Multiple Functions

As Marc Weidenbaum wrote about C. Reider last year in the Disquiet review of Steam Inspector (2009), Reider is a  ”deeply curious (and curiosity-inducing) musician”. Maybe it’s this curiosity for both musician and listener that makes C. Reider such a daring and admired experimental sound artist. On this blog, I’ve reviewed several works by Reider from his collaboration with Desohill, Falling Into Disrepair (2010); his recent solo work, Owning Extinctions (2011); his Crook’d Finger remixes (2000); and the community remix of C. Reider’s work (2011). But even if you listen to his other recent releases: Inconstant (2008), Linguism (2008),  and the Electric Quintet series (2008-2009), one would experience an artist who doesn’t retread the same tired experimental hooks that were successful in previous releases. It is always something new. There are hundreds of electronic artists who call themselves “experimental” or “Avant-Garde”, but in reality they just are continuing in some sort of  post-Commodore electronic noise genre that they are comfortable in. Reider does not do that. He produces work that always seems outside his comfort zone — something all experimental artists should being do. For his listeners the only thing we can expect from a C. Reider release is that it will be difference from the pervious C. Reider release.

Even though my dogs did not like is latest release on Modisti, Formerly Sine Drones, my curiosity as well as that of Reider’s makes this record a great addition to the musician’s discography. More than just tones and sound manipulations, Reider takes an atypical and almost deviant exploration into electronic frequencies.

C. Reider’s “333 Hz” (mp3)