Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
) is an American musician and
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
best known for his work with the
shoegaze
Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...
band
Medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
, which he founded and led.
Prior to Medicine, he was involved in avant-improv bands such as Debt of Nature (at the age of 15), Steaming Coils (at the age of 18)—which also featured members of
Los Angeles Free Music Society
The Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS) is a loose underground collective of experimental avant-rock artist-musicians formed in 1973. Described as a "lightning rod for art-damage, weird-music lovers everywhere," LAFMS was formed by Chip Chapma ...
—and most notably the experimental tribal post-punk outfit
Savage Republic
Savage Republic (originally named Africa Corps) is an American, Los Angeles-based post-punk band, formed in the early 1980s. The group reformed in 2002 and remains active with a different lineup.
They are known for lengthy songs with an emphasis ...
, which, according to
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
, foreshadowed many ideas later explored in the
post-rock
Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...
genre.
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
, Joe Tangari (2010, 16 August) "Brad Laner: Natural Selections album review". Retrieved 09 September 2012.
He has also been active as a solo artist, recording under the moniker Electric Company as well as releasing numerous albums under his own name.
His work has been sampled by artists such as
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
(Eno extensively sampled Electric Company's songs on several tracks from ''
Another Day on Earth
''Another Day on Earth'' is the twenty-fourth solo studio album by Brian Eno, released on 13 June 2005 in the UK and Europe through Hannibal Records, and on 14 June 2005 in the US.
Overview
This is the first Eno album to chiefly contain voc ...
''), and
Caribou
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
. He has collaborated with, among many others, M83 on its 2011 album ''
Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
''Hurry Up, We're Dreaming'' (stylised as ) is the sixth studio album by French electronic music band M83. The album was released on 18 October 2011, by Naïve Records in France and by Mute Records in the United States. The album was the last ...
''.
Career
Laner founded his first band, Debt of Nature, at the age of 15 (in 1981). He then continued his musical endeavours with Steaming Coils, an experimental avant-rock band that he also founded in 1984. It released two full-length albums before disbanding in 1989, but its last record was released two years after the break-up.
In the meantime, Laner joined
Savage Republic
Savage Republic (originally named Africa Corps) is an American, Los Angeles-based post-punk band, formed in the early 1980s. The group reformed in 2002 and remains active with a different lineup.
They are known for lengthy songs with an emphasis ...
as a
percussionist
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
and a
keyboard player
A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...
, and took part in recording two of its albums.
In 1990 he founded shoegaze-
noise pop
Noise pop is a subgenre of alternative and indie rock that developed in the mid-1980s in the United Kingdom and United States. It is defined by its mixture of dissonant noise or feedback with the songcraft more often found in pop music. Shoega ...
band called
Medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
, in which he applied a do-it-yourself ethos to create his signature sound by running his guitar through a 4-track recorder. In 1992 Medicine released its debut album, '' Shot Forth Self Living''. In 1994 the band contributed one track to the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
of the movie ''
The Crow
The Crow is a supernatural superhero comic book series created by James O'Barr revolving around the titular character of the same name. The series, which was originally created by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his fiancée at t ...
'' and appeared in the movie itself. The band ceased to exist in 1995, briefly reuniting in 2003 as a duo (with Laner and Shannon Lee).
In 1995 he started his solo project Electric Company, which was devoted to IDM,
glitch
A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among ...
drone
Drone most commonly refers to:
* Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg
* Unmanned aerial vehicle
* Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft
* Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone
Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to:
...
. As Electric Company, he released ten full-length albums in nine years (before ceasing activity in 2004). The same year, he also founded
psychedelic
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...
supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to:
* Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields
* Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry
* Supergroup ...
Tool
A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...
and
Failure
Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective (goal), objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of Success (concept), success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a parti ...
, with whom he released one album, ''
Free Mars
''Free Mars'' is the only album by the experimental psychedelic rock project Lusk, released in 1997 in a Digipak-style case. The album features an appearance by Tool drummer Danny Carey, as well as an assortment of artists and musicians from the ...
''. It received a
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
nomination.
In 1996, he collaborated (under his own name) with Dallas-based musical collective
Vas Deferens Organization
Vas Deferens Organization is an American experimental band and a production team founded in Dallas in 1994 by Matt Castille in association with Christopher Moock, Jason Cohen, Barbara Cohen, Craig Carlton, Breck Outland, and Reagen Boone. In 19 ...
on the album ''
Transcontinental Conspiracy
''Transcontinental Conspiracy'' is an album by Vas Deferens Organization and Brad Laner, released in 1996 by Quaquaversal Vinyl. The album was remastered and re-issued on Niklas Records in 2011, accompanied by the additional track "Scheming Foils" ...
