John "Zos Kia" Gosling

For other people of the same name, see Gosling (disambiguation).

John Gosling
Also known as	Joan D'Arc, Mekon, Sugar J, Zoskia
Born	1963
Genres	Industrial
Occupations	Musician
Associated acts	Agent Provocateur, East 8 State, Psychic TV, Zos Kia

Biography

John Gosling (born c.1963, Brighton),^[1] currently known as Mekon is a British big beat and Industrial musician and electronica producer.^[2][3]

Gosling is well known as a member of Psychic TV.^[4] Gosling founded the group Zos-Kia,^[5] Psychic TV (during 1984, at which time he was known as Jordi Vallis),^[5] 23 Skidoo, and Bass-o-Matic (with William Orbit) before recording as Mekon.^[6] and teamed up with Coil^[7] for the album Transparent. He has also done extensive remixing work under the name "Sugar J".^[8]

His first single was "Phatty's Lunch Box", which was followed by "Revenge of the Mekon", which featured Frankie Fraser; Gosling met Fraser in Islington shortly after reading a biography of the former gangster, and they subsequently recorded three hours of Fraser reminiscing on his past, excerpts of which were used on the single.^[6]

In the mid-to-late-Nineties he was a core member of the group Agent Provocateur along with Matthew Ashman (originally of Bow Wow Wow), Dan Peppe, Danny Saber (of Black Grape) and Cleo Torez.

He has worked with artists such as Schoolly D (on the Skool's Out album), Roxanne Shanté ("Yes Yes Y'All"), Marc Almond ("Delerious"), Bobby Gillespie, Alan Vega, and Afrika Bambaataa.^[3][9] His third album, Something Came Up featured artwork by fashion designer Alexander McQueen.^[9][10]

Mekon's remix of the infadels single, "Can't Get Enough", appeared on an episode of Hex, a hit show originally shown on Sky One in the UK, and later on BBC America. His song "What's Going On" is featured on the PlayStation 2 game ATV Offroad Fury 2 as well as the video game Amplitude.

Discography

Zos Kia

• Transparent as Zos Kia/Coil on CD, CS, 12" vinyl (1984)
• Rape/Thank You on 7" vinyl (1984)
• Be Like Me on 12" vinyl (1985)
• Rape on 12" vinyl (1985)
• That's Heavy Baby (with Sugardog) on 7" and 12" vinyl (1987)

with Psychic TV

• Berlin Atonal Vol. 1 (1984)
• Berlin Atonal Vol. 2 (1984)
• Unclean (1984)
• Descending (1985)
• Themes 2 (1985)
• Live In Heaven (1987)
• Live At Thee Mardi Gras (1988)
• A Real Swedish Live Show (1989)
• Live At Thee Ritz (LP) Temple Records 1989
• Thee City Ov Tokyo/Thee City Ov New York (1990)
• Mein-Goett-In-Gen (1994)
• Those Who Do No (1997)
• Godstar: Thee Director's Cut (2004)
• Mary Never Wanted Jesus

with Jam Nation

• "Mekong" on A Brief History Of Ambient Volume 2: Imaginary Landscapes and C & S Street Jazz Presents Give 'Em Enough Dope Volume Two

with Bassomatic

• Set the Controls for the Heart of the Bass (1990)

with Agent Provocateur

• Where The Wild Things Are (1997)

Other

• The Melancholy Mad Tenant

as Mekon

• Welcome to Tackletown (Wall of Sound) – 1997
• Relax with... Mekon (Wall of Sound) – 2000
• Something Came Up (PIAS Recordings) – 2006

See also

• ATV Offroad Fury 2
• Amplitude (video game)

References

1. ^ "HOW WE MET: Alexander McQueen & John Gosling 'We were walking the same way. I had no idea he was stalking me'", The Independent, 24 September 2000, retrieved 2010-02-05
2. ^ Bush, John "Mekon Biography", Allmusic, retrieved 2010-02-05
3. ^ ^{a b} "Mekon takes no prisoners", Newham Recorder, 14 September 2006, retrieved 2010-02-05
4. ^ Strong, Martin Charles (31 October 2003). The great indie discography. Canongate U.S.. ISBN 9781841953359. http://books.google.com/books?id=HJfGtREyuSAC&pg=RA12-PT249. Retrieved 31 July 2010. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 466
6. ^ ^{a b} Larkin, Colin (1999) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0252-6, p. 220
7. ^ Buckley, Peter (28 October 2003). The rough guide to rock. Rough Guides. pp. 221–222. ISBN 9781843531050. http://books.google.com/books?id=7ctjc6UWCm4C&pg=PT222. Retrieved 31 July 2010. 
8. ^ Sugar J discography
9. ^ ^{a b} Sasson, Chloe (2006) "Something Came Up", Sydney Morning Herald, November 21, 2006, retrieved 2010-02-05
10. ^ "Mekon's third artist album out through Wall Of Sound", Resident Advisor, 8 May 2006, retrieved 2010-02-05

References

Persondata
Name	John Gosling
Alternative names	Zos-Kia, Jordi Vallis, Sugar J, Mekon, Joan D'Arc
Short description	rock musician
Date of birth	1963
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death