DJ Stingray

DJ Stingray (sometimes billed as Stingray313) is Sherard Ingram, founder of Urban Tribe and associate of mythical Detroit electro duo Drexciya. As both a DJ and producer, Ingram is a master of light-speed, futuristic electro, preferring fast tempos and inventive beat patterns to more accessible, club-friendly rhythms. However, he takes issue with the term "electro," and the way people tend to use the word to classify electronic dance music that isn't in standard 4/4 time, instead preferring to describe what he does as techno. Ingram's musical career stretches back to the '80s. He grew up listening to the wildly eclectic broadcasts by pioneering Detroit radio DJ the Electrifying Mojo, absorbing everything from Kraftwerk and Parliament to industrial groups like Severed Heads and Skinny Puppy. He was taught to DJ by his friend Kenny Dixon, Jr. (Moodymann), who claimed that he could mix better than Mojo. Ingram made his recording debut in 1987 with "Time to Party," a raw techno single co-produced with Lou Robinson under the name Nasa. He gradually developed and perfected his dense, high-speed mixing style, and would DJ at biker bars in Detroit, slipping bits of techno tracks in with Miami booty bass and West Coast electro and hip-hop. He began working as Urban Tribe in 1990, and a track called "Covert Action" appeared on a compilation soon after, along with several Carl Craig tracks. Craig eventually introduced Ingram's music to James Lavelle, and Urban Tribe began releasing music on Mo Wax in 1996, with debut album The Collapse of Modern Culture arriving in 1998. Featuring tracks written and produced in collaboration with Dixon, Craig, and Anthony "Shake" Shakir, the album was a moody collection of downtempo and deep house tracks, and quietly earned a reputation as an under-the-radar classic. Ingram had long been friends with Drexciya's James Stinson and Gerald Donald before they contacted him about being their tour DJ. Billed as Drexciyan DJ Stingray (a name given to him by Stinson), he visited the U.K. for the first time in order to tour with several Warp artists, and constantly left his audiences awestruck. As Mystic Tribe A.I., Ingram shared a split single with Stinson's solo project the Other People Place in 2002. After Stinson's untimely death in September of that year, Ingram removed "Drexciyan" from his moniker out of respect. He continued making music as both Urban Tribe and Stingray, with two Urban Tribe albums appearing on Aphex Twin's Rephlex label (2006's Authorized Clinical Trials and 2007's Acceptable Side Effects), and several Stingray releases issued by WéMè Records starting in 2007. Instead of the more downtempo, earthy style of his previous Urban Tribe work, his output under both monikers was much closer to Drexciya's harder-edged electro. However, Urban Tribe did return to a slower techno sound in 2010, with a self-titled LP on Dixon's Mahogani Music and the Loyal Opposition EP on Craig's Planet E. Since then, Ingram has mostly operated as Stingray, and has become more prolific as an artist and more in-demand as a DJ than ever, frequently playing gigs across the globe. He's released numerous EPs on labels like Unknown to the Unknown, TRUST, Presto!?, and his own Micron Audio. WéMè Records released his full-length F.T.N.W.O. in 2012, as well as a self-titled EP and 2013 full-length (Commodified) by NRSB-11, his collaboration with Donald and Penélope Martín. In 2017, Stingray's first commercial mix CD, Kern Vol. 4, was released by Tresor. ~ Paul Simpson