Hello,
Today's artist is a man that appeared here earlier (7 years ago) but there is plenty left to ponder on. In the years that followed our man developed a complex range of sounds founded upon the seamless integration of electronic, electric, and acoustic instrumentation, and the exploration of complex tunings. He's made dozens of albums these past 30 years even if this is my 7th posting on him there's plenty left to come back to ..... N'Joy
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Across four decades and over 50 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 harmonies, 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), Gaudà (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). His group, Amoeba, explored 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 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, followed in 2014 by his 15 hour Blu-ray release Perpetual. Rich returned to playing Sleep Concerts once again after 2013 for special performances in Krakow, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Gdansk, USA’s Noise Pop and Moogfest, and elsewhere. His more active music takes him to international festivals such as Boom (Portugal), Klusa Daba (Latvia), Rainbow Serpent and Earth Frequency (Australia), Monsoon (Vietnam), Electric Forest and Earth Dance (USA).
Rich has designed sounds for television and film scores, including the films Pitch Black, Crazy Beautiful, Behind Enemy Lines, Dead Girl and others. His musical scores grace films by Roberto Miller (Mandorla, 2015) Yahia Mahamdi (Thank you for your Patience, 2003) and Daniel Colvin (Atlas Dei, 2007, with 90 minutes of Rich’s music in surround); and a video installation by Michael Somoroff (Illumination, 2007). Rich works closely with electronic instrument manufacturers, and his sound design has filled 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, WayOutWare’s TimewARP2600, and Camel Alchemy. His oscillator wavetables and presets are a part of the DSI-Sequential Prophet 12, Pro 2, Tempest, Prophet 6, Prophet X, Pro 3, and Synthesis Technology modules. Rich has written software for composers who work in just intonation, and he helped develop the MIDI microtuning specification. As mastering engineer and mixer, he has applied his ear to hundreds of albums in all styles. He has been featured in Keyboard Magazine, Electronic Musician, Guitar Player, Innerviews and elsewhere worldwide.
One of Rich's other interests is food. He maintains a Web site of recipes and other food related topics called Flavor Notes. He also has a long list of recipes for wild mushrooms.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
(Music from) Atlas Dei is exactly what the title states – the music from the video. Robert Rich created five new pieces and reworked, edited and/or added to eight older pieces to create this masterpiece of electronic minimalism. Heralded as one of ambient music’s ultimate artists, Robert’s music continues to transcend the genre. In short, he has very few peers. (He is also a very humble man – sure to be somewhat embarrassed by these praises.)
The music flows smoothly from the speakers and surrounds the listening area with deep hues and vivid auras. The glurp drips down, up, sideways and inside out. It swims around the biosonic feedback device and settles into its own space. This music loses nothing outside its original context. It is expansive organic ambience that begs for focused listening and meditation. While there are definite dark elements and deep drones, this is mostly ambiguous in its characterization. The listeners’ states of mind and states of being determine the paths and destinations. There are several journeys to take and each journey has several journeys within. It is an endless cycle of depth and subtlety.
This is Robert at his best! The music comes from his heart and his soul but is for his listeners. This is an amazing experience from an amazing man!
Robert Rich - Music from Atlas Dei ( flac 354mb)
01 Opening 1:01
02 Mythos 5:47
03 Starmaker 6:03
04 Glint in Her Eyes 6:10
05 Night Spinning Inward 4:41
06 Poppy Fields 4:33
07 Deconstructions 6:29
08 Symbolics 4:37
09 Liquid Air 4:19
10 The Core 5:07
11 Never Alone 6:13
12 Minaret (Layered) 6:04
13 Terra Meta 5:09
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
React is the third collaboration between American ambient pioneer Robert Rich and DiN label boss Ian Boddy. However, unlike their previous two studio outings on the DiN label, Outpost (2001) and Lithosphere (2005), this is a record of their first ever live performance at the Star’s End Radio Show 30th Anniversary Celebration Concert in Philadelphia in June 2007.
