Marc Kate (aka Silencefiction) was born into a family of musicians and academics in Montréal, Québec in 1971. He bought his first Technics shortly after buying his first Chain Reaction 12”’s, but really started DJing at art openings while in grad school. “I wanted to play obscure European techno, while the other artists wanted to dance to Prince. Finding the happy medium was very educational. Probably the best value for my student loan dollar.” Since then, he has played to venues as diverse as Burning Man, 1015 Folsom and Trannyshack. In San Francisco, he formed the techno weekly [404] in 2001, the acid house revival party Jack in 2005, and became a Qoöl resident in 2007. Later in 2007, he formed the live techno duo Land Sound with Robert Crouch. He is as much inspired by visual artists like Yayoi Kusama and Eva Hesse as DJ’s like Richie Hawtin and Ellen Allien, -- applying a less-is-more ethos while bathing the dancefloor in an ocean of sound. “How do I create a track or a set that is both psychedelic and cerebral?” he asks, “Or lush and minimal? Exploring that tension is what excites me about techno.” As a musician, he has played bass, keyboards and/or engineered for synth-prog band I Am Spoonbender, goth-punk duo Evolution Rainbow and dark cabaret iconoclast Vinsantos as a member of his band A Sixthe Toe. He has also composed soundtracks for performer/choreographer Monique Jenkinson and political circus spectacle Circo Zero.