Rick Reed 'Dreamz/Blue Polz' Picture Disc LP (Elevator Bath, 2008)

Round two of the Elevator Bath Picture Discs... and this one's a beauty. Reed is a veteran when it comes to the brooding drone and Dreamz/Blue Polz is a good representation of what the man is capable of, and if you are unfamiliar with his work-as a lot of you probably fall into this category as he is just now making a lot of his music available and has for the most part kept a low profile- then this is a good place to start. Reed never studied music in school. In fact, he studied art and eventually left college to live in Austin, Texas, where he now resides. He always had an interest in music though and would often paint to a revolving soundtrack of Kraftwerk, Pink Floyd, and Tangerine Dream. He later purchased some cheap synths and started recording his own sound experiments and has since traversed in film, installation work, and field recording realms.

I originally heard these tracks on Reed's massive 4cdr retrospect covering 1978-2008 that I was able to snag at the Elevator Bath Anniversary Show in Seattle last year. unfortunately there are only 50 copies and you can't find any info on it on the internet...hmmm (As a light bulb flicks on somewhere). It covers a lot of ground, containing newer material from 2004 onward, recent collaborations and older long out of print cassette material and each cdr case has a different original painted cover done by Reed. Furthermore, he also has a track featured on the still fresh Elevator Bath Compilation cd that's damn solid. In fact, all the material on that comp is really good, so scoop it up, here.

The Visual-

As I mentioned above, Reed is a painter and has been actively involved in the visual arts for over 20 years. I am not wise to the methods or ideas behind Reed's abstract blending of colour and form but all I can think of when I gaze at this album art is a sun setting on the horizon of some far away planet, maybe Neptune or Pluto, barren and isolating yet eerily comforting.

The Aural-

Dreamz (2007) starts off with a muted electronic clatter that is quickly taken over by a dense tone, everything wrapped in what could be short-wave radio static. The track then undergoes a series of fluctuations and swells, leaving the static behind and churning onward as a multi-faceted (sine?) wave of pure synth flatline drone eventually mutating into a sinister crawl. At about the 16 minute mark the track takes a rapid shift as Reed introduces a Fennesz/Hecker-like pixelated synth loop, so dreamy and hypnotic that it could stretch over a whole side of vinyl and I probably wouldn't tire of it. The flip, Blue Polz begins with a much more glitch electronica feel, sonar pulses pepper the opening 3 minutes giving way to more of that dark ambient synth drone that Reed handles so well. A slow throbbing pulse eventually takes over maintaining itself for the duration, so slow and methodical reminding me of early Mirror, and anything even remotely close to the Mirror sound is worth getting excited over. Impressive stuff.

260 copies.