Nicole Skeltys on rebooting B(if)tek & Artificial

Nicole Skeltys had been busying herself with a new Rock Opera when the call to revisit her dance projects, B(if)tek and Artificial, some decades later. The shift was prompted by Paper-Cuts and un:send curator Dylan Batelic, who began mapping out the workings of a local tour while Nicole was still living overseas.

“Fast-forward to March 2025, he got in touch again, and although I was back in the UK, I was up for doing a show when I got back to Melbourne later in the year,” Nicole recalls.

A founding member of pioneering electro outfit B(if)tek, alongside Kate Crawford, the group rose to critical acclaim with their debut 1996 release, ‘Sub-Vocal Theme Park’. The duo presented feminist electro-pop with a wink and a bleep, followed by a string of achievements including an ARIA nomination and a Beastie Boys tour.

The following year, Nicole launched her solo project Artificial, sporting her signature warped electronic sound, proverbial mystery, and new ‘stoner classics’ in her own distinct style.

Despite success, her initial departure from electronic music began in the early 00’s, during the rise of a new era of ‘superstar DJ’s’ and techno-culture. “I didn’t relate to any of that really,” recalls Nicole, taking the opportunity to expand her artistic capabilities and scope as a writer and artist, working largely with bands and composing documentary scores, notably for Lonely Planet.

True to the intergalactic influence of her electronic projects, Nicole has also spent time building a community of equally curious space enthusiasts through her UK-based festival Cosmic Frequencies, a gathering of space science fans nestled alongside England's first International Dark Sky Park and Hadrian’s Wall. She also connects with fans on Substack, drawing all of her “crazy life threads together,” a creative communion of her favourite things; cosmic exploration, music and humour, sporting titles including ’UFOs’ and… dumping someone!’ among many other literary adventures.

Nicole herself acknowledges the rarity of successfully returning to dance music, especially as a “one woman, early noughties wholesome variety show,” such as hers. But it’s perhaps her ability to maintain a constant curiosity and total detachment from her practices that is at the root of her success.

“The initial reaction for audiences was shock,” shares Dylan, speaking to the first Artificial and Paper-Cuts show of the tour. Hosted at Miscellania in October of last year, it was, in many ways, a reintegration between loyalists and fans, many of whom were experiencing Nicole’s music for the very first time. To mark the occasion with a touch of ceremony, the crew decided to broadcast the event live on Melbourne radio station Triple R, which had long supported Nicole’s work.

What resulted was a heaving club night and a wonderful reimagining of old, analogue sounds, which Nicole has since performed with radiant success across the country.

In the air of Nicole’s work is an amusement that counteracts the sometimes all-too-serious nature of electronic music and media today. Nicole traditionally appeared in interviews in her signature intergalactic garb, an angular red bob, spectacles and a wonderful sense of humour. “God told us to do it,” she announces in a 2000’s interview on Channel V, which makes the reporter and her co-conspirator Kate Crawford laugh.

Undoubtedly, it’s Nicole’s vibrancy that has supported her newfound resonance, serving as a much-needed positivity boost in between dark political times, which have made genres that lack a certain wit feel almost too jarring for a Saturday night.

“Everyone needs a pick-me-up,” says Nicole, who steps on stage with a clear intention to do just that. “I put on my glittery jacket, throw out a lot of silly dance moves, and I have a ball,” she shares, doing a good job of presenting a visual and sonic experience that feels pulled straight from the hull of a spaceship. Music infused with the witty chatter of 70’s TV clips and low-budget sci-fi.

“I wasn’t the only electronic musician in the late ‘90s & early noughties obsessed with ‘70s sounds – lounge music and TV production library music aesthetics reimagined was definitely a thing,” Nicole notes, sharing some of her favourite references, including the 1971 psychedelic lesbian ‘romp,’ Vampyros Lesbos, remixed into a hot and heavy psychedelic dance compilation; Vampyros Lesbos (Sexadelic Dance Party), in 1996.

“Where I differed perhaps is I embraced dated comedy,” the artist notes. A fair reflection, evident in all aspects of Nicole’s identity and costuming and aptly worded by broadcast legend Richard Kingsmill; “always colourful and often humorous, it’s as retro as it is futuristic, and as danceable as it is wallpaperable,” he shared in a 1996 edition of Rolling Stone.

After an initial sci-fi dabbling with her first band, Area 51, an upperhanded form of musical play was solidified in the formation of B(if)tek, with the release of their first, and possibly most widely celebrated record, ‘Sub-Vocal Theme Park’. The album is a completely analogue, synth-driven exploration of sound, shared through sonic voices and colourful film references, including Goddard’s 1965 classic Pierrot le Fou.

