Born Alex Menzies to a mother who was a music teacher, he studied classical music as a child after receiving a scholarship for the Durham Cathedral Choir School, where he played cello, piano, and drums. Billing himself as Alex Smoke, he made his recording debut in 2002 on the Savalas Underground Developments (S.U.D.) label with Random As. The 12" EP caught the ears of both the Berlin-based
Vakant and the Glasgow-based
Soma Quality Recordings labels, the latter renowned for its long-running catalog (founded in 1991) featuring such big names as
Slam,
Daft Punk,
Percy X, and
Funk d'Void. Beginning in 2004 both labels began releasing 12" EPs by Smoke: those on
Vakant include Simple Things (2004), Ring.Click.Tink (2005), and Hanged Man (2007), while those on
Soma include Chica Wappa (2004), Lost in Sound (2005), and Prima Materia (2007). In addition,
Soma released a couple full-length albums by Smoke, namely Incommunicado (2005) and the more vocal-heavy Paradolia (2006), as well as the mix CD Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi. _03 (2006).
By 2007, Smoke had become a prolific remixer as well, with clients including
Mylo,
Junior Boys,
Steve Reich, and
Radio 4, among many others. He released the Hanged Man EP on
Vakant and Prima Materia on
Soma before establishing
Hum+Haw in early 2008 with an EP titled Vaporub. F in F appeared on
Vakant in 2009, while a few more EPs appeared on
Hum+Haw, culminating in Lux, Smoke's third album and his label's only full-length. Following two remix singles on
Soma in 2011, Smoke released a new EP of original tracks titled Mu on
Vakant in 2012. In 2013, Smoke released a full-length by his experimental alias
Wraetlic on
Convex Industries. He also made his debut on revered Belgian label
R&S with a 12" titled Dust that included a remix by
Tessela. This was followed by another EP for the label, RS1403, in 2014. Smoke released an EP titled Stauner on
Optimo Trax in April of 2015. The following month, a more experimental, classical-influenced LP titled Order & Disorder, credited to his given name, was issued on
Ricardo Donoso's
Kathexis label. He returned to
R&S in early 2016 with Love Over Will, the least dancefloor-oriented Alex Smoke full-length yet. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi