Robert Rich (musician)

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Robert Rich (* 1963 ) is an American Ambient - musicians .

Life

Rich built his first own synthesizer at the age of 13 and experimented on his own sound under the influence of minimalist composers such as John Cage , Pauline Oliveros and Terry Riley as well as artists from the Berlin school such as Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze . Another essential characteristic of this sound can be traced back to Rich's acquisition of his first Hawaiian guitar in 1980, an instrument that was used on many of his releases and became one of his trademarks.

His first album, Sunyata , was released in 1982. In addition to elements characteristic of this early phase, some features are already recognizable here that should be repeated later, such as a very slow build-up of some compositions and, in their development, sometimes almost statically hanging soundscapes . Robert Rich studied from the early 1980s at the University of Berkeley , including at John Chowning's Institute for Computer Music . During this time, the beginning of his first phase, so-called Sleep Concerts , which originated on the UC Berkeley campus and which go back to Rich's interest in dream research . They were designed to investigate how music can affect sleep and dreams. For this purpose, the idea of ​​the spatial and temporal displacement of sounds that originate from the natural environment and their reconstruction in a foreign environment played an essential role. Rich was particularly inspired by the work of sound artist Bill Fontana and the book The Tuning of the World by Canadian sound researcher R. Murray Schafer .

Robert Rich has released more than 30 solo albums, as well as works with musicians such as Steve Roach , Lisa Moskow , Brian "Lustmord" Williams and Ian Boddy .

One of his passions outside of music is hobby mycology , a motif that can be found in track titles and in the artwork of many of his publications.

Discography (selection)

  • 1982: Sunyata (Soundscape)
  • 1984: Live (Psychout Productions)
  • 1984: Trances (Soundscape)
  • 1984: Drones (Soundscape)
  • 1987: Numena (Multimood)
  • 1988: Inner Landscapes (Auricle)
  • 1989: Rainforest (Hearts Of Space)
  • 1990: Robert Rich / Steve Roach - Strata (Hearts Of Space)
  • 1991: Geometry (Spalax Music)
  • 1991: Gaudí (Hearts Of Space)
  • 1992: Steve Roach / Robert Rich - Soma (Hearts Of Space)
  • 1994: Propagation (Hearts Of Space)
  • 1995: Robert Rich & Lisa Moskow - Yearning (Fathom)
  • 1995: Robert Rich & B. Lustmord - Stalker (Fathom)
  • 1997: Robert Rich | Alio Die - Fissures (Fathom)
  • 1998: Seven Veils (Hearts Of Space)
  • 2000: Humidity - Three Concerts (Hypnos, Soundscape)
  • 2001: Bestiary (Release Entertainment)
  • 2002: Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - Outpost (DiN)
  • 2002: Somnium (Hypnos / Soundscape)
  • 2003: Temple Of The Invisible (Soundscape)
  • 2004: Shamballa (Live, May 20, 2000) (Space For Music)
  • 2004: Open Window (Soundscape)
  • 2004: Calling Down The Sky (Soundscape)
  • 2005: Echo Of Small Things (Soundscape)
  • 2005: Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - Lithosphere (DiN)
  • 2006: Electric Ladder (Soundscape)
  • 2007: Markus Reuter & Robert Rich - Eleven Questions (Unsung Records)
  • 2007: Music From Atlas Dei (Soundscape)
  • 2007: Michael Somoroff's Illumination (Soundscape)
  • 2008: Robert Rich & Faryus - Zerkalo (Faria Records)
  • 2008: Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - React (DiN)
  • 2009: Live Archive Volume 1 - Ici Et Maintenant: Live In Paris, May 12 1989 (Soundscape)
  • 2009: Live Archive Volume 2 - Due Acque: Live In Umbria Italy, April 1 2000 (Soundscape)
  • 2009: Live Archive Volume 3 - Shamballa. Recorded live in Costa Mesa CA, May 20, 2000 (Soundscape)
  • 2009: Live Archive Volume 4 - Alien Zoology: Live At Morrison Planetarium, San Francisco, December 9 2001 (Soundscape)
  • 2009: Live Archive Volume 5 - Live At Cowell Theater, San Francisco, May 12 2002 (Soundscape)
  • 2009: Live Archive Volume 6 - Lumin: Live At Camerawork, March 6 2008 (Soundscape)
  • 2009: Live Archive Volume 7 - Mycosphere: Live On KFJC, May 31 2008 (Soundscape)
  • 2010: Ylang (Soundscape)
  • 2011: Medicine Box (Soundscape)
  • 2012: Nest (Soundscape)
  • 2013: Morphology (Anodize)
  • 2014: Perpetual: A Somnium Continuum (Soundscape)
  • 2014: Premonitions 1980 - 1985 ( vinyl on demand )
  • 2015: Filaments (Soundscape)
  • 2016: What We Left Behind (Soundscape)
  • 2016: Vestiges (Soundscape)
  • 2017: Lift a Feather to the Flood (ft. Markus Reuter) (Soundscape)
  • 2018: The Biode (Soundscape)
  • 2019: Tactile Ground (Soundscape)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Ambient Odyssey , in HIFICRITIC magazine, Vol. 7 / No. 4, p. 51 (PDF; 6 MB), accessed on April 29, 2015
  2. ↑ Interview with Dreaming , 1992 , accessed April 28, 2015
  3. ↑ Interview for Deep Listening , May, 1994 , accessed April 28, 2015
  4. ↑ Interview for Ambient Visions, 2001 , accessed April 28, 2015
  5. ↑ Interview with Olivier Bernard, May 2014 , accessed April 28, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Rich, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ambient musician
DATE OF BIRTH 1963