Robert Rich, Ian Boddy, Markus Reuter, Lustmord (Brian Williams), Faryus (Andrey Sadovnikov), Steve Roach, Alio Die (Stefano Musso), Lisa Moskow, Forrest Fang, Sirenée, David Torn, Tom Heasley, Paul Hanson, Haroun Serang, Percy Howard, Sukhawat Ali Khan, Pranesh Khan, Carter Scholz, Vidna Obmana, Rick Davies, Andrew McGowan, Don Swanson, Hans Christian
Influences
I can't begin to list everyone. What they all have in common is a certain ineffable "interior" quality, a sort of intensity that takes you inside the depths of "self" and connects you with something universal. Musically, I am especially drawn to Indian, Arabic, Javanese, Western minimalism, some psychedelic pop and electronic music; graphically, the surrealists, perhaps Yves Tanguy and Max Ernst even above Dali (if you want to visualize 'glurp' just look at a Tanguy painting!); films like Tarkovsky's "The Sacrifice," Peter Weir's "The Last Wave," Cocteau's "Testament of Orpheus" or Bergman's "The Seventh Seal." My favorite writers include J.G. Ballard, Olaf Stapledon, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and above all Jorge Luis Borges. With his simple little short stories, Borges plants seeds in the reader's mind, which continue to grow and expand until they become complete forests in your imagination. This, for me, is the mark of the best creative work: it exercises our faculties of perception, it weaves a spell, it asks more questions than it answers, it invites us to participate, and it leaves us feeling awe and wonder. Rather than trying to preach some received Truth, it triggers us to search within and reminds us of truths forgotten.
Sounds Like
"Robert Rich's recordings are fast becoming recognized as pioneering works, having taken electronic music to previously unrealized levels of innovation."Darren Bergstein, I/E
"A music-scape that oozes with primitive life, as if pulsing from the swamp itself. . . A time traveller searching for the aperture that looks back to Eden."Calvin Ahlgren, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"Countless, beautiful, diverse, intense, evocative, innovative, lavish, awesome soundscapes."Jill Grant, INTERFACE MAGAZINE
"Nothing, not one note, seems out of place or contrived. . .A bright and attractive fusion of the ancient and the modern, a bold groundbreaking musical statement."Ben Kettlewell, DREAMSWORD
"Like listening to sonic architecture. . . Rich's structures are geometrical, yet organic."Linda Kohanov, PULSE!
"This is surely the stuff that fantasies are made of..."P.J. Birosik, L.A. RESOURCES
(By the way, this really is Robert, not a fan page. Just trying some old fashioned outreach in a newfangled way.)
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Robert Rich Biography
With over two dozen albums, Robert Rich has helped define the genres of ambient music, dark-ambient, tribal and trance, yet his music remains hard to categorize. Part of his unique sound comes from using home-made acoustic and electronic instruments, microtonal tunings, computer-based signal processing, chaotic systems and feedback networks. Rich began building his own analog synthesizers in 1976, when he was 13 years old, and later studied for a year at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA).
Rich released his first album Sunyata in 1982. Most of his subsequent recordings came out in Europe until 1989, when Rich began a string of critically acclaimed releases for Fathom/Hearts of Space, including Rainforest (1989), Gaudí (1991), Propagation (1994) and Seven Veils (1998). His two collaborations with Steve Roach, Strata (1990) and Soma (1992), both charted for several months in Billboard. Other respected collaborations include Stalker (1995 with B. Lustmord), Fissures (1997 with Alio Die) and Outpost (2002 with Ian Boddy.) Rich's contributions to multi-artist compilations have been collected on his solo albums A Troubled Resting Place (1996) and Below Zero (1998). He also records with his group, Amoeba, exploring atmospheric songcraft on their CDs Watchful (1997) and Pivot (2000). Live albums such as Calling Down the Sky (2004) and 3-CD Humidity (2000) document the unique improvised flow of his recent performances.
Rich has performed in caves, cathedrals, planetaria, art galleries and concert halls throughout Europe and North America. His all-night Sleep Concerts, first performed in 1982, became legendary in the San Francisco area. In 1996 he revived his all-night concert format, playing Sleep Concerts for live and radio audiences across the U.S. during a three month tour. In 2001 Rich released the 7 hour DVD Somnium, a studio distillation of the Sleep Concert experience, possibly the longest continuous piece of music ever released.
Rich has designed sounds for television and film scores, including the films Pitch Black, Crazy Beautiful, Behind Enemy Lines and others. His musical score graces Yahia Mehamdi's documentary on worker's compensation, Thank You for your Patience. Rich has worked closely with electronic instrument manufacturers, and his sound design fills the preset libraries of Emu's Proteus 3 and Morpheus, Seer Systems' Reality, sampling disks Things that Go Bump in the Night, ACID Loop Library Liquid Planet, and the TimewARP2600 soft-synth by WayOutWare. Rich has written software for composers who work in just intonation, and he helped develop the MIDI microtuning specification, which was accepted as an industry standard. As mastering engineer, he has applied his ear to dozens of albums, and his studio was featured twice in Keyboard Magazine.
For more information about Robert Rich, visit his website at www.robertrich.com
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Hello Robert, Joe Fahy here ... how are you? Thinking back I am very grateful to you for doing the interview back in '99. That is my favorite work of journalism that I've done. I am pleased that it was published in a bigger magazine than the one I was doing. Lately I have heard the entire Somnium at a friend's house, and it was very spiritual and relaxing. Perfect for green tea and deep conversation. I've also been listening to the original Trances / Drones cassettes, extraordinary. Best wishes to you this autumn and winter. Joe Fahy
hey robert, thx for add i really like your sound... it's so dreamy and i will definitely listen to it a couple times ;) last but not least: please leave your opinion about my stuff, too thx in advance cya pascal aka mmt
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