Robert Rich

Although his music is usually consigned to the brand new age bins of record stores and the majority of his work continues to be released on labels even more closely connected with that classification, Robert Rich’s solo and collaborative recordings have verified extremely influential on a variety of new-school ambient and experimental artists. His association with old space music pioneers such as for example Steve Roach, Kevin Braheny, and Michael Stearns also makes him mostly of the of that era to get interfaced artistically with the brand new influx of experimental digital composers. A California indigenous, Rich began tinkering with consumer electronics in the past due ’70s before going to Stanford College or university, where he finished a qualification in mindset. While at Stanford, Rich’s participation within the university’s renowned Center for Pc Study in Music and Acoustics extended his fascination with electronic composition, in addition to bringing him in touch with an array of non-traditional, non-Western musical concepts. Rich’s efficiency of many all-night “rest concerts” during this time period also helped solidify an visual concentrate on psychoacoustics, perceptible in early recordings such as for example Geometry and Trances/Drones. Rich’s older works such as for example Rainforest and Propagation possess sought to mix that interest with an increase of recognizable electro-acoustical components (Rich plays an array of tools, from synths and results racks at hand drums and flute), however the impact of digital audio manipulation in addition has moved increasingly towards the fore. Influenced by the even more textural functions of performers like SPK and Throbbing Gristle, Rich’s fascination with the edgier part of electronic structure has also gained him a status among enthusiasts of gothic, commercial, and dark ambient, produced most apparent by his cooperation in 1995 with Brian Williams of Lustmord. Furthermore to his even more ambient-leaning works, Affluent also plays within the experimental pop music group Amoeba. He’s also a scholar of simply intonation, writing frequently on this issue and co-authoring the program plan JICalc. He released Internal Scenery in 1999 and Dampness: Three Concerts a season later.