Mike Cooper

Super-prolific British guitarist Mike Cooper played blues in the 1960s, as documented on Oh Really (1969), and jazz in the 1970s, as documented on the instrumental albums Do I Know You (1970), Trout Steel (1970), Places I Know (1972) and Machine Gun Co (1973), while Life And Death In Paradise (1974) was a collection of songs. Trout Steel/ Places I Know/ Machine Gun Co (Paradise of Bachelors, 2014) were reissued as one album.

In the 1980s he collaborated with many British avantgarde musicians, for example saxophonist Lol Coxhill in the Recedents. He also studied Hawaiian music, as documented on the EP Aveklei Uptowns Hawaiians (1987).

In the late 1990s he turned to "ambient electronic exotica" (reminiscent of Jon Hassell's "fourth-world music") for guitar, electronics, samples of old records, and field recordings from exotic countries on albums such as: Avant Roots (1993), a collaboration with Viv Dogan Corringham, Island Songs (1996), Kiribati (1999), Globe Notes (2001) and especially Rayon Hula (2004), basically a duet between Cooper's guitar and looped samples from Hawaiian vibraphonist Arthur Lyman's vintage recordings.

At the same time, electronic effects and digital manipulations derailed the solo guitar improvisations of Metal Box (2004).

Reluctant Swimmer (2005), that adds vocals to his mixture, documents a live performance.

Borders (2006) is another live album.

Spirit Songs (2006) was the first collection of songs since 1974.

Giacinto (2006) is a tribute to Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi.

Tu Fuego (2006) and Oceanic Feeling-Like (2008) were two of the many collaborations.

Beach Crossings/Pacific Footprints (2006), White Shadows in the South Seas (2013) and New Globe Notes (2014) resumed his ventures into ambient exotica.