The duo forge a fascinating sonic collaboration that allows for glimpses of each other’s musical personalities to be seen within the evolving musical landscape. Boddy is mainly responsible for the rhythmic content which he mutates and morphs from the sonic input of Rich’s MOTM modular system. There are references to a couple of tracks from Outpost (Ice Fields and The Edge of Nowhere) and the title track of Lithosphere but they’re presented in a more energised and dynamic version. Meanwhile Rich paints a tapestry of sound with muted keyboards, flutes and his trademark gliss lap steel guitar voicing. The music ebbs and flows from abstract soundscapes through gentle reveries to up tempo sections that combine thunderous analogue bass and glitchy percussion overlain with a mesmerising mix of keyboards, flutes and gliss guitar. A truly unique concert performance by two of the most accomplished musicians in modern ambient electronica.
Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - React ( flac 327mb)
01 Depth Charge 3:54
02 Ice Fields (live version) 7:10
03 Sojourn 3:32
04 AxD 7:53
05 Veiled 4:52
06 Slow Hand 7:52
07 Messages 2:16
08 Lithosphere (live version) 6:05
09 Blue Moon 6:23
10 React 7:04
11 Edge of Nowhere (live version) 6:33
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Pushing the boundaries of Robert’s melodic world-fusion vocabulary, such as on Seven Veils or Propagation, Ylang blends Rich’s expressive steel guitar, shimmering organic electronics and yearning flute melodies with influences as diverse as south Indian Karnatic music, pulsing minimalism and pensive jazz; while its deconstructed drums and blurry guitar feedback might feel at home with Sigur Ros or Bark Psychosis.
Rich enlists help for this undertaking from a circle of trusted musician friends. The rhythmic scaffolding for the album comes from two very different drummers. Ricky Carter adds his intelligent sparse drumming, fluid with syncopation but complex in meter. These rhythms could be a slow tempo homage to Jaki Leibzeit from Can. Post-processing transforms them into rubbery chuffing abstractions. The other rhythmic foundation comes from the Karnatic mrdungam playing of Sakthivel Muruganandhan, which also wanders into Rich”s sonic blender, shifting from time-stretched blurs into organic live duets with bansuri master Sunilkumar Sankarapillai. Lilting in and out of this heady atmosphere of South Indian
music and minimalist space jazz, the wordless voice of art-pop virtuoso Emily Bezar adds a feminine intelligence to several pieces, and subtle melodic guitar additions from Haroun Serang augment Rich’s soaring lap steel feedback. With acoustic bass from Paul Olguin and string additions from Forrest Fang and Hans Christian, the sonic texture warms to a glowing woody earthiness. Rich’s audiophile production and delicate sound design glue the textures together into a seductive and inviting mossy nest. From these disparate elements, Ylang forms a sonic entity unto itself.
Robert Rich - Ylang ( flac 299mb)
01 Ambergris 4:14
02 Translucent 4:59
03 Attar 6:38
04 Verbena 5:03
05 Kalyani 8:09
06 Vetiver 6:25
07 Tamarack 5:38
08 Charukesi 7:11
09 First Rain 4:59
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
A sonic tincture of shamanic energy, at once ecstatic and shadowy, fragile and surreal, fluid and psychedelic.Chari Chuang’s wordless crystalline voice graces three songs, with traces of Persian inflection. Deep basslines hint at dub, while analog modular synth skitters and chuffs the outlines of a rhythmic grid, propelled forward by pulsing north African drums. Sustaining guitars bring a searing edge. Cello and reeds echo plaintively in the distance. Rich’s sparse piano adds droplets of modal jazz to this dark tea. Medicine Box opens with warmly textured percussion, heavenly keys and acoustic guitar supporting a gorgeously crying electric guitar. The beauty of following cut “Kaaruwana” is indescribable, with Chari Chuang’s haunting wordless vocals gliding over a somber Middle Eastern-flavored soundscape. Her angelic voice graces two other selections. Rich’s imaginative use of lap steel guitar on “Callyx” is another of many high points as well as his keyboard mastery throughout. Some cuts are anchored by exotic percussion, others gently float with minimal rhythmic support. This album pleases body and soul as well as the ears.