''. Laner co-wrote and co-produced the album; several
Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev is an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were They collaborated again in 1999, this time under his Electric Company moniker, on the album ''More Pelvis Wick for the Baloney Boners''.
In 2007, Laner released his first album under his own name, ''Neighbor Singing'', with the input of
Thom Monahan
Thom Monahan is an American producer/engineer and musician who is best known for his work with the bands Pernice Brothers, Fruit Bats and Vetiver. He has also produced albums by Devendra Banhart, Wild Nothing, Beachwood Sparks, and the Chri ...
. He then followed it up in 2010 with his second solo release, ''Natural Selections''.
Discography
with Debt of Nature
* ''Order: Spoil The Entire State'' (Harbinger Sound 2013)
cassette releases
* ''Pets Have Fears Too'' (Real Big Dog tapes 1981)
* ''Robin Diamond's Lungs'' (A.R.P.H. tapes 1982)
* ''Idiot Stick'' (Party Sound Tapes 1983)
* ''Pets Have Fears Two'' (Party Sound Tapes 1983)
* ''Food Music'' (Gleet Audio 1983)
* ''1981 Vol. 1'' (Jookie Thrills 1983)
* ''Debt of Nature'' (Goodall Tapes 1986)
* Order: Spoil The Entire State (VHS)'' (Goodall Tapes 1986)
* "San Salvador Day" (Goodall Tapes 2014)
* "Salt Meadows" (Lal Lal Lal 2015)
* "Come Flying" (Goodall Tapes 2015)
* "Spring Training" (Goodall Tapes 2015)
* "Small Silver Car" (Lal Lal Lal 2015)
* "The Helix Of Repair" (Lal Lal Lal 2016)
compilation appearances
* Feeble Efforts ' (New Alliance 1981)
* Mighty Feeble ' (New Alliance 1982)
* ''Life is Boring So Why Not Steal This Record'' (New Underground 1983)
* ''L.A. Mantra'' (Trance Port Tapes 1983)
* ''Live at the Trance Port'' (Trance Port Tapes 1983)
* ''Phantom Takes'' (Trance Port Tapes 1983)
* Give Me That Dog Penis Popsicle ' (Gleet Audio 1983)
* ' (DF Sadist School 1984)
* ' (Anomalous 1991)
* "L'Incoronazione" (Hyster Tapes 2015)
with Earth Dies Burning
* ''Songs From The Valley of the Bored Teenager 1981-84'' (Captured Tracks 2013)
* ''Never Creak'' (Rotary Totem 1986)
* ''The Tarkington Table'' (Motiv 1987)
* ''Breaded'' (Nate Starkman & Sons CD 1991; reissued Quaquaversal Vinyl 1994; re-reissued Medical Records with bonus "Unfinished 1989" 7" E.P. 2016)
* ''Never Were'' (Tarkington Table cassette 1987)
* ''Studio Cassette'' (Medical Records 2016)
compilation appearances
* ''Bad Alchemy #9'' (No Man's Land 1987)
* ''LAFMS-The Lowest Form of Music Box Set '' (Cortical 1997)
* ''LAFMS-Unboxed'' (Cortical 1997)
note: the song "Blathering Hemispheres" from the "Never Creak" LP appears on both of the above LAFMS comps credited solely to Rick Potts
with To Nije Sala
* ''A Bitter Kermit Haven'' (split Lp with What Makes Donna Twirl) (Ralph 1990)
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
'' (Fundamental 1989)
* ''Live in Europe 1988'' (Nate Starkman & Sons 1989)
* ''Box Set'' (Mobilization 2002)
* ''Procession: An Aural History'' (LTM 2010)
*'' Shot Forth Self Living'' (Def American/Warner Bros. 1992; Reissued with bonus material by Captured Tracks 2012)
*''
The Buried Life
''The Buried Life'' is a reality documentary series on MTV. The series features Duncan Penn, Jonnie Penn, Ben Nemtin, and Dave Lingwood attempting to complete a list of "100 things to do before you die." The pilot episode aired on January 18, ...
'' (American Recordings/Warner Bros. 1993; Reissued with bonus material by Captured Tracks 2012)
*''
Her Highness
Highness (abbreviation HH, oral address Your Highness) is a formal style used to address (in second person) or refer to (in third person) certain members of a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty. It is typically used with a possessive adject ...
