Mike Shiflet

Columbus, Ohio-based guitarist Mike Shiflet started Gameboy Records in the late 1990s, releasing limited tapes, 7"s, and CD-Rs by dozens of noise and experimental artists, including John Wiese, Cock E.S.P., Lasse Marhaug, Sudden Infant, and Crank Sturgeon. Shiflet's myriad recordings and performances explored harsh noise and drone, often focusing on high frequencies. He joined violinist C. Spencer Yeh's ensemble Burning Star Core in 2004, appearing on several of the group's recordings, including Operator Dead... Post Abandoned and Papercuts Theater. Shiflet relocated to Japan in 2006, continuing to operate Gameboy Records until 2008, when he moved back to America. He released collaborations and splits with a number of artists, including Aaron Dilloway, Daniel Menche, Keith Fullerton Whitman, and Ryan Jewell, and released a pair of solo albums on Type, 2011's Sufferers and 2012's Merciless. He returned to Type in 2015 with his most atmospheric, melodic album to date, Awake, a collaboration with Rhode Island-based High Aura'd. ~ Paul Simpson