records / Spooky Records 2006)
20. Dirtmusic - Dirtmusic (Glitterhouse Records, 2007)
21. 53rd State - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Glitterhouse / Spooky / Bang! Records, 2008)
22. Live In Wołów Jail - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Gusstaff Records 2009)
23. Fatalists - Hugo Race (Gusstaff / Interbang Records, 2010)
24. Felt - Lilium (Glitterhouse Records, 2010)
25. BKO - Dirtmusic (Glitterhouse Records, 2010)
26. Between Hemispheres - Hugo Race (Gusstaff Records, 2011)
27. No But It’s True - Hugo Race (ViceVersa LP / Rough Velvet Records CD, 2012)
28. We Never Had Control - Hugo Race Fatalists (Gusstaff / Interbang Records, 2012)
29. Troubles - Dirtmusic (Glitterbeat, 2013)
30. Echoes On - Sepiatone (Interbang Records, 2013)
31. Lion City - Dirtmusic (Glitterbeat, 2014)
32. Orphans EP - Hugo Race Fatalists (Gusstaff Records, 2014)
33. Elevate My Love 7“ - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Glitterhouse, 2015)
34. The Spirit - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Glitterhouse Records, 2015)
35. False Idols 10“ - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Glitterhouse Records, 2015)
36. Live In Brussels 1992 - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Gusstaff Record, 2015)
37. 24 Hours To Nowhere - Hugo Race Fatalists (Glitterhouse Records, 2016)
38. Pure Phase Ensemble 5* Feat. Hugo Race Live At Spacefest! (Nasiono Records, 2016)
39. John Lee Hooker’s World Today - Hugo Race & Michelangelo Russo (Glitterhouse (LP) Gusstaff Records, 2017)
40. Long Distance Operators - Catherine Graindorge / Hugo Race (Sub Rosa, 2017)
41. Spiritual Thirst - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Re-Release, Bang! Records, 2017)
42. Bu Bir Ruya - Dirtmusic (Glitterbeat, 2018)
43. Dirtmusic Live - Dirtmusic (Gusstaff Records, 2018)
44. Taken By The Dream - Hugo Race Fatalists (Glitterhouse Records, 2019)
45. The Goldstreet Sessions - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Re-Release, Gusstaff Records, 2019)
46. Stations Of The Cross - Hugo Race (Re-Release, Bang! Records, 2019)
47. Gemini 4 – Gemini 4 (Gusstaff Records, 2019)
48. Live In Wołów Jail - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Re-Release, Gusstaff Records, 2020)
49. Embryo 7“ - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Don’t Sit On My Vinyl!, 2020)
50. Starbirth/Stardeath - Hugo Race & The True Spirit (Gusstaff Records, 2020)
51. Dishee – Hugo Race (Gusstaff Records, 2021)