'' (American Recordings/Warner Bros. 1995)
* ''Medicine Box Set'' (Captured Tracks 2012)
* '' Always Starting To Stop'' (live cassette) (Captured Tracks 2012)
* '' To the Happy Few'' (Captured Tracks 2013)
* ''In Session'' (Captured Tracks 2014)
* '' Home Everywhere'' (Captured Tracks 2014)
* Medicine x Barcides ' (Bandcamp 2018)
* ''Scarred For Life'' (Drawing Room 2019)
Singles and EPs
*"Aruca" (Creation 1992)
*"5ive" (a.k.a. "Come Here To Drink Milk") (Creation 1993)
*"Never Click" (Beggars Banquet, 1993)
*"Sounds Of Medicine" (American 1994; Reissued with bonus material by Captured Tracks 2012)
*"Time Baby 3" (Beggars Banquet, 1994)
*"Off The Vine" (double 7") (Ectoplasm, 1995)
* ''Time Baby 2'' (7") (Captured Tracks 2012)
Compilation appearances
*'' The Crow OST'' (Atlantic, 1994)
*''The Doom Generation OST'' (American Recordings/Warner Bros., 1994)
*''Tigerbeat6 Inc.'' (Tigerbeat6, 2001)
* ''Musique Dessinee 01 - Just A Groove !'' (Production Dessinee Japan 2006)
as Electric Company
* ''
A Pert Cyclic Omen
''A Pert Cyclic Omen'' is the debut album of Electric Company, released on August 8, 1995, on Onion/American Recordings. Each of its track titles is an anagram of the band name.
Track listing
Personnel
*Brad Laner – instruments, p ...
'' (Onion/American Recordings/Warner Bros., 1995)
* '' Electric Company Plays Amnesia'' (Supreme/Island/PolyGram, 1997)
* ''
Studio City
Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...
'' (Supreme/Island/PolyGram, 1998)
* ''
Omakase
is a Japanese phrase, used when ordering food in restaurants, that means 'I'll leave it up to you' (from Japanese ).
Usage
The phrase ''omakase'', literally 'I leave it up to you', is most commonly used when dining at Japanese restaurants ...
Slow Food
Slow Food is an organization that promotes local food and traditional cooking. It was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986 and has since spread worldwide. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regi ...
'' (Planet Mu, 2001)
* ''
62-56
''62-56'' is an EP by the electronic band Electric Company. It was released in 2001 through Tigerbeat6.
Track listing
Personnel
*Brad Laner
Brad Laner (born November 6, 1966 in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician and reco ...
'' (Tigerbeat6, 2001)
* ''
Greatest Hits
A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...
Creative Playthings
Creative Playthings was an educational toy store and catalogue that was established by Frank and Theresa Caplan in 1945. The goal of Creative Playthings was to provide simple and beautifully designed toys to promote a child’s creativity and im ...
Lingus
''Lingus'' is a studio album by the rock band Amnesia. It was released on June 14, 1998, through Supreme Recordings.
Track listing
Personnel
*Beck – harmonica on "Drop Down"
*Larry Corbett – cello
*Peter Grant – cover ar ...
'' (Supreme/Island/PolyGram, 1998)
* ''Love Story / A Pretty Sight'' (7") (Krown Pocket, 1997)
as Personal Electronics
* ''
The Story of Personal Electronics
''The Story of Personal Electronics'' is an album by Personal Electronics, released on August 8, 1995 through LOHD. It is the only album Brad Laner released under the moniker. John Payne of the ''LA Weekly'' described the music as "nerve-racking ...
Transcontinental Conspiracy
''Transcontinental Conspiracy'' is an album by Vas Deferens Organization and Brad Laner, released in 1996 by Quaquaversal Vinyl. The album was remastered and re-issued on Niklas Records in 2011, accompanied by the additional track "Scheming Foils" ...
Free Mars
''Free Mars'' is the only album by the experimental psychedelic rock project Lusk, released in 1997 in a Digipak-style case. The album features an appearance by Tool drummer Danny Carey, as well as an assortment of artists and musicians from the ...
'' (
Volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...
/BMG, 1997)
with Medicine (2002-04 BL duo with Shannon Lee version)
Wall of Sound
The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...
Wall of Sound
The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...
, 2002)
*''I Smile To My Eyes'' (Wall of Sound, 2003)
*''As You Do'' (Wall of Sound, 2004)
Remixes & Compilation appearances
*''The Faint - Danse Macabre Remixes'' (Astralwerks/Caroline/Virgin/EMI, 2003)
*''Themroc - Into the Light'' (Wall of Sound, 2003)
*''
Wall of Sound
The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...
10th Anniversary'' (Wall of Sound, 2003)
*''Labels Series'' (EMI International, 2004)
*''Strictly Dub - Modern Dub Classics'' (Sunswept, 2005)
Dani Tull
Daniel Joel Tull (born 1966) is a contemporary American painter, sculptor and musician who lives and works in Los Angeles.
Early life
Tull was born in San Bernardino, California and attended Fairfax High School. In high school he met Micha ...