Robert Rich - Medicine Box ( flac 327mb)
01 Alba 4:16
02 Kaaruwana 6:18
03 Macula 6:27
04 Cornea 5:24
05 Crepescule 6:39
06 Pollen 7:33
07 Callyx 5:58
08 Salamander Quay 7:37
09 Helios 10:42
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Today's artist is a man that appeared here earlier (7 years ago) but there is plenty left to ponder on. In the years that followed our man developed a complex range of sounds founded upon the seamless integration of electronic, electric, and acoustic instrumentation, and the exploration of complex tunings. He's made dozens of albums these past 30 years even if this is my 7th posting on him there's plenty left to come back to ..... N'Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Across four decades and over 50 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 harmonies, 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), Gaudà (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). His group, Amoeba, explored 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 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, followed in 2014 by his 15 hour Blu-ray release Perpetual. Rich returned to playing Sleep Concerts once again after 2013 for special performances in Krakow, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Gdansk, USA’s Noise Pop and Moogfest, and elsewhere. His more active music takes him to international festivals such as Boom (Portugal), Klusa Daba (Latvia), Rainbow Serpent and Earth Frequency (Australia), Monsoon (Vietnam), Electric Forest and Earth Dance (USA).
Rich has designed sounds for television and film scores, including the films Pitch Black, Crazy Beautiful, Behind Enemy Lines, Dead Girl and others. His musical scores grace films by Roberto Miller (Mandorla, 2015) Yahia Mahamdi (Thank you for your Patience, 2003) and Daniel Colvin (Atlas Dei, 2007, with 90 minutes of Rich’s music in surround); and a video installation by Michael Somoroff (Illumination, 2007). Rich works closely with electronic instrument manufacturers, and his sound design has filled 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, WayOutWare’s TimewARP2600, and Camel Alchemy. His oscillator wavetables and presets are a part of the DSI-Sequential Prophet 12, Pro 2, Tempest, Prophet 6, Prophet X, Pro 3, and Synthesis Technology modules. Rich has written software for composers who work in just intonation, and he helped develop the MIDI microtuning specification. As mastering engineer and mixer, he has applied his ear to hundreds of albums in all styles. He has been featured in Keyboard Magazine, Electronic Musician, Guitar Player, Innerviews and elsewhere worldwide.
One of Rich's other interests is food. He maintains a Web site of recipes and other food related topics called Flavor Notes. He also has a long list of recipes for wild mushrooms.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
(Music from) Atlas Dei is exactly what the title states – the music from the video. Robert Rich created five new pieces and reworked, edited and/or added to eight older pieces to create this masterpiece of electronic minimalism. Heralded as one of ambient music’s ultimate artists, Robert’s music continues to transcend the genre. In short, he has very few peers. (He is also a very humble man – sure to be somewhat embarrassed by these praises.)
The music flows smoothly from the speakers and surrounds the listening area with deep hues and vivid auras. The glurp drips down, up, sideways and inside out. It swims around the biosonic feedback device and settles into its own space. This music loses nothing outside its original context. It is expansive organic ambience that begs for focused listening and meditation. While there are definite dark elements and deep drones, this is mostly ambiguous in its characterization. The listeners’ states of mind and states of being determine the paths and destinations. There are several journeys to take and each journey has several journeys within. It is an endless cycle of depth and subtlety.
This is Robert at his best! The music comes from his heart and his soul but is for his listeners. This is an amazing experience from an amazing man!
Robert Rich - Music from Atlas Dei ( flac 354mb)
01 Opening 1:01
02 Mythos 5:47
03 Starmaker 6:03
04 Glint in Her Eyes 6:10
05 Night Spinning Inward 4:41
06 Poppy Fields 4:33
07 Deconstructions 6:29
08 Symbolics 4:37
09 Liquid Air 4:19
10 The Core 5:07
11 Never Alone 6:13
12 Minaret (Layered) 6:04
13 Terra Meta 5:09
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
React is the third collaboration between American ambient pioneer Robert Rich and DiN label boss Ian Boddy. However, unlike their previous two studio outings on the DiN label, Outpost (2001) and Lithosphere (2005), this is a record of their first ever live performance at the Star’s End Radio Show 30th Anniversary Celebration Concert in Philadelphia in June 2007.
The duo forge a fascinating sonic collaboration that allows for glimpses of each other’s musical personalities to be seen within the evolving musical landscape. Boddy is mainly responsible for the rhythmic content which he mutates and morphs from the sonic input of Rich’s MOTM modular system. There are references to a couple of tracks from Outpost (Ice Fields and The Edge of Nowhere) and the title track of Lithosphere but they’re presented in a more energised and dynamic version. Meanwhile Rich paints a tapestry of sound with muted keyboards, flutes and his trademark gliss lap steel guitar voicing. The music ebbs and flows from abstract soundscapes through gentle reveries to up tempo sections that combine thunderous analogue bass and glitchy percussion overlain with a mesmerising mix of keyboards, flutes and gliss guitar. A truly unique concert performance by two of the most accomplished musicians in modern ambient electronica.
Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - React ( flac 327mb)
01 Depth Charge 3:54
02 Ice Fields (live version) 7:10
03 Sojourn 3:32
04 AxD 7:53
05 Veiled 4:52
06 Slow Hand 7:52
07 Messages 2:16
08 Lithosphere (live version) 6:05
09 Blue Moon 6:23
10 React 7:04
11 Edge of Nowhere (live version) 6:33
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Pushing the boundaries of Robert’s melodic world-fusion vocabulary, such as on Seven Veils or Propagation, Ylang blends Rich’s expressive steel guitar, shimmering organic electronics and yearning flute melodies with influences as diverse as south Indian Karnatic music, pulsing minimalism and pensive jazz; while its deconstructed drums and blurry guitar feedback might feel at home with Sigur Ros or Bark Psychosis.
Rich enlists help for this undertaking from a circle of trusted musician friends. The rhythmic scaffolding for the album comes from two very different drummers. Ricky Carter adds his intelligent sparse drumming, fluid with syncopation but complex in meter. These rhythms could be a slow tempo homage to Jaki Leibzeit from Can. Post-processing transforms them into rubbery chuffing abstractions. The other rhythmic foundation comes from the Karnatic mrdungam playing of Sakthivel Muruganandhan, which also wanders into Rich”s sonic blender, shifting from time-stretched blurs into organic live duets with bansuri master Sunilkumar Sankarapillai. Lilting in and out of this heady atmosphere of South Indian
music and minimalist space jazz, the wordless voice of art-pop virtuoso Emily Bezar adds a feminine intelligence to several pieces, and subtle melodic guitar additions from Haroun Serang augment Rich’s soaring lap steel feedback. With acoustic bass from Paul Olguin and string additions from Forrest Fang and Hans Christian, the sonic texture warms to a glowing woody earthiness. Rich’s audiophile production and delicate sound design glue the textures together into a seductive and inviting mossy nest. From these disparate elements, Ylang forms a sonic entity unto itself.
Robert Rich - Ylang ( flac 299mb)
01 Ambergris 4:14
02 Translucent 4:59
03 Attar 6:38
04 Verbena 5:03
05 Kalyani 8:09
06 Vetiver 6:25
07 Tamarack 5:38
08 Charukesi 7:11
09 First Rain 4:59
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
A sonic tincture of shamanic energy, at once ecstatic and shadowy, fragile and surreal, fluid and psychedelic.Chari Chuang’s wordless crystalline voice graces three songs, with traces of Persian inflection. Deep basslines hint at dub, while analog modular synth skitters and chuffs the outlines of a rhythmic grid, propelled forward by pulsing north African drums. Sustaining guitars bring a searing edge. Cello and reeds echo plaintively in the distance. Rich’s sparse piano adds droplets of modal jazz to this dark tea. Medicine Box opens with warmly textured percussion, heavenly keys and acoustic guitar supporting a gorgeously crying electric guitar. The beauty of following cut “Kaaruwana” is indescribable, with Chari Chuang’s haunting wordless vocals gliding over a somber Middle Eastern-flavored soundscape. Her angelic voice graces two other selections. Rich’s imaginative use of lap steel guitar on “Callyx” is another of many high points as well as his keyboard mastery throughout. Some cuts are anchored by exotic percussion, others gently float with minimal rhythmic support. This album pleases body and soul as well as the ears.
Robert Rich - Medicine Box ( flac 327mb)
01 Alba 4:16
02 Kaaruwana 6:18
03 Macula 6:27
04 Cornea 5:24
05 Crepescule 6:39
06 Pollen 7:33
07 Callyx 5:58
08 Salamander Quay 7:37
09 Helios 10:42
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
3 comments:
Hi Rho,did you check Kid Loco - A Grand Love Story,is your source faulty or there is an encoding problem ?
hi do you have brenda russell - brenda russell 1979?
Dear Rho:
Thank you very much for posting about Robert Rich. His albums are absolutely stunning and an emblem of relaxing and meditative music. Each album is a trip to the space. I am really enjoying these albums you have mentioned here in the past months from him and other talented musicians like Alio Die and Steve Roach. When I listen to them on Youtube they make me float. Please, bring them back in the future.
Best wishes,
T.S.
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