Nicole admits to having to use ‘the dreaded AI, for more recent edits, track and midi separations, all of which are understandable given ‘Sub–Vocal Theme Park’ is 30 years old, recorded on tape and without any digital plug-ins. In contrast, the artist describes her original creative output as a largely improvisational, experimental play, in which she needed to remember which knobs were twisted when and exactly how she manipulated her tape recorder.

“I didn’t even have multitrack recording until the early noughties,” Nicole remembers. “Everything was done live with outboard gear recorded as a stereo file onto DAT.”

In an exciting reissue, the Sydney and Berlin label portal replica will reprint ‘Sub-Vocal Theme Park’, due for release next month. The record features new tracks and original samples that had been ‘lost’ until Nicole happened upon them at her home in Melbourne in 2024.

“Digging through my boxes of DATs & CDs, I found some recordings from 1996 when Kate and I were recording the Sub-vocal tracks in my Canberra garage studio,” explains Nicole. “I edited three slightly, and they appear as unreleased material on the 4th side of the forthcoming double vinyl reissue” …

“I’m finding the process of sonic archaeological excavation exciting, and I keep finding more gems I’d forgotten about, both my own electronic noodlings as well as with other collaborators like my long-time bleep soul brothers Tim O’Loughlin and Bo Daley from Dark Network,” she notes.

“This is an authentic 1996 period piece,” portal replica founder Will shares proudly, who has been working across the project since 2023, hosting Nicole and Dark Network in Berlin while the reissue was still being set in motion.

“Around this time, I visited Nicole in Melbourne, and we delved into the archives of b(if)tek photobooks, flyers, promo materials,” shares Will, who maintains a long-standing admiration for Nicole’s visual identity.

The most recent reworks have been championed closely by electronic music's best, notably another un:send crew member and local powerhouse Kia, playing B(if)tek’s wobbly, salacious electro through leading sound systems: Waking Life’s Floresta stage and across Europe’s most cultivated parties, to seamless recognition.

The reprint has been reissued with a new artwork, designed by Motionward’s Jesse Seppell. It features Kate Crawford’s photograph of Canberra’s old Telecom tower on the front and a photo of B(if)tek playing live in Melbourne in 1998 on the back. The record is a culmination of cherished, heavy-hitting dance tracks, like ‘Cosmic Love’ with melodic, overdubbed recordings that echo the intimacy of a well-appointed morning kick-ons.

With mastering support from Rashad Becker, these forgotten tracks have been reinvigorated. “This was extremely important given the records' age,” notes Will, “and he's done an exceptional job at giving them new life and functionality whilst ensuring they sustained their original character and warm analogue feel.”

Community and healthy, experimental dance floor culture is paramount to Nicole’s artistic practice, a fact that is also clear in her long-standing relationship with artist collective Clan Analogue, which Nicole has been a member of since 1992.

Having said that, she herself felt somewhat uninspired by the scene some decades ago, I was curious to see how Nicole viewed its state now. Had we improved, or was our version no better than how she’d left it?

“I’m very grateful for Dylan for being so supportive: he and the crews he works with,” shares Nicole, reflecting on her shows with Paper-Cuts and un:send over the last six months. “They’re all about creating a grassroots DIY music community with a positive, socially aware and intelligent vibe, which is exactly the reason I joined Clan Analogue 30 years ago and got involved with the underground electronic & rave scene back then!”

“I’m enjoying being back in that part of the dance scene whose ethos I recognise,” Nicole continued. “Although almost everyone who is following me now and coming to gigs is half my age, the value for me is meeting and chatting to new people at gigs, particularly feedback from young women who tell me what an inspiration I am.”

“One girl came up to me after my Perth gig in January and said, ‘I want to be like you when I grow up’, but I had to respond that it’s best to never grow up.” she reflected.

“Hang on to the kid who we all are inside, filled with playfulness and wonder. As long as I can continue to be a kid having fun and having a positive impact on people at shows, particularly women, then I’ll stick around the dance scene again for a little while yet.”

You can catch Artificial LIVE in Melbourne this Friday, 27 March at Rubix Warehouse, Brunswick, in celebration of the 30th anniversary release of ‘Sub-Vocal Theme Park’.

Presented by Paper-Cuts, Nicole will be performing alongside Kia, Moopie and Orb. Tickets here.

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Lilly Grainger is a DJ, radio presenter and writer, contributing to Mixmag ANZ. You can find her on Instagram.