Bestiary (album)
Encyclopedia
Bestiary is an album by the American
ambient
musician Robert Rich
. This album showcases the musical concept that Rich has long referred to as “glurp”. It evokes a frenetic and surreal
landscape inhabited by a wide variety of bizarre organisms.
Work on this album began while Rich was working to create a library of Acid Loops
for the Sonic Foundry
company. He had previously created an Acid Loop library in 1999 called Liquid Planet. In this project Rich began creating a library of unusual sounds with his new MOTM modular synthesizer
. As the synthesizer grew, Rich became increasingly impressed by its potential and decided to abandon the Acid Loop project in favor of creating a new album. MIDI played an extremely limited role in this album as most of its material was recorded live to hard disc with the audio feature of the Cubase program. It was then assembled into a continuous 53 minute audio file.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
musician Robert Rich
Robert Rich (musician)
Robert Rich is an ambient musician and composer based in California, United States. With a discography spanning over 30 years, he is widely regarded as a figure whose sound has greatly influenced today's ambient, New Age, and even IDM music.-Early life:At an early age he thought he disliked music...
. This album showcases the musical concept that Rich has long referred to as “glurp”. It evokes a frenetic and surreal
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
landscape inhabited by a wide variety of bizarre organisms.
Work on this album began while Rich was working to create a library of Acid Loops
Acid Loops
Acid Loops is a technology used with the music making software originally from Sonic Foundry called Acid. Created in 1998, it refers to the repetition, and transposition of sound clips, to form a song. The Acid Pro program is now owned and distributed by Sony, and is on version 7...
for the Sonic Foundry
Sonic Foundry
Sonic Foundry is the former developer of various media software suites, which were purchased by Sony in late 2003 for $18 million in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities and obligations...
company. He had previously created an Acid Loop library in 1999 called Liquid Planet. In this project Rich began creating a library of unusual sounds with his new MOTM modular synthesizer
Modular synthesizer
The modular synthesizer is a type of synthesizer consisting of separate specialized modules connected by wires to create a so-called patch. Every output generates a signal – an electric voltage of variable strength...
. As the synthesizer grew, Rich became increasingly impressed by its potential and decided to abandon the Acid Loop project in favor of creating a new album. MIDI played an extremely limited role in this album as most of its material was recorded live to hard disc with the audio feature of the Cubase program. It was then assembled into a continuous 53 minute audio file.
Track listing
All tracks by Robert RichRobert Rich (musician)
Robert Rich is an ambient musician and composer based in California, United States. With a discography spanning over 30 years, he is widely regarded as a figure whose sound has greatly influenced today's ambient, New Age, and even IDM music.-Early life:At an early age he thought he disliked music...
- ”Mantis Intentions” – 8:00
- ”Nesting on Cliffsides” – 12:46
- ”Dante’s Anthropomorphic Zoo” – 3:06
- ”Bestiary” – 6:17
- ”Carapace Hides the Delicacy” – 3:12
- ”Folded Space” – 5:34
- ”Sharpening Her Talons” – 3:51
- ”Premonition of Circular Clouds” – 10:21
Personnel
- Robert Rich – MOTM modular synthesizer, lap steel guitarLap steel guitarThe lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fingerboard....
, processed acoustic sources, “glurp” - Forrest Fang – MarxolinMarxophoneThe Marxophone is a fretless zither that has four sets of chord strings to be strummed with the left hand and two octaves of double melody strings, which are struck by metal hammers activated by the right hand...
(track 3), hichirikiHichirikiThe is a double reed Japanese fue used as one of two main melodic instruments in Japanese gagaku music, the other being the ryūteki. The hichiriki is difficult to play, due in part to its double reed configuration. Although a double reed instrument like the oboe, the hichiriki has a cylindrical...
(track 8) - Andrew McGowan – bass (tracks 3 and 5)
- Haroun Serang – guitar (tracks 1 and 7)