It is pretty hard not to “get a kick out” of Portland’s Boy Eats Drum Machine [Myspace]. Hooray for puns!
Anyone who got their start making recordings because he wanted to evoke Pac Man and Metroid, well, that guy is pretty awesome, and since Boy Eats Drum Machine is the solo work of native Portlander, Jon Ragel, I obviously think Jon Ragel is pretty rad. He is a songwriter, producer, singer, turntablist, and also plays saxophone, guitar, synthesizer, organ, and several percussive nick nacks.
Booomboxxx, BEDM’s latest album, is out now and we’ve have some tasty, tasty samples (I think I am putting “rad” in a time out until I can slow down its frequency of use) of what to expect. Check those out “after the jump”
boy eats drum machine – “booomboxxx” from Jon Ragel on Vimeo.
[mp3] Boy Eats Drum Machine – “Booomboxxx“
[mp3] Boy Eats Drum Machine – “Planets + Stars”
As a one-man musical act, Boy Eats Drum Machine merges the worlds of turntablism and live rock performance as Ragel spins breaks and surgically inserts sounds while juggling vocals, percussion, and saxophone.
His latest album, Booomboxxx, is an experimental pop record loaded with unique turntable textures, saxophone blasts, expertly chopped break beats, and gutsy vocals. Although the record effectively mashes several musical forms, it is Ragel’s most cohesive work to date, bringing to mind artists like DJ Shadow, Queen, Morphine, David Bowie, and The Postal Service.
Ragel started to make recordings under the name Boy Eats Drum Machine in 2001 when he used a 4-track to record and load his MPC with scads of samples, creating blippy pop experimentations. he wanted to evoke the idea of Pac Man and the music of the NES game “Metroid.” He sold his MPC and switched exclusively to computer-based recordings a couple years later.
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