biography

Hello!

My name is Thor.

I’m a third-generation computer programmer, a first-generation DJ, and a second generation Canadian.  I am from Victoria, and live in New York City, where I work for Spotify, working on the future of music.  Past affiliations of that sort include drip.fm, the McGill music technology program, The Echo Nest, and the University of Victoria.

A friend of mine once said that I “combine interesting things in unique ways”.  With the caveat that most of those things involve music and computers (and sometimes photos, videos, and video games), I can’t think of a better way to describe myself.

My halcyon days as a DJ were 2004-2009 or so:  I released music on Kompakt, Fade, and Primal, played a ton of shows, and ran a label called Tide Pool that got love from people like James Holden and Chloe Harris.  I still DJ and make music, but no longer with the goal of conquering the electronic music world.  I also have a secret life as a composer of ‘art music’:  four string quartets, two pieces for orchestra, and so on.

As a hacker, I’m a former maintainer of the Echo Nest Remix API.  I’ve also interned for SoundCloud, the CHISEL group at the University of Victoria, and the Canadian Navy (?!).  I’m a big fan of Python and JavaScript, have a complex relationship with Ruby, and am frightened (but intrigued!) by Haskell, and Lisp.

I like cats and the future.