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Vegyn

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Vegyn
Birth nameJoseph Winger Thornalley
OriginLondon, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Record producer
  • musician
  • disc jockey
  • graphic designer
Years active2013–present
LabelsPLZ Make It Ruins
Websitevegyn.net

Joseph Winger Thornalley, known professionally as Vegyn, is a British music producer, DJ and graphic designer. He is best known for his production work on Frank Ocean's 2016 albums Blonde and Endless.

Career

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Vegyn was born in London. His mother worked as a graphic designer and his father is musician and songwriter Phil Thornalley of The Cure fame.[1] He began performing in 2013 while studying design at the London College of Communication[2] teaching himself how to make boom bap beats after encouragement from fellow musicians.[2][3] He later left university to focus on music [2] and created the electronic music label PLZ Make It Ruins, which released his debut extended play All Bad Things Have Ended – Your Lunch Included and the compilation tape PLZ Vol. 1 featuring underground London producers.[4]

Around the same time, he met fellow music producer James Blake during a 1-800 Dinosaur event at the now-closed London nightclub Plastic People. Vegyn gave him a USB of songs he had made under the Vegyn moniker.[5] Blake later played these songs on BBC Radio in 2014.[2][4]

Vegyn met Frank Ocean at the Plastic People club and was flown out to do production work on Ocean's studio albums Blonde and Endless.[2][4] He also hosted Ocean's Blonded Radio in 2017 and played one of his PREP nights in New York in 2019.[5] Vegyn has since contributed to albums such as Travis Scott's UTOPIA and Astroworld, and JPEGMafia's All My Heroes Are Cornballs.

In 2019, he released the 71 track mixtape Text While Driving If You Want To Meet God!. Later that year, he released his debut studio album Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds featuring guest appearances from rappers JPEGMafia, Retro X, and Jeshi.[6]

In May 2023 he released the album The Head Hurts but the Heart Knows the Truth under the name Headache. The record is credited to Vegyn as producer and mixer, with lyrics written by Francis Hornsby Clark.[7] Some listeners speculated that the vocals on the album were produced using AI, and that Clark himself may not exist, owing to his lack of social media presence. Vegyn confirmed that the vocals were AI-produced, but insisted that Clark was real, a friend he has known for years who keeps a low public profile.[8]

Vegyn debuted his AV Live show at Fuji Rock Festival in Japan,[9] sold out his London show at EartH two months in advance,[10] and played select US dates including The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles[11] and Webster Hall in New York.[12] In April 2024,[13] he released his second album, The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions.[14][15]

Discography

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Studio Albums

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As Vegyn

  • All Bad Things Have Ended - Your Lunch Included (2014)
  • Janhui (2015)
  • Text While Driving If You Want to Meet God! (2019)
  • Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds (2019)
  • Like a Good Old Friend (2021)
  • Don't Follow Me Because I'm Lost Too!! (2022)
  • The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions (2024)

As Headache

  • The Head Hurts but the Heart Knows the Truth (2023)

Production Credits

[edit]
List of selected production credits
Release Year Artist(s) Details
Blonde 2016 Frank Ocean
  • Track 9 "Nights" (co-producer)
  • Track 13 "Close To You" (drums)
Good For You 2017 Aminé
  • Track 6 "STFU" (co-producer)
Cozy Tapes Vol. 2: Too Cozy A$AP Mob
  • Track 16 "RAF" (co-producer)
"Provider" Frank Ocean Co-producer, drums
Astroworld Travis Scott
  • Track 11 "Astrothunder" (additional production)
Endless 2018 Frank Ocean Executive producer
All My Heroes Are Cornballs 2019 JPEGMafia
  • Track 7 "Rap Grow Old & Die x No Child Left Behind" (co-producer)
To Feel Alive 2020 Kali Uchis
  • Track 1 "Honey Baby (Spoiled!)" (co-producer)
SHILOH: Lost For Words 2021 John Glacier Executive producer
Nymph 2022 Shygirl
  • Track 10 "Honey" (co-writer, co-producer)
Running in Waves George Riley Executive producer
Utopia 2023 Travis Scott
  • Track 4 "MY EYES" (co-producer)
  • Track 13 "Parasail" (co-producer)

References

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  1. ^ Gore, Sydney (8 November 2019). "Welcome to the World wide of Vegyn". Higshnobiety. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e Cliff, Aimee (3 March 2017). "Meet Vegyn, The 23-Year-Old Dance Producer Who Worked On Endless And Blonde". The Fader. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  3. ^ Schube, Will (8 November 2019). "Vegyn, Frank Ocean Collaborator, Gets 'Frustrated With A Lot of Modern Electronic Music'". Billboard. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Benjamin, Patrick (30 October 2019). "Vegyn is stepping out on his own". Dazed. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  5. ^ a b Moen, Matt (14 November 2019). "Vegyn Is His Own Man". Paper Mag. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  6. ^ Trendell, Andrew (25 September 2019). "Frank Ocean collaborator Vegyn shares JPEGMAFIA collab 'Nauseous / Devilish' and announces debut album".
  7. ^ "The Head Hurts but the Heart Knows the Truth by Headache". Bandcamp. 31 May 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  8. ^ Davies, Sam (15 April 2024). "Who's Vegyn? And How Does He Make Such Subtly, Utterly Beautiful Electronic Music?".
  9. ^ Ng, Scott (10 April 2023). "Fuji Rock Festival adds Caroline Polachek, Daniel Caesar and more to 2023 line-up".
  10. ^ "EartH Hackney - Vegyn LIVE 12 October 2023". 12 October 2023.
  11. ^ "Vegyn (Live) - Fonda Theatre 14 Dec 2023".
  12. ^ "Vegyn - Webster Hall 6 Dec 2023".
  13. ^ "Vegyn announces new album featuring John Glacier, Lauren Auder and more". 16 January 2024.
  14. ^ Robin, Murray (16 January 2024). "Vegyn Confirms New LP 'The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions'".
  15. ^ "Vegyn: The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions". Pitchfork. Retrieved 22 April 2024.