People Like Us is the stage name of Vicki Bennett, a British multimedia artist, composer, and DJ based in London. She has been active since 1991 and is known for her pioneering work in sound collage, plunderphonics, and audio-visual appropriation art.
Background
Vicki Bennett was born in 1967 (age 58–59) in London, England. She works under the alias People Like Us, creating works that repurpose pre-existing audio and visual footage into new collages. Her approach treats sampling as a form of contemporary folk art, challenging conventional notions of originality and ownership.
Musical Career
Since 1991, Bennett has produced CDs, radio works, and audio-visual multimedia under the People Like Us name. Her work employs animation and collage techniques with existing footage, presenting perspectives on popular culture characterized by humor, dark themes, and surrealist elements.
She has performed and exhibited at numerous major institutions, including Tate Modern, the National Film Theatre, the Purcell Room, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), the Sydney Opera House, the Pompidou Centre, Sonar (Barcelona), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), the BBC, and Channel 4. She has also recorded radio sessions for BBC Radio 1's John Peel, BBC Radio 3's Mixing It, the CBC, KPFA, and other stations. Features on her work have appeared in The Observer, The Wire, NME, the BBC website, and Bizarre Magazine.
Recordings
People Like Us has released music on labels including Tigerbeat6, Soleilmoon, Sonic Arts Network, Touch, Staalplaat, and For Us Records (Rough Trade). She has worked both solo and in collaboration with artists such as Matmos, Ergo Phizmiz, Wobbly, members of Negativland, and Christian Marclay.
Notable releases include:
- Lowest Common Dominator (1994, Staalplaat)
- Beware The Whim Reaper (1996, Staalplaat)
- Wide Open Spaces (2003, Tigerbeat6) — collaboration with Matmos and Wobbly
- Music for the Fire (2010, Illegal Art) — collaboration with Wobbly
- Welcome Abroad (2011, Illegal Art)
- The Mirror (2019, Discrepant)
Performance and Multimedia Work
Bennett's audiovisual performances include Citation City (premiered at transmediale, Berlin, January 2015), a work inspired by Walter Benjamin's The Arcades Project and created from thousands of clippings of text and visual media collaged using a system of "convolutes." Other commissions include the Great North Run Moving Image Commission 2009 (resulting in the film Parade), and Genre Collage, a live A/V set commissioned by Grants for the Arts.
DO or DIY Radio Show
Since 2003, People Like Us has programmed DO or DIY, an experimental arts radio and podcast show on WFMU. The show appears weekly on a seasonal basis. WFMU also operates a 24-hour-per-day stream of sound collage and music curated by Bennett.
Discography (Selected)
Albums and EPs:
- Another Kind of Humor Another Kind of Murder (1992, split with Abraxas)
- Lowest Common Dominator (1994)
- Guide To Broadcasting (1994)
- Beware The Whim Reaper (1996)
- Hate People Like You (1997)
- Hate People Like Us (1999, remix album featuring Coil, Negativland, Death in June, and others)
- Thermos Explorer (2000)
- A Fistful of Knuckles (2000)
- Recyclopaedia Britannica (2002)
- Wide Open Spaces (2003, with Matmos and Wobbly)
- Nothing Special (2003, collaboration with Kenny G)
- Windpipe Moods (2004)
- All Together Now (2006)
- Perpetuum Mobile (2007, with Ergo Phizmiz)
- Music for the Fire (2010, with Wobbly)
- Welcome Abroad (2011)
- The Mirror (2019)
Vinyl releases:
- Jumble Massive (1996, LP, Soleilmoon)
- File Under Easy Listening/File Under Sleazy Listening (1996, split with Sniper)
- Lassie House (1997, 10" picture disc, Staalplaat)
- Rhapsody in Glue (2008, digital release with Ergo Phizmiz)
External Links
- Official website: peoplelikeus.org
- People Like Us on Bandcamp
- DO or DIY radio show on WFMU
