- The Secret Life of Angels

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"Takes the Berlin School approach by the scruff of the neck and practically reinvents it." —CD Services

"Confident, melodic, powerful and totally absorbing." —Awakenings

"God dammit, this is good stuff!"." —Scott Raymond, WVKR

SkinMechanix was a prolific collaboration between the UK's Dave Hughes and avant-garde sound experimentalist, Skin. The objective was to get back to basics, to reclaim some of the joy of creating original music, and to work with some new and previously untried techniques. The end product was something very special indeed—strong melodies and challenging arrangements, dance rhythms fused with throbbing retro sequences and fiery electronic soundscapes, all welded together to occupy a unique territory in the UK synth music scene.

Technical issues meant that the early SkinMechanix demo tapes were not viable, however, so Hughes began re-recording and rearranging the source material to form the basis of a more commercial release. These efforts proved highly successful and the debut album The Secret Life of Angels was released in September 2002. The album made its debut at Jodrell Bank Planetarium that month and the audience reaction was very positive and enthusiastic. After quickly gaining a number of excellent reviews and a great deal of airplay around the world, SkinMechanix continues.

Live concerts are now a regular feature. So far, SkinMechanix have performed at three concerts in the Awakenings series, two as the headline act. The disc Fallen Angel was recorded at the Awakenings concert in February 2005 and features both live and studio pieces. Fallen Angel was released as a limited edition disc in December 2005 and was sold out completely within two days.

The band remains highly active with new material emerging throughout 2006 and 2007.

Dave Hughes also records for Magnatune under the name Ion.