Robert Rich: groundbreaking ambient and dark-ambient
"Robert
Rich's solo and collaborative recordings have proven extremely
influential on a range of new school ambient and experimental artists."
—Allmusic.com
"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." —Dreamsword
With
over two dozen albums under his belt, Robert Rich has helped define the
genres of ambient and dark-ambient music, yet his work remains hard to
categorize. Part of his unique sound comes from using home-made
acoustic and electronic instruments, as well as 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 he 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), Gaudi (1991), Propagation (1994) and Seven Veils
(1998). His two collaborations with Steve Roach, Strata (1990), and
Soma (1992), both charted for several months on 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.
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